The Hermès Kelly En Désordre
Origins in the discontinued vintage Kelly 20 shoulder — and how the Fall 2022 design updated its logic
As Hermès continues to release the Kelly En Désordre, first seen on the Fall 2022 runway, we look back at its clearest source of inspiration: the discontinued vintage Kelly 20 shoulder strap — a format that predates the round top-handle Kelly 20 by a quarter century and has been largely absent from collector awareness until now.
The vintage Kelly 20 shoulder (1950s–2006)
The 20cm Kelly has been documented dating back to the mid-1950s, and the earliest examples feature a mid-length shoulder strap rather than the round top-handle that was introduced around 1980. This strap length is ideal for wearing the bag over the shoulder or on the arm — long enough for shoulder carry, short enough to be carried in-hand without dragging. The shoulder-strap Kelly 20 is the original mini-Kelly configuration; the top-handle version came later.
Kelly 20s would also be produced with crossbody-length straps, but the mid-length shoulder examples are generally more sought-after and encountered in greater variety. Since the vintage Kelly 20 was in production for over half a century, an extraordinary range of examples made their way out of Hermès' workshops: canvas bodies with leather or exotic trim, crocodile, alligator, ostrich, and lizard versions, examples with small studs on the body, printed leather featuring Hermès necktie patterns, suede, and woven Panama straw. The potential for collecting vintage Kelly 20 shoulders is effectively endless.
The Kelly En Désordre (Fall 2022)
Hermès' Fall 2022 runway show introduced new En Désordre interpretations of the Birkin, Kelly, and Bolide. The term en désordre — meaning "in disorder" — had been used previously for a rearranged interpretation of the Brides de Gala scarf pattern; applied to bags, it describes a deliberate scrambling of the standard design elements. Handles attach at different heights. Pockets and flaps appear to float independently around the bag's surface. The arrangement reads playful but the construction is precise.
The Kelly En Désordre appears to be a 20cm, and the strap is the original mid-length shoulder format — the direct reference to the vintage Kelly 20 shoulder. The key difference: the strap attachment on the En Désordre uses the hardware of a classic Kelly handle rather than the thick decorative loop hardware found on vintage shoulder Kelly 20s. One side of the flap opens to the main compartment; the other functions as an exterior pocket. No previous Hermès bag has taken such structural liberties with these classic design elements.
Hermès referencing itself: The best new Hermès designs often have roots going back decades. The En Désordre's revival of the vintage shoulder Kelly 20 strap format — combined with the floating pocket construction — is a clear example of the house reaching into its own archive and updating what it finds. The fun factor in these bags brings to mind the inventive designs of the late 1980s: the Sac Himalaya, the Symbiose, the Sac New Amsterdam. The En Désordre belongs in that lineage — structurally innovative, unmistakably Hermès, and likely to be collected as seriously as those earlier experiments are today.
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