2023-09-22 15:48:04
The Parisian luxury brand Hermès celebrated the redesign of its boutique with a secret location dinner. This could even confuse the drivers who didn’t immediately find their way to the elaborately designed festival.
And finally the drivers of the black SUV drop us off in the middle of the Venice Au. We are standing on a rather deserted street, next to parked cars, a few garbage cans and a property with trees. The Kaiser Wiesn bass booms in the background. At eight o’clock it is already dark in the Prater. “Follow the light,” the driver said. So about ten women in their high heels and a few men are tripping along the dark park path.
They wear suits, Hermès dresses and shoes and a significant number have a Kelly bag or Birkin bag in their hands. They are among the most expensive bags in the world. “If they rob us now, it would really pay off,” I think to myself.
Where is the party?
After a few meters we are in front of the new sports & fun hall near the Prater. That’s where Hermès wants to have its top secret party? Never. Collective groans and grabbing of the head. The drivers dropped us off incorrectly. So a few run back to the SUVs as fast as their high heels can carry them. Not that they’ll disappear either.
There are few events during the year that were as hyped in advance as the opening of the newly designed Hermès boutique at Vienna’s Graben 22. For a long time, the Jonak family (successfully) represented brands like Hermès in Vienna. They are now withdrawing and Hermès is moving back to the Paris cradle of the family business.
Who can be there?
For the new start, the boutique was not only doubled in size and redesigned, but was also to be celebrated with a big party. And in a top secret location. There was already a lot of controversy in advance about taking part in the event. People from the city center vied for Plus 1 status with those who had an invitation.
The party started relatively well in the afternoon in the boutique. Florian Craen, Executive Vice President Sales & Distribution of Hermès International opened with Sophie-Mélida Vissing (Managing Director of the DACH region). “There are not many cities that Parisians would accept being compared to. But Vienna is one of them,” says the former in his opening speech. And: The store is as close to the horses as possible. And by that he meant the horse-drawn carriages in front of the door. Of course, he was referring to the origins of Hermès as a saddlery. Proximity to horses should also play a role at the party. But more on that later.
Who could, wore Hermès
The new Viennese boutique is a homage to Vienna, to Viennese Art Nouveau, and to local handicrafts. “Hopefully people don’t have the feeling of going into a retail shop, but into a familiar space, like a café or a library or a studio,” said Denis Montel to the “Presse.” He is from the architecture agency RDAI , who has been designing the Hermès boutiques for as long as she can remember. The store is decorated in warm colors: beige, the typical Hermès orange, terracotta, the wood of the illuminated shelves. The 16 metiers of the house (from clothing to saddles and bridles) are now spread over three floors, connected by a curved staircase made of pleasantly touchable travertine limestone.
Some well-known inner-city faces from Vienna came to the official part, such as the former Opera Ball organizer Desirée Treich-Stürgkh, Burg actress Mavie Hörbiger, later Verena Altenberger, musician Wolfram, MAK boss Lilli Hollein, the Sacher clan with Elisabeth Gürtler and her daughter Alexandra Winkler-Gürtler, the designer Petar Petrov, restaurateur Nuriel Molcho to name just a few, and an unmistakable density of influencers and some visibly well-groomed regular customers who showed off their collected Hermès dresses, shoes and bags .
Your own Hermès tent at the Oktoberfest?
They were all picked up by SUVs from 7 p.m. and pushed into Vienna traffic. Without destination. “To the Prater,” the driver said curtly, starting the guessing round. “Maybe we’ll go to the Ferris wheel,” said the “Presse” colleague, who was sitting in the car with two customers from Kitzbühel and two from Wiener Neustadt. Just to follow up: “Maybe it’s your own tent at the Kaiser Wiesn.” Everyone thought that was funny, but nobody seemed to believe it.
After a few phone calls, the car finally drove from the Venice Au to the other end of the Prater and stopped, how could it be otherwise: directly in front of the court grandstand of the Freudenau racecourse. There, dancer and choreographer Alamande Belfor, disguised as a chef, led the guests into a kind of long tent corridor, to a door that looked as if one were entering a kitchen.
Your own tent in the racecourse!
And somehow it was. Hermès organized a “kitchen dinner” for the 250 invited guests and converted an event tent into a fully-fledged event location in the racecourse. Stainless steel shelves on the walls where there were plates, fruit, bowls, pots. Perfectly dimmed lights illuminated the full hall (everyone else was faster than us) with 28 stainless steel kitchen work tables where guests were assigned their seats. Even though there was brief chaos here again.
The key, however, was the sound. A crowd of chefs in chef hats stood around the two open cooking areas in the middle of the hall, rhythmically banging on cutting boards, pots, bowls, pans and cutlery. Led by Belfor as chief choreographer, they were not only supposed to serve the guests throughout the evening, but also provide sound interludes between the courses. The very French-inspired dinner (meat! Fromage!) came from chef Johanne Nuding, who has already been awarded three stars.
The performance when presenting the cakes. Private
Trumpeting chefs, drumming guests
The highlight of the evening was probably the dessert: several Hermès cakes in the shape of the typical orange Hermès boxes, each with an accessory on top: a Kelly bag, shoes, a horse’s head, etc. The Sacher cakes were designed by social media trendy pastry chef Sophia Stolz and presented in a huge parade to the enthusiastic clapping and tapping of the guests (they were also allowed to drum with kitchen utensils). They were led by several chefs who suddenly brought out trumpets, trombones, saxophones, etc. and set the mood with songs like “99 Luftballons” and “Take on me”.
DJs Paavo and Sofie Royer took over without any effort and immediately got the crowd dancing. The first people were already getting on the tables when the “press” left the event before midnight. What happened afterwards is not known.
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