A Leatherworking Legacy in the 21st Century
Review of Hermès Fall 2025 Men’s Fashion Show
By Mark Wittmer
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Traditional craft, industrial precision. Elegance for the modern man of means.
When Thierry Hermès opened his leather workshop at the tail end of the industrial revolution, he could never have foreseen the luxury powerhouse the brand would grow to by the 21st century, nor all the technological innovation that would occur in the meantime. With her Fall 2025 collection, men’s creative director Véronique Nichanian mined that intersection of contemporary fabrication and craft heritage for a slickly elegant portrait of the modern metropolitan man of means.
The collection was anchored by masculine outerwear classics given a new directional energy through a discerning choice of fabrics and industrially elegant finishes. Leather jackets celebrated the timeless organic beauty of the house’s main material, but were lent a sense of forwardness and even edge through beautifully machined silver zips and snaps. Knitwear was a key category as well, with sweaters that lent a Bauhaus-like sense of modernity to the millennium-old art through a geometric angularity. Wool jackets hand finished with blanket stitch appeared effortlessly alongside nylon blousons.
The key accessory was an oversized triangular duffle bag, offering plenty of functionality and capacity for this elegant yet stylishly practical man on the move. But Nichanian did smart work to incorporate other accessories that form a more accessible, or at least aspirational, gateway into the upper echelon that is Hermès: the classic silk scarf, but also zip-up knit balaclavas, and quietly cool silver statement jewelry that even included an earcuff.
THE DIRECTION
THE WRAP UP
One of the main things that makes Hermès such a powerful and resilient force in the luxury market – it’s longterm perspective and emphasis on enduring craft – means that its runway shows offer few surprises or fresh creative point of view. And that’s just the way Hermès likes it: rather than marking a new direction for the brand, the collections serve as another canvas for the same story of enduring craft heritage to play out. The pieces themselves may be slightly different, but the message is always the same.
Nichanian continues to do strong work in crafting newly considered details while maintaining this legacy-focused and marketing-forward approach to the runway.
