Hi everyone, sharing quite a detailed post of our whole Hermès experience, so please expect quite a long post:
Been lurking around this thread for a few months now and helped me a lot with getting acquainted with the process. My wife and I had just gotten married and had been planning our honeymoon around Europe with the last leg of our trip being in Paris for 5 days. We have no purchase record with Hermès in Europe, and it would be our first time to visit this store as well.
I wanted to get something extra special for my wife during our honeymoon, and I had always been interested in the brand (more than my wife actually), so trying to get a Birkin, Kelly, or Constance seemed like a natural choice. From the beginning though, I knew not to get my hopes up and accepted that whatever the outcome, we’d still enjoy our honeymoon.
I started by making an appointment on a Wednesday for the next day, but only under my wife’s passport given we land around noon time on Thursday, and I didn’t want to risk not being able to show up in the extremely unlikely case that we both get a morning appointment. As expected, we failed to get an appointment for Thursday. Upon applying for Friday that week, I noticed the header on the website that announced that the store would also be closed the following Monday (in observance of the Easter Monday holiday), which only left us with 2 more days to secure an appointment.
Unfortunately, we failed to secure one on Friday, but decided to pass by FSH after the day’s plans to see if there were any cancellations. We arrived approximately 45 minutes before closing time, and were advised that there weren’t any available slots left for the day. We decided to look at twillies and scarves anyway that afternoon and were assisted by a friendly SA from the scarf section. We got a couple of twillies (also with the slight hope that it would boost our chances a bit) and also chatted with her about the appointment system and how it was unfortunate they would be closed on Monday. She then proceeded to remind us about the yellow vests protests and how most, if not all stores around them would be closed the next day, and how it could be difficult to get to the store with suspension of most public transportation in the area. Our nice SA wished us lucked with our last attempt in securing an appointment for Saturday—we thanked her and left.
That evening, at around 7:45 PM, both my wife and I received text messages from Hermès, but only to tell us that our applications had been rejected. I felt a little disappointed since it felt like our last chance, but of course I didn’t let that spoil the trip since it had already been a wonderful 2 weeks with my wife around Europe.
Saturday came, and as expected, metro stations and roads around our hotel were closed. That gave us a difficult time getting to our first destination for the day (Sainte-Chapelle), which was almost an hour away by foot. At one point during the long walk, my wife suggested for us to pass by FSH since it was on the way, and it wouldn’t hurt to try one more time. Since our SA the previous day mentioned they’d be open despite the protests, we gave it a shot. Arriving Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, we noticed that the shops that lined the usually busy street were all boarded up and closed—it almost seemed like a ghost town. Nearing our destination, we found a lightly armed blockade of police and military, which slightly worried us, but we decided to go around and look for a different route. It was then that we chanced upon the beautiful, but totally unrelated, installation of Le Village Royal called Umbrella Sky Project (something we would’ve totally missed if it weren’t for that blockade). We continued going until we found another route, only to realize that there was another blockade stationed there as well, but this time, I had the courage to ask the military personnel how we could get to Hermès. Just as I muttered the words “Hermès,” a young woman behind the man responded, “
Hermès? Please follow me.” and we were promptly escorted along the short and literally empty stretch of road left to the storefront. We chatted with her during the short walk thinking she’d be the one to assist us once inside, but that wasn’t the case and she must have been assigned specifically for escorting customers to FSH. We thanked her for escorting us and she left as soon as we reached the side entrance to check for other customers by the blockade we came from.
The second time entering the store didn’t feel as intimidating as it did the previous day. There were far fewer people that day—a given, with all the deterrents in place. We fell in line behind two women talking to the young lady handling appointments. We were quite worried to hear they couldn’t be accommodated on the spot, but they were assisted in making an online appointment for the following week. When it was our turn, we mentioned how we had been trying to secure an appointment a couple of times already but failed, and asked if there were any cancellations that day. We also brought up how it was our last chance to do so during our honeymoon trip. She checked to confirm that both of us had made appointments for that day, and then proceeded to scroll through her phone/appointments list, trying her best to see if there was anything she could do for us. After a good minute or so (this felt like a really long time since we saw her go through several appointments, checking each of their statuses), she directed our attention to a young SA standing beside her and activated my appointment in their system.
I knew that securing the appointment was only half the challenge, but it got us both hopeful again. We chatted a bit with our SA about the situation outside as well as how we were on our honeymoon. She asked us what we were looking for and of course mentioned Kelly, Birkin, or Constance—in that order of preference. In particular, K25/28, B25/30, or C18, preference of RG or G for hardware (Palladium if it works with the color), in neutrals, dark shades, blues, and some reds on different leather choices. We were then brought to the second floor to a room with two tables to sit and were offered some drinks while we waited. After around 15-20 minutes, our SA came back with 3 boxes stacked on top of each other, though we felt there wouldn't be any B or K given the sizes. She led us to a semi-hidden private room (got us really excited!) and lined the 3 boxes up. She mentioned that unfortunately, given it was a Saturday and the protests were happening around the city, they did not have any new deliveries. She still chose bags she thought my wife would like based on what we told her anyway. The dark blue mini Bolide came out first, which my wife actually found really cute, but incredibly small.
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For the next box, our SA said no Kelly or Birkin at all that day, but she found a Constance she thinks my wife would love. She opened the largest of the 3 boxes and presented a
Constance Mini, Rouge H color in Veau Monsieur leather and Gold Hardware. My wife's eyes immediately lit up and I knew that would definitely be the bag for her. The size was great on her as I already expected, since she loves cross body bags. The color was also perfect; the dark red shade seemed like a very classic color and worked extremely well with the gold hardware. It was the perfect first H bag for my wife (and a great gift from me haha). My only issue at that time was that I wasn't familiar at all with Veau Monsieur leather, and our SA wasn't very familiar with it either. She mentioned it seemed similar to Box or Swift, and I checked online and found very little on it as well. It was a great texture, as it felt soft yet rigid at the same time, and had a beautiful sheen. The last box was a black Picotin but my wife and I were already fixated on the Constance by that time.
Anyway, here are pictures of the C18 we brought home!
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The color looks different under varying light conditions.
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My wife and I thanked our wonderful SA and we chatted a bit more. We also chose a twilly that worked well with my wife's new Constance (any suggestions on how to tie it?). We both had a wonderful experience with our SA and the people working at Hermès FSH. Everyone seemed genuinely helpful, friendly, and nice.
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Constance Mini with the Twilly my wife chose for it.
Overall, lessons we learned from this experience were to not give up hope too soon, to not be afraid to ask if you aren’t sure, and to accept how things go. If something is meant to be, then I guess it’ll happen eventually. Knowing the brand (leathers, colors, sizes, models) seemed like it helped and just being genuine and nice should be a given. Also, we my wife and I just dressed in our normal everyday tourist clothes (brands like Zara/Mango/Uniqlo/etc.) and in both days we passed by, SAs treated us very well—I guess it’s all good as long as you dress decently. We heard also from some people that sometimes an SA would take into account the color of your clothes (my wife was wearing red—so it could be true!). Anyway, thanks for reading and sorry for my extra long post!
