When most people think of Hermès, they think of its most visible products: obscenely rare handbags purchased in invitation-only back rooms, or the ubiquitous “H”-shaped belt buckle. Of course, the house has also produced some of the most excellent fashion in modern history. Martin Margiela, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Christophe Lemaire all did incredible work at Hermès — work that in some cases predated the rest of the industry by several decades.
The thing is, all three of these designers worked solely on womenswear. But with the appointment this week of Grace Wales Bonner as men’s creative director, it’s a decent bet that Hermès menswear is about to get really good.
For nearly 40 years, that role has filled by Véronique Nichanian, whose work has come to epitomize the brand: crisp, clean, a little bit cold, and proudly out of step with the tastes of the day. While luxury fiddled with streetwear, hiking gear, flat shoes, and all the rest, Nichanian kept right on producing structured tailoring anchored by trim trousers and (slightly) statement sweaters. This singlemindedness worked for Hermès, and it worked for Nichanian. She became the longest-serving creative director in recent fashion history.
Which is what makes the decision to bring on Bonner all the more gratifying. The British-Jamaican designer perpetually appeared on lists of designers most deserving of taking over big-name maisons, not just because of the garments she created at Wales Bonner, her 11-year-old brand, but also because those clothes embodied something even better: authenticity. Whereas Hermès menswear has long represented class, Wales Bonner has perfected a fresh, approachable perspective on the real-world wardrobe. (Grace Wales Bonner also revolutionized contemporary sneaker taste with her adidas partnership.) This is how to make Hermès feel aspirational to clientele born in the past half-century: hire a designer who has something to say and makes clothes that people actually want to wear. (It'll take a while to get there: Nichanian's final collection will bow in January and Bonner's first line won't premiere until early 2027)
Even Grace Wales Bonner knows it. “A house with heritage is interesting to me because I am interested in a framework and then disrupting elements of classicism within that,” she said in 2019. “Maybe a brand like Hermès.”
Bonner’s hiring feels like a return to a time when Hermès would pluck the buzzy talent of the day from their eponymous line and hand them the reins of a house founded on horse harnesses. And every time, they rose to the occasion.
Margiela, Gaultier, and Lemaire all made some of their best work at Hermès. Far from stifling their talents, the brand’s unlimited resources only amplified them. Margiela’s Hermès womenswear was so prescient that its genius could only be grasped decades later — long before 2023’s “quiet luxury” boom, before any other brand layered over a deep vareuse V-neck or dangled small tchotchkes from leather cords. Gaultier sauced up Hermès’ signature leather goods, making them feel not so far removed from the real world. He cut corset tops from thick cowhide and reframed the house’s signature handbags as exaggerated statement pieces (you can thank or blame him for the Himalayan Birkin). And Lemaire mastered a style of elegant dress and subdued craft that would come to define his own label, creating Hermès collections so strong that they inspired critic Suzy Menkes to meditate on the qualities of “slow fashion” all the way back in 2011.
These designers marked epochal moments in Hermès history. They also moved the needle on the concept of good clothes: the taste, the personality, the quality. And if that’s what came out of Hermès womenswear, just imagine what Grace Wales Bonner can do with menswear.
