Here are a number of undisputed facts:
At a time when luxury spending is at a low, Hermès is one of few luxury fashion houses that is growing financially.
The Maison's financial report for the first quarter of 2025 (released on 17 April 2025) showed a seven per cent overall revenue growth at constant exchange rates.
Ready-to-wear and accessories for both the women's and men's collections grew seven per cent for the same period.
Véronique Nichanian is the artistic director of the Hermès men's universe, a position that she's held since 1988—that's 37 years spent at the fashion house.
Nichanian is the sole person who conceptualised Hermès menswear from the very beginning.
Nichanian is incredibly chic and wields the sort of quiet power that envelopes a room. She's the boss lady.
It's slightly before 11am on a Wednesday morning in the beginning of April. Technically, it should be springtime in Seoul but climate change means I'm bundled up against a chilly 11°C, at a waiting area somewhere in the Gangnam district. Hermès has taken over the entire building as prep space for the restaging of its Spring/Summer 2025 menswear show happening the next day. Right next to the entrance on the first level, casting is underway. On the second floor where I'm at, are a VIP room and one where tailors are on hand to ensure that clothes fit impeccably for the show. There's a busy hum—not panicky nor thunderous—informing me that everything is going according to schedule.
I introduce myself to Nichanian. The handshake was firm but warm, supplemented by a smile that had no tell if she's tired from the distance she's travelled nor the hours she has put into planning the upcoming show. She's dressed in a simple sand-coloured sweater and beige trousers, with jewellery kept to a minimum save for a statement Hermès collier de chien bracelet.
I've seen Nichanian at earlier Hermès runway shows but always from afar as she takes her bows at every finale, and then mingling with guests and celebrities after. In this moment, she's sitting across from me on a two-seater sofa that highlights her petiteness even more.
Nichanian's frame tells you very little of her as a person. She's a giant among men in an industry where a woman of her standing and position is a rarity. And the fact that she's been at the creative helm of a fashion house that doesn't even bear her name for as long as she has? Almost unheard of (Karl Largerfeld clocked 54 years at Fendi).
"From the beginning, as a Parisian, Hermès was the Maison which made me dream," Nichanian tells me in French. (She speaks fluent English but feels more precise in her native language.) "It was in 1988 that I was invited by Jean-Louis Dumas to start working at Hermès, and it was a very wonderful start. For me, the men's universe in Hermès should be very soft, sophisticated and casual. And as you know, the origin of Hermès is equestrian so we always pursue clothes that are very relaxed and elegant at the same time."
Needless to say, Hermes menswear has a distinct, relaxed nature to it. You would hardly ever find anything that clings too close to the skin, opting instead to billow in the wind or move with the ease of a wild mare. And save for the use of prints that are stamped with Hermès' visual signature, there's nary any overt branding.
Sure, you'd be able to recognise an Hermès leather accessory by the distinct H-logo that adorns most, but when it comes to menswear, the details are subtle. Nichanian uses the Maison's clou de selle motif—a mark of its equestrian heritage—as fastenings such as on cuffs of sleeves as well as fashioned into snap buttons on pockets, while metal zippers on outerwear are typically borrowed from the leather tabs seen on Hermès bags and reimagined with a hidden "H". Nichanian refers to some of these as "selfish details" because they can only be experienced by those who own and wear the pieces. Jackets, for example, have the insides of their pockets made out of lambskin to add a softer feel to a frequent touchpoint for the wearer.
"When we watch a great dancer, we may have the impression that they are dancing very easily. But actually it is not easy, because behind that 'easy' dancing, there have been many, many years of practising. It's the same for my clothes. The people who wear them find them comfortable, but behind that, they may not know that there have been so much work, many years of efforts to make such good clothes," she expresses.
l ask Nichanian if there was an exact moment when she knew she was heading in the right direction with menswear. Without hesitation, she expresses, "I was satisfied as soon as I started because I know exactly what I wanted to express and what is fantastic is that at Hermès—it was with Jean Louis Dumas and now with Axel and Pierre-Alexis Dumas—you have total freedom for your creation. So I can do exactly what I want, and I've done exactly what I want since the beginning."
"I think the frontier between femininity and masculinity has no big sense these days—what is more important is to consider the personality of each person."
The confidence and assuredness that Nichanian displays isn't surprising—it's quite literally in the statistics. The rare freedom that Hermès affords her has allowed her the opportunity to grow and experiment, and in turn, continuously push the boundaries of what anyone would expect of fashion from the storied Maison. Referring to herself as a writer who adds new chapters to Hermès each season, Nichanian is unrestricted by Hermès' traditional façade. The craftsmanship of the Maison is put to the test across the different materials that she chooses to incorporate into her menswear collections. Paper, rubber, and neoprene may not have been commonplace back in the day, yet Nichanian has consistently made use of them to further tell the story she wishes to.
