Paris Wanderland by Hermès

Hermès’ travelling exhibition makes a stop in the city that gave birth to flânerie, the enjoyable pastime of meandering around a city in one’s best clothes.

After launching earlier this year at The Saatchi Gallery in London, the French luxury label is bringing its immersive Dans l’Oeil du Flâneur exhibition (through the eyes of an urban wanderer) home just in time for fashion week. From 18 September to 5 October 2015 visitors will be taken on an imaginative journey through the streets of Paris, recreated in a stately building on the left bank of the Seine.

Across 11 rooms familiar sights like the shopping arcade, the café terrace and the lone advertising column in the square have been interpreted by a selection of artists with a touch of the surreal.

“The journey through Wanderland draws its coherence from two intrinsic elements of la flânerie: dreaming and freedom of spirit”, explains Bruno Gaudichon of La Piscine-Musée d’Art et d’Industrie in Roubaix and curator of the exhibition.

Building on Hermès’ penchant for eccentric window displays and creative advertising, it takes the concept of window shopping to a whole other level. The house’s wide range of luxury goods, both past and present, has been integrated in interactive installations and curiosity displays, showcasing objects that were pulled from the archive of the Emile Hermès Museum alongside iconic items from the collections such as riding boots, walking sticks, scarfs and various editions of the infamous Birkin Bag as well as newer product additions like the Hermès bike. Travel has always been an integral part of the brand’s DNA and with this exhibition Hermès is transporting body and mind to a colourful dreamscape where its coveted lifestyle seems to be within hands reach. After Paris, the exhibition will move to Turin in December and on to China in 2016.  

Dans l’Oeil du Flâneur runs till 5 October.