In the world of French luxury brands, who does not know the name Hermès? It’s a brand that I particularly like because of their integrity and work ethic. This is a French fashion house that did not outsource the manufacturing of their signature creations. The problem nowadays is that even high fashion brands started manufacturing some of their articles in countries where it is less burdensome on the wallet than in their own country. Luxury tastes a lot more different.
Hermès is mostly known for the bags. Other than that, every French girl owns at least one of the famous scarves. The carré (square) is a type of scarf that one could wear on the neck or tied on the bag. It gives flavor to every classic outfit and personalizes bags that are too “ordinary”. This December the fashion house invites everyone to dive into the universe of its carré and meet the illustrators behind it.
We arrive at “Le Carreau du Temple” (Temple square) in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. For every French speaking guest the wordplay is obvious and we enter with a little smile. Right after the entrance everyone is invited to leave their mark. After all, in modern days this is the goal that we all chase – leave something behind us. The art piece is surprisingly interesting. I rarely give credit to such a creation, but in this case it was very well color coordinated and even though many different people with different aesthetic views have collaborated, the final result was magnificent.
A couple of counters were dedicated to the capsule collection of Hermès with limited edition scarves and more. There was also a bar that summons everyone to take a glass of wine and discuss the elegance that is surrounding us. In the Carré Park the visitors could watch a skateboard show. In some of the booths, one could pick up the phone and hear stories, secrets and more. Sadly, the phones that I picked up were broken and there is no Hermès secret that I could reveal. Maybe that was the whole point?
The most interesting part of the event for me was the Carré Studio. A dozen counters were showing different artists and their techniques while creating scarves. The first one that cached my eye was Daiske Nomura. Through very fast and sharp movements, we could follow the creation of a dragon design. It was exciting to watch the inspiration flow through the artist.
Octave Marsal & Theo de Gueltzl are behind a very unusual design. They both left a mark on this one and that’s why the title says “4 hand scarfs”. Mr Marsal centers his art around the notion of utopia, inspired by architectural drawings. He creates large spaces and imaginary cities that arise from nowhere or that sometimes refer to specific geographical areas, urban or desert. The peonies are made by Mr De Gueltzl.
There were many interesting techniques to observe. Here are some pictures of the process of evolving a design and drawing inspiration from different and seemingly random items. The results are mesmerizing. Most people do not think about the process and only consume the final product. Knowing the whole story gives more value to these creations and make them even more special.
Out of the Shoe Box 