We returned to the Mobilier National, where this season a diverse selection of the national collection of furniture was laid out for us to settle upon. This was doubly fitting. For not only is Hermès the apex institutional seat of power in French luxury, but the sheer variety of the chairs on which we sat—from high-tech ’60s swivels to richly upholstered and hand-tooled Regency recliners—was a reminder of the scale and depth of human design ingenuity spent creating variations of an object with such a simple function.
Which brings us to the pant. When a man meets a chair, there is usually a pant between them. A chair is made to be on while a pant is made to be in, but they are often extremely close. Under Véronique Nichanian, a designer whose term and output exemplifies the values of Hermès, the silhouette of her pant is acutely considered and changes in carefully incremental shifts. This season saw her extend her slow and mindful exhalation toward a wider silhouette that was tonight sweetly commensurate with the soft breeze that aired our outside aspect.
The fuller Hermès profile au sud was paired au nord with a carefully sculpted masculine escarpment whose pinnacles were defined by a drawstring-laced popped collar imported to shirting from the half-zip pullover cagoule. This little drawstring motif was so small yet so consistently applied it became a sort of herbally accented flavor for the entire collection, until the sudden shift communicated by handsome foulard patch T-shirts and jackets, unbelievably almost the first time Nichanian has allowed herself to be not at all fou and remind Versace and all the rest who did it first by going the full foulard. The pieces were, frankly, all wonderful and presented in a rich ice cream palette. The consideration of complementarity in the color accents of knitwear against check was quietly masterful if hard to reproduce without full-look purchase.
Backstage afterward, Nichanian talked about the reversible versatility of many of the pieces and ceded that streetwear has inflected her work’s recent discernible casualization. And indeed there was an Hermès fanny pack worn cross-body, as well as interesting man-size Birkin variations in leather-accented canvas. Hypebeasts wise enough to consider the long-term value of hype—a highly volatile commodity—might want to remember that Hermès is AAA rated in the economy of luxury. Only last week a preowned Birkin in croc sold for slightly more than $180,000 at auction in London. Where other brands are Bitcoin, Hermès is gold. This collection only added another strata to its richly timeless luster.
