“The suitcase holds your stuff and holds your secrets,” Priscilla Alexander-Spring said. The 43-year-old creative director of Hermès, a leather goods company, sat in her office in the Pantin suburb of Paris, explaining what she liked about bag design, especially the relationship between “your private life and your outside life.”
Ms. Alexander Spring joined Hermès Leather Goods in 2015 and was appointed to her current position in 2020. Hermès, which began in 1837 as a saddle maker, is a name that connotes money (the bags often sell for more than $10,000), rarity (if you can get your hands on one) and craftsmanship (each is handcrafted by a single artisan). Most people have heard of the Kelly bag (named after Grace Kelly) or the Birkin bag (named after Jane Birkin) and the countless celebrities who wear them.
Ms. Alexander Spring's mission is to make the next big thing happen.
Ms. Alexander Spring was born in Canada and grew up in southern Portugal. Her Portuguese father and Mozambican mother were teachers and wanted their daughter to be curious about the world and receive a classical education. She learned five languages (English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian) and studied piano, flute, violin and ballet.
At the age of 13, she turned to basketball, which she played until the age of 25. “Perhaps for this reason, it is very important for me to work in a team,” Ms. Alexander-Spring explains. She keeps a Hermès baseball glove in her office along with stacks of art books — “Margiela: The Hermès Years,” and “A Time Before Crack” by Jamal Shabazz.
