Hermès: Not Fashion, but Attitude… Craftsmanship That Speaks to the Senses

Véronique Nichanian once again brings the Hermès man together with the essence of summer. She dresses the art of having style not with the season itself, but with the feeling of summer.







HAKAN BAHAR

For a summer spent in the city, the whole of Hermès’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection was loose, relaxed and effortless. Texture played the lead role, and everything was shaped around an easy elegance. Men’s artistic director Véronique Nichanian designed the forms with lightness and balanced them with a subtle discipline. As the silhouettes glided past me in a calm, elegant flow, the Palais d’Iéna, where the show was staged, had been given an atmosphere of abundant light, an open-air feeling and warmth. Tall vertical mirrors lined both sides of the space, multiplying the light and the volume of the clothes, in harmony with the collection’s aesthetic of freedom. The sense of naturalness caught in the mirrors’ reflections, combined with the fragile natural light, became a hypnotic scene.

As the palette moved in an unbroken flow from earth tones to burgundy, stone, faded green, elephant grey, ice-cube, mint green and washed yellow, the looks redefined sophisticated summer dressing for the urban man. This restrained attitude to luxury can be felt throughout the collection: garments worked with innovative and elegant craftsmanship offer a style suited to warm weather. Nichanian’s approach to materials and proportion was functional and playful.

Fine silks, light cashmeres, matte leathers… All these textures accompany the urban man’s life on the move while modernising his elegance.

For those seeking lightness, Hermès’s classic codes, designed through a modern lens, offered a refined look with leather pieces that breathe with the body. The jackets were short, but the volumes were broadened.

Slit leather sandals and rope-laced flip-flops were among my favourites. The collection’s most striking element was open-work, micro-perforated leather: breathable, light, geometrically perforated leather T-shirts, jackets and trousers sat on the skin like a second skin, redefining leather’s relationship with summer.

Hermès shows are rarely a place where trends are discussed, because Hermès designs not fashion, but attitude.

Nichanian once again draws a summer wardrobe for the Hermès man. She reminds us once more that Hermès holds its place in the grand world of fashion without shouting — almost in a whisper. The collection moves forward not through technical fabrics, but through the clever manipulation of traditional materials. Fine silks, light cashmeres, matte leathers… All these textures accompany the urban man’s life on the move while modernising his elegance.

Jackets end just above the hip; trousers widen and stretch towards the floor. This play of proportion is both a nostalgic reference and a contemporary proposition. Not rebuilding the male silhouette, but modernising it. Hermès shows are rarely a place where trends are discussed, because Hermès designs not fashion, but attitude. It offers craftsmanship that speaks to the senses, a pared-back yet powerful expression, and an elegance that never overshadows the character of the wearer.

Shaped in Nichanian’s hands, this wardrobe speaks not only of how the contemporary man dresses, but of how he wants to live.

The Hermès collection is not so much a proposal for living the summer as a guide. Understated refinement, an airy yet disciplined silhouette and a timeless elegance. Shaped in Nichanian’s hands, this wardrobe reveals the finer points of having style without making fashion, and speaks not only of how the contemporary man dresses, but of how he wants to live. Nichanian’s interpretation in this collection was clear: “Summer is not about excess, it is about breathing”…