The Great Parade
A festival of wonder rolls into town: window displays for Hermès Italia in Milan and Florence.
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THE GREAT PARADE
A parade arrives in the city, bringing with it the promise of somewhere else. Like the great processions of the past, it advances through horses, wagons, music and colour, turning the familiar rhythm of the street into something unexpected.
Drawing on Renaissance processions, travelling theatres, wandering menageries and cabinets of curiosities, The Great Parade reimagines these worlds as a procession of Wunderkammern on wheels: travelling architectures that gather objects, creatures and stories and carry them into the city.
At the head of the parade, horses take flight. Suspended in mid-air, they remain horses, yet borrow the markings of other creatures. Behind them, each wagon unfolds as another chapter of the journey.
Created for Hermès Italia, The Great Parade was installed from September to November 2026 at the Hermès flagship store in Via Montenapoleone, Milan, and at the Hermès boutique in Florence.
WUNDERKAMMERN ON WHEELS
Each window is conceived as a cabinet in motion, a nomadic architecture that is at once container, vehicle and stage. From a distance, the wagons form a procession; up close, they reveal an abundance of details, small scenes, hidden objects and unexpected encounters.
Hermès objects are not simply displayed within this world, but become part of its architecture and narrative. Carrés catch the wind as coloured sails, Twillys become ribbons, belts turn into reins; ceramics punctuate the journey while shoes keep its pace.
The boundary between product and scenery begins to dissolve, turning each window into a small world that rewards a closer look.
A PARADE YOU CAN ALMOST HEAR
The installation is conceived around movement, rhythm and an imagined sense of sound.
Horses set the pace, wheels turn, sails swell with an invisible wind. Ribbons flutter, fringes and tassels seem to tremble, while colours travel from one window to the next. Together, they create the visual rhythm of a procession moving through the city.
In the final cart, reality gives way to imagination: wheels become suns, suns become constellations, and a carousel of stars seems to revolve overhead.
A static installation becomes a parade that can almost be heard and never quite taken in at once.
MATERIALS IN TRANSFORMATION
The project incorporates materials reclaimed from Hermès production, giving them new roles within the parade. Leather offcuts are cut and assembled into figures, masks, harnesses and heraldic details; printed cottons are stretched over hand-built structures to become lanterns.
For the passementerie, the studio collaborated with an ancient PassamantieriMaker to develop a family of raffia trimmings specifically for the project. Braids, fringes, tassels and pompoms become manes and tails, bridles and saddle details, fur, feathers and radiating ornaments. Each element was developed in the palette of the parade and finished by hand.
Seen from across the street, The Great Parade is a procession of colour and movement. Up close, it reveals an accumulation of materials, gestures and meticulously constructed details.
I prefer this version. It has more confidence because it stops explaining every poetic implication. The project is already rich enough. The text needs to give us the keys to read it, not compete with it.
