Despite having been in the role for close to four decades – making her the longest-running creative director at a major fashion house – Véronique Nichanian, the artistic director of Hermès’ men’s universe, is not prone to nostalgia.
In fact, when I interviewed her for the March 2023 Style Issue of Wallpaper* at the house‘s offices in central Paris, she told me that she had rarely visited the archive, nor dwelt on past collections. ‘We don’t have the same materials, we don’t have the same life. So we are [instead] always thinking: what is the classic of tomorrow?’ she said.
Véronique Nichanian bows out at Hermès after a landmark tenure
Nor was she one for runway spectacle. This is not to say that her collections were not thought-provoking, nor joyful (they were). Instead, she simply allowed the clothing to speak for itself: for Nichanian, the magic was found in a change of a centimetre on a pattern piece, an obscure colour shade, or what she would call the ’sensuality of fabric’ (material innovation was at the heart of her Hermès project).
So it was little surprise, then, that this evening, which marked the designer’s swan song after 38 years at the house, that despite the more dramatic setting than usual seasons – Palais Brongniart, which Napoleon I commissioned to house the Paris Stock Exchange – Nichanian did not turn on the theatrics. Instead, she remained steadfast in her vision of timeless style, where the greatest pleasure is found when you try the garment on.
In the collection notes, Nichanian said that the A/W 2026 collection is one where ‘everything fits together, but everything is mobile, alive, enduring, seamlessly, continuously, through a season made for a lifetime’. As ever, it began with menswear archetypes: the blouson, the parka, the peacoat and the double-breasted suit all featured in the collection – some of which were drawn from silhouettes from past seasons – here recut in effortless style, and in Hermès’ superlative fabrications. Shearling emerged as the season’s protagonist, alongside the house’s signature calfskin, while high-shine crocodile, technical satin and a featherweight wool and silk faille, the latter used for tuxedo-style eveningwear, added flair.
Nichanian will be succeeded by British designer Grace Wales Bonner, winner of the 2016 LVMH Prize, who will begin at the house later this year and present her first runway show in January 2027. Known for poetic collections that riff on themes of Black masculinity, migration and luxury – where quotidian garments are elevated through handcraft – the appointment was met with rare positive consensus among both industry insiders and on social media, with many noting that such a position was long overdue for the designer.
‘Exactly why such demonstrably influential – and commercially sharp – women such as Grace Wales Bonner and her elder British counterpart Martine Rose have not yet been hired by a house or a brand is less a mystery than a total disgrace on the industry,’ wrote Vogue critic Sarah Mower in her review of Wales Bonner’s S/S 2026 runway show, published a few months prior to the hire. In a recent interview with Business of Fashion, Nichanian said she was pleased with her successor: ‘she will write a new page of the book,’ she told Tim Blanks.
At the end of the show, Nichanian took her final bow to a minutes-long ovation from the assembled guests, marking the culmination of a tenure defined by critical and commercial success. Though she will not leave the house entirely – Nichanian will remain a consultant on scarves and maroquinerie, drawing on her encyclopedic knowledge to continue to define what Hermès calls its ‘men’s universe’.
After the show, the space was quickly transformed for a party, where Paul Weller – a favourite of Nichanian’s – provided the musical accompaniment, while waiters circulated with French fries and champagne. Above us, screens lowered from the ceiling played clips of the runway shows which defined her years of the house. Watching back, they were a testament to an extraordinary career: one of endless evolution over seismic change, an unerring pursuit of pleasure and perfection, and, above all, a testament to taking one’s time.
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