Inside new Hermès store at Westfield Topanga, California

By

Chenu Alexis

Published
Aug 22, 2023

A few days after the "Hermès on the wings" show held at Santa Monica Airport in mid-July, the French luxury house Hermès inaugurated its sixth store in California at the Westfield Topanga shopping center. 

With over 200 stores, Hermès Topanga joins the 30 or so luxury boutiques already in place at Westfield Topanga, including Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Saint Laurent, while other brands such as Bottega Veneta, Celine, Dior and Bulgari are due to open their stores in the coming weeks.
 
"The store combines façade columns inspired by the surrounding nature with a palette of colors and textures akin to Topanga Skate Park," explained Hermès, in a press release. 

The entrance leads to the first of four spaces, featuring women’s silk, perfume and beauty in a terracotta setting. On the left, the leather area, presented in a mural library, is home to small leather goods and equestrian accessories, and introduces a cosier room, whose 1950s-inspired furniture and upholstery are bathed in a natural light. 
 
The second space, dedicated to fashion jewelry and men’s silk, gives way to a third area where men’s and women’s shoes are framed by two walls in and sand tones, reminiscent of carved rocks. On the right, in an alcove clad with cactus-shaped dry soil panelling, watches and jewellery stand opposite to the homeware universe, which enjoys the sunbeams coming through an open storefront. The walks end with a more intimate space showcasing men’s and women’s ready-to-wear selections. 

The wall finished echo the clay shades of the travertine stone and large mosaic on the floor, while the whole interiors pay homage to the adjacent herbaceous vegetation with niches in clear terracotta stucco and displays in cherry-wood veneer. The overall atmosphere set by Parisian architecture agency RDAI is a nod to the vivid, earthy hues of the canyon nearby. As for rugs and carpets, their colorful topographical layers reveal original shaped that suggest the changing local reliefs and skies. 

The decor consists of more than forty artworks, mixing classic and contemporary themes and styles. Alongside a series of photographs by Joel Meyerowitz, and a dreamlike landscape by photographer Catherine Henriette from the Émile Hermès collection, is a sun-drenched scarf by the illustrator Filipe Jardim. 

Drawing on a breathtaking setting, French artists Octave Marsal and Théo de Gueltzl present the Retour à la Nature (Coming back to Nature) cashmere and silk shawl, the fruit of their residency in Mars Canyon, in Santa Monica mountains.

Through this shawl, Hermès supports the CLAW association, Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife, a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to protecting and restoring wildlife environments in California, as part of a unique re-wilding and creative project in Bel Air.