Hermès FW25 Reminds Us What Luxury Should Be

Each season, the Hermès show is a highlight for me. In addition to the usual cast of fashion press, stylists and other industry outsiders, there are clients and friends of the house who only turn out for an Hermès show. It’s a little bit like that Linda Evangelista quote: “I don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.” Except in this case, they don’t leave the house for anything less than Hermès. It is an incredibly chic crowd, who sport pieces that represent the pinnacle of luxury in an easy manner. Coveted handbags are well-worn and patinated, hand-painted shirts are worn without any care for drops of rain — the pieces and the way they’re worn inspires a certain amount of envy, but also imagination: Who are these people, I wonder every season, as I walk to my seat: Artists? Bankers? Lawyers? Restaurateurs? The types of people who inspire movie characters? Regardless, they are always elegant.

Hermès Men’s Fall-Winter 2025 show was no different, with the added wrinkle that the clothes, too, inspired imagination — in more ways than one.

It began with the show notes, which contained a line that asked one to imagine dressing “as one would enter a house, with the feeling of being welcomed.” An enticing proposition.

Véronique Nichanian, the architect of Hermès’ menswear universe, excels at crafting refined luxury wares, rooted in traditional silhouettes, but with a modern edge. The lines are crisp and flattering, the fabrics and colours tastefully chosen; at a glance things seem simple, but there is always more than meets the eye. In this rarified realm of luxury, there aren’t many designers who do it better. When she is at her best, the clothes stand out as an ensemble, through their styling, rather than any individual piece stealing the show. On Saturday, she was at her best and, once again, we were left to imagine the myriad ways pieces might be styled. There were coats with linings that could be removed and transformed into blankets, to be worn inside and outside, jackets with double fronts that offer a styling cheat code of sorts, a bevy of textures, with visual interplay between velvet and alpaca, leather and teddy mohair, crisp Oxford cloth and piqué ciré.

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As I was busy imagining how those seated alongside me might mix and match the pieces with aplomb, my eye was drawn to a pair of bags that, once again, compelled me to use my imagination. First, was the Haut à Courroies HAC à Relier, which riffed on one of the Maison’s iconic silhouettes, albeit without the recognizable metallic hardware and leather flaps. These were replaced with small markings, like those in a draw by numbers book, outlining the various elements as they would normally appear. It guided the imagination to picture them hanging loosely, easily, effortlessly. Then came a wool felt tote bag, with a smattering of small holes on the side. What might one glimpse inside, on the shoulder of someone on the street, I wondered?

The Haut à Courroies HAC à Relier struck me as a particularly clever way to reinvent a well-known bag – such is the extent of its game that even when elements are removed, they remain visible in our imagination. It will almost surely become one of Hermès’ more collectible bags.

It also reaffirmed that sometimes less is more. Too often, in the luxury realm, ostentatious maximalism wins the day and seasonality triumphs over timelessness. In a way, Nichanian’s Hermès feels like it exists in a bubble. There is plenty of gossip at the moment about designers playing musical chairs at different brands, but not so at Hermès, where she has been designing for more than three decades. What makes her one of luxury menswear’s great designers is her preternatural ability to make the most luxurious clothes eminently wearable. Hermès pieces, with the way they’re constructed, often feel like works of art — coats crafted by hand, say, from rubberized lambskin — but the way Nichanian designs, they remain first and foremost, clothes. 

In the Hermès Fall-Winter 2025 collection, we were told, via the show notes, that “style surrenders nothing to function.” But, as stylish and beautiful as the clothes were, it was impossible to not imagine them fulfilling their true function: from the HAC à Relier to a smart double-breasted pinstripe suit, these are pieces that people will actually wear, made to such an exacting standard that they can live their lives in them.

And isn’t that what luxury should be?

Runway Photography: Filippo Fior

Atmosphere Photography: Bruno Staub

Runway Detail Photography: Armando Grillo

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Hermes