Soft monochrome browns, flashes of green and airy textures outline a collection built for summer.
Véronique Nichanian opened “Summer in the City,” the Hermès Spring 2026 menswear collection, with an exercise in weightlessness. Leather, usually its densest signal, appeared laced with air: bomber jackets, T-shirts and trousers came in open-work calfskin whose geometric grid let daylight stream through, much like sunlight slipping between the beams of a garden pergola.
Silhouettes loosened without slouch. Jackets stopped just above the hip, volumes broadened, and trousers skimmed the leg before meeting open-toe sandals with rope soles that lengthened the line. Technical canvas, crisp yet pliable, surfaced in shirt-jackets that hovered between blouson and wind-breaker. When evening arrived it did so quietly: double-breasted shantung jackets and silk-twill shirts with offset pleats replaced black with grays as soft as river stones retaining sunset warmth on the Seine’s edge.
Soft browns dominated, interrupted by flickers of green, while hammered satin, cashmere and plume nubuck moved close to the body, keeping pace with the wearer. A rounded collar, almost fragile, framed the neck with the gentleness of a scarf.
Accessories remained calm. A bandana trimmed in fringe-cut leather brushed the chest, and silver-linked bracelets echoed Clou de Forge hardware. Bags in plume H-canvas and Barénia calfskin carried archival Fast Poudré or Singes prints, their controlled shapes mirroring the collection’s poise.
Nichanian’s light-touch tailoring stretched to reversible parkas in water-repellent cotton madras and oversized jackets in spinnaker canvas, each edged by contrast stitching recalling harness lines. Formal needs were met by double-breasted suits in crisp wool canvas, high waists, pleated legs, balanced by belted-back blousons cut from the same cloth.
Texture spoke louder than color. Plume-nubuck blousons lined with printed silk, open-work linen–cashmere pullovers, and a sleeveless high-collar gilet in matte crocodile showed that luxury skins can breathe. The wardrobe moves easily from Métro platform to rooftop supper without a change of stride.
Amid the season’s louder gestures, Nichanian’s measured approach sounded like a whisper cutting through carnival noise, reminding Paris that quiet shifts in cut, fabric and proportion can reframe classic codes for life on sun-soaked boulevards.
