On Saturday, January 24, in the darkness of a winter night, Place de la Bourse in Paris was packed with people as black cars carrying some 850 guests converged on the Hermès show. The saddlery house is accustomed to grand events, but this one was unprecedented: It was Véronique Nichanian’s last show for Hermès, who has headed the men’s collections since 1988.
Inside the Palais Brongniart, the decor was pared down to a dozen giant screens showing the blurred silhouette of a man. Their true purpose was revealed only after the finale, when they simultaneously played videos of Nichanian greeting her audience after various shows throughout her career. The moving flashback showed her in her thirties, fifties and seventies, always with her slender figure and trademark smile.
Her final collection, presented as part of the Fall-Winter 2026-2027 fashion week, followed no particular formula. It remained faithful to the principles that have defined Nichanian’s work for 38 years: clothes that are easy to wear, crafted from sumptuous fabrics with functional details designed for the wearer’s comfort and with no visible logos.
This season stood out for the omnipresence of leather, a material Hermès elevates like few others. It appeared not only on jackets and bags, but also on shirts, suits and even a jumpsuit. In addition to lamb, calf and deer, Nichanian also worked with crocodile leather – Hermès is one of the few houses to still use it – transforming it into a glossy, supple material for a straight-cut suit, a belt, ankle boots and a coat.
Among the 59 looks, there were also 10 pieces from the past, including a reversible lambskin jacket from 2000, a cashmere turtleneck with an anchor chain motif from 2011 and a washed silk shirt from 2018. They all blended seamlessly into the collection, betraying nothing of their sometimes considerable age. “I worked this season like any other, without nostalgia, but I wanted to recreate a few pieces from the past 37 years to show that these are clothes made to last,” explained Nichanian.
The timelessness of her work is one of the reasons for her remarkable longevity in fashion. Alongside Karl Lagerfeld, who spent 65 years at Fendi and 36 years at Chanel, she is the only designer to have maintained the artistic direction of a house she did not own for several decades, and one that ranks among the world’s leading luxury brands. In 2024, Hermès posted revenue of €15.2 billion and net profit of €4.6 billion. It is among the few brands not affected by the sector-wide crisis over the past two years.
The principles of understated luxury
“I have always envisioned a casual chic man, sophisticated yet relaxed, directly connected to the world. Never idealized, nor did I seek to impose my ego,” summarized the designer, whose runway pieces have always reflected commercial reality, intended to be sold in stores, not just to generate buzz for the brand.
This sensitivity to clothing, paired with her pragmatism, enabled her to start her career early: just after graduating from the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, Nino Cerutti hired her as an assistant for menswear, then made her his right-hand, taking her everywhere – from his Italian factories to his various markets around the globe.
Until the day in 1988 when Jean-Louis Dumas, then CEO of Hermès, contacted her to propose that she create men’s collections, which at that stage amounted to only a few scattered pieces. “Thanks to my training and 10 years with Nino, I’d become a Swiss army knife. And I knew what Hermès represented: to me, it was excellence. What I proposed in writing to Jean-Louis is still relevant today. If I’d had my own brand, I would have done the same thing,” the designer said.
In nearly 40 years, the house has remained faithful to its principles of understated luxury and has never changed its pace: two menswear collections a year and just as many runway shows. But the acceleration of the fashion calendar, the structuring of luxury into rival conglomerates, the frenzy of social media and the need to address a global audience have all impacted the artistic director’s work.
“The house has adapted to this accelerated pace, but today I want something different,” she admitted. At 71, Nichanian wants to take time for herself, to travel. It is, in fact, only a “semi-departure”: She is handing over ready-to-wear to British designer Grace Wales Bonner, but will continue to oversee the Hermès men’s silk and leather goods collections.
At the Palais Brongniart, when she came out to take her final bow, the audience rose to its feet. Among them were some of the house’s loyal French followers, such as actors Raphaël Personnaz and Vincent Macaigne, singer Raphaël and chef Cyril Lignac. American hip-hop stars like Travis Scott and Usher were also present, speaking to Hermès’s ability to attract a highly diverse clientele. With tears in her eyes, Nichanian made a full circuit of the vast room to the warm applause of an audience aware they were witnessing a significant moment in fashion history. At the current pace, it is uncertain whether such longevity will be possible again.