HERMÈS MENSWEAR FINDS POISE BETWEEN HERITAGE AND NOW

There is a strange intimacy in watching a runway show online. You lose the thrum of the crowd — the collective intake of breath when the lights go down — but you gain something else: the privilege of detail. The camera lingers where the eye might wander — not just silhouettes, but the way a hem lifts, a sleeve folds. Freed from the need to capture it on your phone, you can simply watch.

- CHECHE V. MORAL

That's how I encountered Hermès' Winter 2025 menswear show, streamed from Hong Kong, a city already humming with its own cadence, now momentarily aligned with the measured rhythm of Véronique Nichanian's vision.

The collection's title, "Ready-Set-Casaque!," signaled its starting point. The casaque, the racing jersey, is a symbol of equestrian tradition — a motif Hermès has long cherished. But here, refracted through the screen, it felt less like nostalgia and more like reinvention. Stripes and bold blocks of color punctuated the show like racing flags flashes of urgency against an otherwise subdued canvas of browns, grays, and charcoals. The effect on video was almost cinematic — moments of stillness interrupted by jolts of color, like quick edits spliced into a steady reel.