HERMÈS MEN’S WINTER 2025 GIVES MODERN MASCULINITY A NEW LOOK
Written By: Gemma White
Hermès’ Men’s Winter 2025 show drew Asia’s cultural A-list to the runway and front row to experience a soft, welcoming version of masculinity that shows up, not off.
Setting its intention from the outset, Hermès noted that the looks sent down the runway for its Men’s Winter 2025 show should make the wearer feel as though they were “Settling into a garment as you would a house, dressing with the feeling of being welcomed”. As far as sartorial sentiments go, it’s timely. Globally speaking, the past half-decade or so since Covid waltzed into our lives and thoroughly upended them has been somewhat fraught. Have there been bright spots? Sure. Good times had? Of course.
But still, y’know…?
Courtesy of Hermès
Amid the geo-political turmoil steps Hermès with, if not solutions, then at least confidence and a compass that invites you to join them on a journey towards something comforting, inclusive, and, as they say, welcoming.
“The line is dynamic, rounded but not lost,” the show notes add. “The looks blend with an urban landscape. A new equestrian geometry emerges, full of promises and surprises.”
Dynamic? Not lost? Promises? Where do we sign up?
Held in September at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, and with Victoria Harbour and Kowloon Bay skyline providing a glittering backdrop, Men’s Artistic Director Véronique Nichanian showed Hermès’ Men’s Winter 2025 show for Asia in a way that paid homage, not pastiche to the Hong Kong scene and her culturally savvy inhabitants.
The looks were beautifully measured, ensuring that even those who hated math at school must now look upon geometry with new respect as Nichanian’s precise cuts and colorways reached deep into the House’s heritage to create something fresh.
The first step on this journey was to send the cream of Hong Kong’s cultural trailblazers down the runway alongside a smattering of the world’s top male models; among them, environmental activist Sean Lee Davies, Oscar-nominated director Derek Tsang, entrepreneur Jerry Liu, Olympic fencers He Wai Hang and Cheung Siu Lun, and David Smaniotto, Managing Director of Hermès Hong Kong and Macau. Pro-tip: If ever you want a House to feel like a home, always invite the residents round to play.
Courtesy of Hermès
Courtesy of Hermès
Courtesy of Hermès
Courtesy of Hermès
Courtesy of Hermès
Courtesy of Hermès
Courtesy of Hermès
On the runway, sharp met soft and shape met crispness, the cleanly lined backdrop of Kai Tak providing a brutalistically suitable relief against which to observe the urban dynamic of men’s style moving with disciplined informality.
The spirit of the Maison’s celebrated casaque was woven throughout without becoming overwhelmingly signature. A lesser designer than Nichanian might have leaned more heavily into the House autograph, but not here, not her, not tonight.
The palette was muted – noirs, charcoals, slates, coffees, vanillas, the occasional pop of green or teal – making it all the more impactful when scarlet arrived at the party in the form of the Maxi Casaque Hood, the zipped straight-cut jacket, and gracing the shoulders of the ‘Stripe and Strike’ knitted cardigan.
Additionally, Nichanian set her audience a challenge, a game of peek-a-boo as zippered jackets and blanket-stitched parkas parted in motion to reveal a luxurious glimpse of embroidery or slinky touchable fabric peering out from beneath the layers of juxtaposition.
Velvet, rubberised calfskin, wool, shearling, satin… Fabrics were tactile, a modern embrace in architectural and undeniably masculine form. The overall effect was dynamic, one of gloriously sophisticated yet youthful dressing.
The neckline was a focus; the eye drawn by a silk scarf, funnel neck, turtleneck, a top button closed, a softly zippered gathering. The throat, as anyone who knows their chakras will tell you is the Vishuddha, the fifth chakra, associated with communication, truth, and self-expression. As an allegory, it feels right that Hermes should wrap this area in delicate swathes of fabric, a suggestion if it were needed, that talking softly, gently, and with intent to understand is key to moving forward.
Courtesy of Hermès
Courtesy of Hermès
It was Fyodor Dostoyevsky who said: “A society should be judged not by how it treats its outstanding citizens but by how it treats its criminals.” To parlay the novelist and philosopher’s observation into fashion terms, a show should be judged on the cultural heft of its front row. For Hermès, it more than matched the star power sent down the runway.
Triple threat Louis Koo, entrepreneurs Adrian Cheng and Jennifer Yu Cheng, brand architect Calvin Wang, fashion influencer Feiping Chang, Olympic gold medallist Guo Jingjing, actor and singer Andy Hui, rapper and artist Tyson Yoshi, musician and DJ Kayan, and cultural pioneer Kevin Poon among others, sat entranced by the show, before being snapped by the slogan della notte: ‘Hermès Ready, Set, Casaque!’
In October 2025, Nichanian announced that she will be leaving Hermès after 37 years, with her January 2026 presentation set to be her last. As far as penultimate shows go, the designer leaves a legacy that expresses confidence and belief in the transformative good of modern masculinity.
As the saying goes, ‘mi casa es su casa’. My house is your house. For Nichanian and Hermès, let it be declared: mi casaque es su casaque.
Courtesy of Hermès
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