But first, it begins with Hermès.
Fashion has long turned to equestrian sports for inspiration. It is said that Ralph Lauren got the idea for his Polo line from a Slim Aarons photo in 1955 of player Laddie Sanford at the Gulfstream Polo Club in Delray, Florida. When Jean Cassegrain founded the French luxury brand Longchamp in 1948—originally as a pipe and smoking accessories company—he took the name from the famous racecourse in Paris, and, to go with it, created a logo with a jockey on horseback. And designers often play with riding habits and tack in their runway creations—most recently, during the couture shows in Paris in July, Daniel Roseberry of Schiaparelli sent out a black cocktail dress with a saddle as the corset front. But only one luxury fashion house actually produces riding attire and gear: Hermès. In the back corner of the original store on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, there is an equestrian department, with saddles, bridles, helmets, crops, jackets, breeches, brushes, and so on. The company sponsors professional riders—a team of 14 now, several of whom are Olympic medalists—who compete world-wide in jumping, dressage, and para-dressage, including at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington each year. During the festival, Hermès opens a seasonal boutique on the fairgrounds to sell its equestrian line, as well as silks and fashion accessories.
And each spring in Paris since 2010, it has hosted the Saut Hermès, a five-star jumping event in the Grand Palais, the Belle Epoque exposition hall in the center of the city. (When the Grand Palais was under renovation from 2021 to 2024, the Saut was staged in a temporary space at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.) More than 75 riders and 130 horses from 20 countries came for the most recent show in March, which had ten competitions—for individuals, teams, and under-25s—over three days, concluding with the Grand Prix, with a $430,000 purse. Though it makes up a sliver of Hermès annual sales, which totaled nearly $16 billion in 2024, the equestrian department at Hermès is “our heart, our DNA,” says its director Chloé Nobécourt. Indeed, former chairman Jean-Louis Dumas, a fifth generation descendent of founder Thierry Hermès and the father of the current artistic director Pierre-Alexis Dumas, likes to say, “Our first client is the horse, the second, the horseman.” It’s Nobécourt’s job to please both, and, as she puts it, “to make sure that our roots and DNA remain authentic and relevant to the requirements of the top-level sport.”
Riders consider the Saut Hermès to be one of the most prestigious as well as difficult competitions on the international circuit. The jumps, which are whimsical, like an oversized rocking horse and the façade of the Faubourg Saint-Honoré store, are up to 1.60 meters, or just over five feet, and the ring is small. “It’s really a special competition, there’s nothing like it anywhere in the world,” says team Hermès’ newest member, Jeanne Sadran, a 24-year-old French rider from Toulouse, during a break in the riders’ lounge overlooking the majestic hall. “But the competition is hard. The best riders come to the Saut. You need a horse with a lot of experience, and you have to be well prepared.” For the public, the Saut Hermès is ultra-chic and fun. The event’s 17,000 tickets sell out in a matter of hours. Attendees come from around the world, and dress in their Hermès best—you see a lot of Hermès silk scarves, and a fair number of Birkin and Kelly bags or, at least, their best Hermès-inspired looks. In addition to taking in the competitions, one can hang along the split-rail-fenced paddock in the back and watch the riders and horses warm up. In the alcoves behind the grandstands, there are Hermès shops that sell equestrian gear; the annual poster; horse-themed books (with author signings); perfumes, including Paddock, a woodsy-grassy scent (think forest and hay) developed for the Saut and launched in 2024; and the annual, limited-edition Saut Hermès silk scarf—this year’s, by Italian artist Gianpaolo Pagni, featured a repeating motif of galloping horses in rainbow hues on a light background.
Elsewhere on the grounds, visitors can straddle a mechanical horse, don a VR headset, and go for a virtual ride. Children can pet and brush Shetland ponies in a mini-stable. And there is a pop-up atelier, which showcases Hermès’ four basic saddles—three for jumping, and one for dressage—with a handful of artisans in leather aprons, proudly demonstrating their craft and recounting the story of Hermès. It goes like this: In the early 19th century, a Frenchman named Thierry Hermès, who hailed from Krefeld, a town on the Rhine near Cologne, made his way to Normandy, France’s horse country, and learned the art of harness-making—a booming business at the time. Eventually, he settled in Paris, where, in 1837, he opened his own harness atelier, not far from the Madeleine church. When he retired in 1859, he handed the firm over to his son, Charles-Émile. In 1880, Charles-Émile moved the company to a handsome building at 24, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré—the site of Hermès’ multi-story flagship store today—and added racing silks and made- to-measure saddles to its offerings. In 1902, a sports newspaper writer described Hermès as “the great horse bazaar in Paris.”
This is an excerpt from PALMER Vol.9. To read the full story, click here to purchase the issue.
