Hermes designer Nichanian: a woman in a man’s world
Frenchwoman Veronique Nichanian, the artistic director for Hermes, stands out in the fashion world as one of the only women to create men’s styles.
That she has been doing it for 26 years is another rarity.
“I always feel the same anxiety,” she admitted ahead of her catwalk
show Saturday in Paris. “But the enthusiasm is always solid,” she told
AFP with a smile.
She says Hermes’s then boss Jean-Louis Dumas told her when he tapped
her in 1988: “Manage this like your little enterprise. You have carte
blanche.”
Nichanian was previously with Nino Cerruti, who had hired her straight out of design school.
The diminutive designer says she had to “work harder” and “be
determined” as a woman in a man’s world and was “pretty proud” of her
longevity.
“It was a pretty macho milieu and the men didn’t expect a woman to tell them what to do,” she recalls.
Nichanian came into the work “by chance, at first. Then I discovered a
rigour in men’s fashion, as a person who is not a fan of unnecessary
details.”
The 50-something designer said she had wanted to work in fashion since
she was an adolescent, noting that while her parents were not in the
business they were “very elegant people”.
She described the “discreet chic” of her father of Armenian origin, and
how her mother and grandmother had Hermes handbags and scarves.
The elegant brunette with sparkling eyes said she draws inspiration
from myriad sources — “in the street... in what I read... at shows.”
But with Hermes, whose sales of men’s ready-to-wear enjoyed double-digit growth last year, “it’s a continuing story”.
While there are not radical changes from one show to the next, “the
wardrobe gets richer from collection to collection,” she says.
“Some cuts don’t change at all, or only by millimetres.”
And since Hermes clothes tend to be pricy, men will not stop wearing them after the season is up, she said.
“I’ve looked at collections from 20 years ago and am ashamed of none of them... You could still wear them (today).”
No ‘ego problems’
When Nichanian, who rose to artistic director for all of Hermes’s
menswear in 2008, starts work on a new collection, she first considers
the colours and the fabrics.
Because Hermes is a luxury house, “we can afford the most beautiful
materials” whether from France, Italy or Japan, she said, describing her
style as a blend of fabrics with attention to detail, as well as the
line.
Nichanian coquettishly described how she might line coat pockets with
lambskin “whose sensuality will be felt only by the man wearing the
coat” — like a “secret” between designer and customer.
When she visits Hermes stores, she says, of course there are wealthy
customers, but also “young men who save money” in the long run by buying
stylish, durable clothes.
If Nichanian had to name two essential items in a man’s wardrobe, they
would be “a beautiful navy blue flannel jacket” and anything in leather.
She said she was not considering setting up her own fashion house.
“That would not do more for my creativity. ... Here it is truly
Veronique Nichanian. And I don’t have ego problems.” — Afp-Relaxnews
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