{"id":3116,"date":"2026-01-27T09:40:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T09:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=3116"},"modified":"2026-01-27T09:40:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T09:40:45","slug":"inside-veronique-nichanians-remarkable-run-at-hermes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=3116","title":{"rendered":"Inside V\u00e9ronique Nichanian\u2019s Remarkable Run at Herm\u00e8s"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Herm\u00e8s menswear head has left the house after nearly 40 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"veronique<\/div>\n

Following the death of Karl Lagerfeld in 2019, V\u00e9ronique Nichanian at Herm\u00e8s<\/a> became the longest-serving creative director in Paris<\/a>. But now, aged 71, she, too, has stepped aside as men\u2019s artistic director of the\u00a0maison<\/em>\u00a0after 38 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her final show was the Fall-Winter 2026 season at Mens Paris Fashion Week<\/a> in January \u2013 although she will continue to do some work on men’s silk and leather goods.<\/p>\n

Her aesthetic legacy is all in the details, the love of which came from her father who favored \u201cthe tiny detail on his jacket, inside his pocket, on his pants. And never a logo,\u201d she said in a recent interview with fashion critic, Tim Blanks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"veronique
\u00a9Spotlight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To put on a Herm\u00e8s jacket was to discover something new, something that surprised, delighted, and lifted the spirits. I remember trying on a navy wool\u00a0blouson<\/em>\u00a0at the brand\u2019s Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honor\u00e9 temple of elegance. It had pitch-perfect Parisian dignity, of course \u2013 and then I put my hands in the pockets. They were lined with fake fur so carefully woven it felt real.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No-one would ever see that detail, but I knew it was there. \u201cI want to make selfish clothes,\u201d she told Paul Croughton<\/a>, Elite Traveler\u2019s<\/em> editor in chief, a few years ago, speaking on just this subject. \u201cWhen you touch them and feel the material, you say, \u2018Oh, my God.\u2019 That feeling is for you first.\u201d That was more than enough for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In many ways Nichanian was the anti-fashion fashion designer. Her aesthetic did not veer wildly with the seasons or a change of CEO. She liked to describe her collections not as high-falutin art but rather\u00a0\u201cv\u00eatements-objets\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 clothes as objects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They should be elegant and enjoyable to wear, of course, but even more delightful to use. She favored straight-leg leather trousers, hooded shearling parkas, straight-cut wool felt jackets, and flannel suits. Her runway shows were simple and elegant, not splashily theatrical.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Hermes
The Hermes menswear F26 show \u00a9Spotlight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nichanian liked the new but loved the old. \u201cV\u00eatements d\u2019aujourd-hui and pour longtemps<\/em>,\u201d was her mantra \u2013\u00a0clothes for today and for a long time. A jacket that had been deftly repaired meant more than a new one. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t only have a price, it has a meaning,\u201d she explained. It was the way fashion started and, to many, was always meant to be.<\/p>\n

One of the few women to establish herself in menswear\u00a0was personable and courteous in an industry in which monstrous and sometimes toxic egos are indulged. \u201cShe is always polite, always happy to talk,\u201d says one Paris-based fashion writer.<\/p>\n

She did not search for job after job as many modern designers do, seeing themselves as guns for hire. Axel Dumas, the sixth-generation of the Dumas family to run Herm\u00e8s and nephew of Nichanian\u2019s first boss, lauded her commitment. \u201cOne thing I want to praise in this turbulent time is loyalty,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nichanian could develop her trademark unique fabrics and details because she had that rarest commodity in fashion these days: time. She was from an era when \u201cresearch for a new collection might involve a trip to the library or some other bookish facility,\u201d Blanks points out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"hermes
\u00a9Spotlight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now the industry is all about screens and speed. \u201cIt\u2019s going faster and faster,\u201d Nichanian said as she stepped off the catwalk for the last time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked how she felt about an industry beset with problems of labor standards scandals, greedflation, greenwashing, and over-supply as designers endlessly chase \u201cthe new, new thing,\u201d Nichanian told the Business of Fashion<\/em>: \u201cThere\u2019s so much change, it loses something magic, the something that makes people happy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I talk to my friends at the different houses, they\u2019re not happy. It\u2019s not only insecurity, it\u2019s pressure. The houses have to find the right cr\u00e9ateur and sometimes they don\u2019t give them the time to express what they want to express.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Good job then that Nichanian\u2019s successor, Briton of Jamaican descent, Grace Wales Bonner, whose quiet intelligence has helped her build a small empire on sophisticated, self-assured clothes, has plenty of time to manage the transition. She was appointed last year, and her first show will not be until next January.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some fashion observers question whether someone who is not French can \u201cget\u201d Herm\u00e8s. Nichanian has not yet met Wales Bonner,\u00a0the first black women to head a major menswear label. But I wager she would like nothing better than to see her blow a giant British raspberry at the past and forge a fresh yet still\u00a0tres Francais, tres correct<\/em>\u00a0style for men who want the best or nothing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Herm\u00e8s menswear head has left the house after nearly 40 years.\u00a0 Following the death of Karl Lagerfeld in 2019, V\u00e9ronique Nichanian at Herm\u00e8s became the longest-serving creative director in Paris. But now, aged 71, she, too, has stepped aside as men\u2019s artistic director of the\u00a0maison\u00a0after 38 years.\u00a0 Her final show was the Fall-Winter 2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}