THE WOMAN BEHIND THE HERMÈS MAN THERE ARE SIX LARGE JARS in Véronique Nichanian's office, lined up in a row near her desk, where, during idle moments, she can look up and ponder their contents. They're stuffed with brightly colored bits of fabric—one has various shades of blue, another yellows, the next greens. They're mood jars, of sorts. Nichanian is obsessed with textiles and color, and these vessels, she says, have been with her for years. She pulls a clump of thread from one as if it's a jewel, and in a sense, it is. If these are the palettes that excite her—a woman with immaculate taste, a fastidious eye, and ranging curiosity, who has remained perched atop the menswear tree for nearly four decades at one of France's finest…
