What better way to go on a winter journey with Hermes than in 0 degree temperatures in Paris right now? The UNESCO building in all its glory, built in 1958, was the perfect setting for a menswear collection that offered a wardrobe of unrelentingly cool and super luxe building blocks. Lush shearlings, flannel, cashmere of course and a newfound sensuality with bare chests under deep v-cardigans. It was a coming of age perhaps after last season’s boyish innocence of pastel shorts that sauntered down cobblestone paths. Six months on and times have changed  - not so much wistfulness as the war in Ukraine reaches almost one year. Strikes are crippling Paris. The rise of fascism and the far right accelerates. But in the bubble of the fashion world and all that Hermes creates in its brilliant ateliers with craftspeople who have worked with the company - some for over 30 years – it is about endurance and a tempered abundance of excellence. Continuity, precision and confidence. A nod to the workers out there, with donkey style jackets with leather backs; a standout navy blue cashmere coat all swagger and naval splendour. The colours all up a poem in themselves: fog, coffee, caramel and gravel. A sweetly stitched Irish cable knit lending a tiny flicker of other colour.  The UNESCO building was constructed with the intention of being “a house of peace”, Hermes brought the harmony.

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