Grace Wales Bonner, the prodigal British designer whose work moves between sartorial precision and cultural themes, has been appointed Creative Director of Hermès Menswear. Her arrival marks the close of Véronique Nichanian’s remarkable 37-year tenure and opens a quieter, deeper chapter for the iconic French Maison. Earlier in her career, she named Hermès as a house she would have loved to work for.

Wales Bonner’s practice has always been about cross-polination of ideas, between continents, between modes of being. At her 2019 Serpentine exhibition, A Time for New Dreams, she transformed the gallery into a spiritual archive: sound, literature, and ritual entwined with textile and gesture. That exhibition distilled what has since defined her language: an art of communion.

At Hermès, she joins Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski, who continues to lead womenswear. Together, they embody a rare duality within the house: two women shaping the language of one of fashion’s oldest dynasties, each articulating a vision of modern grace grounded in craft.

This appointment is more than historic, though few women, and fewer Black women, have ever helmed a major menswear atelier. It is symbolic of a fantastic shifting sensibility. Wales Bonner just made history.

Wales Bonner’s first collection for Hermès will arrive in January 2027. Between now and then, she will immerse herself in the maison’s archives, listening to its tempo, tracing its threads. Congratulations to her.

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