Esquire.
The Wizard of Oz is never who you think he (or she) is. And inside Paris, the emerald city of fashion, behind a curtain in a fitting room, on the third floor above the famed Hermès store on rue Faubourg St. Honoré and rue Boissy d’Anglas, stands a petite brunette with dark bangs who’s been driving men’s fashion for the past three decades as chief designer for menswear at Hermes.
Five US presidents, four French presidents have come and gone, young designers have skyrocketed and cratered, luxury houses have been bought, sold or filed for bankruptcy, and yet Veronique Nichanian endures – still designing suits, jackets, shirts, anything she thinks will help a man express himself better.
And just like the Wizard of Oz, Veronique’s goals is to let everyman find his own courage, brain, or heart when it comes to style. Because to her, a man’s wardrobe should be an extension of himself. Fashion errors to her are charming (because they show audacity and guts). Clothes should mimic how you live, and no, don’t ask her if she’s in “la mode,” because she’s not. “I make clothes. It’s different.”
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Hermès’s DNA comes from it’s old horse saddle days. It’s a low-key house with nothing to prove and nobody to impress, and within this environment, Veronique has thrived, blessed with quality materials and the ultimate luxury for any designer, time. Everything is in the texture which Veronique thinks gives her clothing an emotional element. They have identities, sometimes double identities, where jackets turn inside out, secret pockets lurk inside blazers, and the feel and fit of an item is as important as the cut and the form.
Veronique wants you to see the object over the long haul. And don’t worry. That Hermès leather jacket will be here long after you’re gone. Veronique probably will as well. She’s fashion’s diminutive wizard, one who shuns the red carpets and the celebrity hob knobbing, content instead to crank out beauty twice a year, from her small perch atop the kingdom of men’s fashion.
But don’t let the daunting reputation fool you. Just walk up and tell Veronique what you want. Chances are she’ll grant your wish.