It was the closing of an extraordinary chapter. Véronique Nichanian, who has been at the helm of Hermès menswear for 37 years, took her final bow last night in a packed-out show inside the Palais Brongniart. Nichanian is the longest living creative director of a fashion house. How would she wrap up nearly four decades of producing arguably the sleekest men’s collections the Paris shows have seen? She continued doing what she does best: crafting elegant clothes that will last a life time.
Clean lines, streamlined silhouettes and a whole lot of leather. The hallmarks of all great Nichanian collections were out in force. While there were plenty of ace bags thrown into the mix – particularly XL hold-alls shaped to resemble boomboxes – superb outerwear was the star of the show. Buttery blousons were paired with skinny leather trousers and knitwear that was adorned with geometric shapes in different hues. Elsewhere, Modish parkas – Nichanian did, after all, have Paul Weller performing at the show’s after party – were made of shearling, equipped with leather pockets and an extra fluffy lining (particularly delicious was a variation in chocolate brown with a sherbet pink interior).
Nichanian peppered the collection with reissues of some her favourite looks from bygone collections. Look five was a leather jumpsuit, for instance, that was from AW91, while a pinstriped leather suit first appeared in her SS03 collection. Unsurprisingly, you couldn’t tell some of these looks were first seen over 20 years ago. Great clothes don’t age. Nichanian proves it.
Clips of the designer taking her bows over the years as well as runway highlights of bygone seasons were displayed on hanging screens as Nichanian took one last victory lap. The audience were on their feet in applause for over five minutes. It was a fitting farewell for one of menswear’s true heroes. What a legacy. What a woman.
Photography courtesy of Hermès.