"Of course, we emphasise on the Hermès traditions, craftsmanship and the very demanding labour needed to make the clothes, but at the same time, we add in the innovation of the 21st century. I think this kind of harmony between tradition and modernity is something that makes Hermès very special," she explains.
"You've done this for so long and have created so many collections. Are you able to identify when someone is wearing your clothes?" I ask after she points out the rubber blouson I'm wearing, a piece from the Maison's Autumn/Winter 2024 collection that she, of course, designed.
"Oh yes, of course. I recognise my clothes even on the street," she exclaims. "It is a very big pleasure for me to find real men wearing my clothes in daily life, not just on the runway. My clothes should not be clothes meant only for Instagram or magazines. I think it is very important to make clothes that are very much sought after by real people."
The men who wear Hermès have undoubtedly grown and evolved too. As much as the Maison is every bit a Parisian luxury house, its appeal is international. In Nichanian's mind, she's not designing for a specific man; "It's always different men for Hermès—my target is plural, not singular," she explains. "What I pursue is the elegance of the contemporary man, and the contemporary and elegant man that l imagine is a man who knows how to differentiate between beautiful materials, and understands quality."
Nichanian goes on to tease about what to expect for the Hermes Boardwalk show the next day: the inclusion of non-models walking the runway. She highlights one who is taller and more muscular than the typical runway model, expressing excitement at the opportunity to fit the collection on a 'real' body.
When I first witnessed the Spring/ Summer 2025 menswear collection during Paris Fashion Week Men's back in June last year, summer hadn't really kicked in yet; there was still quite a comfortable chill in the air. Nichanian, however, brought the heat. Towards the end of the line-up (look 44 to be exact) was a model clad in a navy blue outfit decorated with the L'Instruction du Roy print; the knit shirt was left wholly unbuttoned, baring his toned torso that bore the same print. To say that it's unlike Hermès to do something of that nature would be a fair assessment.
"No! I'm not afraid of anything. You know, I like a man to be seductive. I think you can be sexy in a tuxedo, but also sexy in beachwear," she replies when asked if she thought it was a risky move. "Several years ago, I designed shorts that were really short, literally, because I thought that it would be pretty for men in the summer: When you have nice legs, show your legs."
It's not surprising that for someone who constantly experiments and isn't afraid of challenging norms, Nichanian seems to see the world openly and without prejudice. She reveals that she often feels surprised whenever questions revolving around her as a woman designing for men come up. She understands that questions of that ilk may have been relevant back in the day, but to ask them in today's context baffles her. "I think the frontier between femininity and masculinity has no big sense these days—what is more important is to consider the personality of each person," she says.
"I personally like men's suits and ties, but I want them to be worn by choice and not by social obligation. If women want to express their femininity by wearing skirts or high heels or sneakers or whatever they like, I think that should be respected too. But I wish that those kinds of choices can be personal choices, and not any perceived social obligation."
As a creative, consistency can often feel like one is stuck in a rut. But consistency at a fashion house like Hermès, means working within the parameters of established house codes and creatively challenging the perceptions of what it means to be an Hermès man (or men). The Hermès Boardwalk show was a fine example of Nichanian's creative manoeuvring. Unlike the usual Hermès runway show format that typically involves a choreographed walk snaking through rows of seats, the Hermès Boardwalk show was configured into a central stage surrounded by tiered seating shaped like a horseshoe. The scenography involved the same screen projections of calm undulating waters as the original show, but were positioned across a recreated boardwalk that hit a gradual peak towards the end.
The line-up was expectedly different too. While diversity has hardly been an issue when it comes to casting choices at Hermés, this time it was a more Asian-leaning one. As Nichanian mentioned, it included Olympic champion fencer Oh Sang-uk; high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok; rapper Beenzino and actors Steve Noh and Cha Seung-won. Squid Game's Wi Ha-jun closed the show in the collection's printed ensemble.
As with every runway show, Nichanian comes out at the end with a wide smile on her face and the pep in her steps to match. Nichanian's energy is palpable. It's shameful to me that I've been alive for almost as long as she's been at Hermès, yet her youthful vigour surpasses mine by miles. "I think of myself as a very curious person. That is why I love big cities such as Seoul, Tokyo, Bangkok or New York, because in those big cities, we can observe many changes, especially in the fields of art, music or cinema." Her lack of a social media presence (she admits to being a rather private person) is substituted with visiting exhibitions and watching theatre and film. It's time well-spent to keep her finger on the pulse of creative and cultural happenings. This curiosity for newness is channeled into her inspired designs season after season.
"I hope people regard me as a person who created a certain style for men's fashion in Hermès. That is my wish," Nichanian tells me. It's a simple ask for a legacy. But in this day and age where the story behind a collection or the craft behind a fashion house can get lost in a sea of celebrity-driven content, it's a relatively tough ask. Then again, like the fashion that she's been crafting, she needs only to be appreciated and honoured by the men who truly understand.
