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It’s the end of an era at Hermès. The house’s artistic director of menswear Véronique Nichanian is stepping down after 37 years, Hermès confirmed on Thursday. She will present her last collection during Paris men’s week in January. It’s understood that her successor will be appointed in the coming days.

Nichanian began her career at Cerruti before being poached by Hermès’s chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas in 1988 to lead menswear. She became known for her inventive, wearable designs, grabbing attention with high-quality materials and a beautiful colour palette. Her Spring/Summer 2026 collection was “breathable clothing, just some lightness, softness, sensuality in the silk, in the prints,” she told editors after the show. She introduced a monkey print on tote bags. “Just for fun. It can’t do any harm in this world.”

Nichanian becomes the latest luxury designer to leave a creative vacancy at a major fashion house following the SS26’s big reset, which saw 15 designer debuts. But Nichanian is a particularly notable exit: she had the longest tenure of a serving creative director in fashion.

On her decision to step down, she told Le Figaro in an exclusive interview: “I still love this job. However, I believe that to practice it the way I like to, it now requires more and more time — and today, I want to devote that time to other things… Hermès has, above all, shown great elegance by allowing me to choose the moment that felt right to step down. I’ve been thinking about it and discussing it with Axel and Pierre-Alexis Dumas for a year or two now. It’s time to pass the baton.”

Hermès’s financial performance has continued to defy the ongoing luxury slowdown. The company posted 8 per cent growth in the first half of 2025, with ready-to-wear and accessories growing 5.5 per cent in the period.

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