Store Profile: Hermès Madison for Men

690 Madison Ave.

Style: Definitively French.

Known For: Leather and silk

Step into Hermès’ new men’s store, the company’s first ever men’s-only store, and you enter a world of luxury. First floor: perfumes, some suits, and watches. Gorgeous ties line the walls to the right, racks of shirts and sweaters line the walls to the left. It’s a waste of time to talk about the quality here: this is Hermès. In the middle of the floor, glass cases enclose small leather goods as if to suggest these are part of a museum exhibit. They might as well be. Among the leather in these cases: wallets, all sorts of accessories, and a baseball glove going for $8,500. The highest-end French retailer decided that if you’re coming stateside, you may as well embrace some truly American things — such as the country’s past time. We’re not debating the glove’s craftsmanship, but we’re not afraid to say it’s brutally over the top. No one wants to be the kid on the team with the Hermès baseball glove. But hey, it’s pretty fun.

A flight upstairs takes you to some knitwear, sportswear, and larger leather goods. A gorgeous briefcase for an arm and a leg.

One more story and the show really starts. The gorgeous suiting stands prominent, beautiful sporty jackets, luxurious outerwear. You touch the green seersucker jacket and instantly understand what super-luxe really means.

We chatted up one of the employees, an incredibly kind and knowledgeable man who was more than willing to help. We asked about the made to measure program and he showed the way upstairs.

And it truly is in the made to measure program that service and quality come together. You can get just about everything cut to your liking: ties come in a normal size and extra long and you choose the fabric. Cashmere sweaters will be sized to your liking in a fabric of your liking. Suits are a given, and start at $5,500 — but they are absolutely stunning. Choose from an array of fabrics, talk with the lovely lady for some help, and take a seat in some plush leather sofas to soak it all in. Custom shirts are cut with unbelievable amounts of care, sized while the test shirt is on your body (which is better than what many shirt-makers call “bespoke” shirt-making these days, where you send in a few measurements — not to say that’s not a viable alternative). Sure, a shirt will take about 8 weeks to be ready for you, but at this quality, there really isn’t a rush. And of course, if you decided that you’d rather pass up an additional apartment and instead snag a custom crocodile jacket, feel free to drop over 120,000 bones to have it done. Because Hermès will do it.

It’s really no surprise that you get what you pay for here. Service and quality are the crème de la crème.

What to Get Here: Suiting, leathers, silks, service

What Not to Get Here: Shoes. The retailer, known for housing John Lobb shoes, seems to only be carrying their bizarre Parisian sporty shoes, unless we missed something.

Price Range:  Ha!

Overall Rating: 9.9/10

photos by GQ