Paradise Found

A beautiful Hermes Scarf becomes a pillow.

Times change. Places change. Styles change – however, an Hermes scarf is forever.

When I moved to New York City in 1979 it seemed to me that the piece de resistance was a full length fur coat. Around that time, the fashion was a full length down coat – and I had one, but the dream of the fur lingered.

I purchased my first mink coat in 1980. It was second hand and white. I was talked into purchasing it by two older ladies in my office who took me to their furrier and I am sure they received some kind of a kickback for a coat that would never sell! Any case I only wore it a few times, and was always uncomfortable wearing it , I knew it was not for me – really, a white mink coat??

A few years passed while still coveting the long (almost to the floor) mink in mahogany, with a standup collar. And in 1986 I purchased a brand new one from Bloomingdale’s Fur Department. It was a monumental purchase but one I thought well worth it and it kept me warm! It had the stand up collar and full sleeves with banded cuffs. Tres chic – and always worn with a scarf to protect the fur from fragrance.

On my birthday in 1987, my dear friend, Guy Lawrence gave me a beautiful Hermes scarf as a birthday gift. The scarf was blue and tan and had a hunting theme. It was entitled Chen Au Rapport, and designed in 1987 by Carl de Perceval. In those days I almost exclusively shopped Bloomingdale’s because of my employee discount and had very little knowledge of Hermes scarves. But I knew as soon as I saw the orange box with the brown cotton ribbon, that I was hooked. The scarf look fabulous with the fur!

And so, I purchased another and another and most of the time authentically, at the original store in Paris. The Chen Au Rapport was borrowed by my daughter when we both lived in New York and she lost it in a cab! I was heartbroken. A duplicate was no where to be found as a replacement but the closest scarve to the blue and green of the original was Pampas – and Guy Lawrence purchased it as a replacement for me. He knew how much I loved the scarf and how heartbroken I was when it was gone.

In those days and still today, when you go to the scarves counter at Hermes and pick one from the vitrine to view, the salesperson throws the scarf open in front of you on the counter. I can remember the first time I went to shop at Hermes in Paris – I waited in line to get my chance to choose scarves to consider for purchase. Whatever you selected was tossed and thrown to open up – and then carefully folded and put back in the vitrine if not selected. My first purchase was Rubens de Chevalier designed in 1993 by Joachim Metz. It was black background scarf with multi-colored bows. I was thrilled. The purchase lead to others over the years and I loved each one. So many different colors to wear with cashmere sweaters in the winter – and to tuck inside of the fur. All with their boxes and ribbon and Hermes shopping bags.

These days vintage and rare Hermes scarves are sought after. There is a very large following on Facebook – some of the page members are true collectors and have many – I would not consider myself a collector – just a lover of Hermes scarves (actually of Hermes anything).

We all know that fur coats have totally gone out of style – and there are no longer fur departments in any of the luxury stores, but Hermes Scarves are still here to stay. They are sold exclusively in Hermes stores, although the choices are limited outside of Paris.

Today, the mahogany fur is long gone, but the Hermes scarves in their boxes have traveled from Paris to New York, to Tampa, to Austin to New York and finally to Sarasota where is it almost never cool enough to wear a cashmere sweater and Hermes scarf.

One morning I was online and noticed a site – Vintage Luxup – that sold lumbar pillows made from Hermes Scarves and they were so beautiful! I reviewed the site and realized that the owner of the business was a former colleague of mine, David Altman, from Bloomingdale’s. And from there we started a project that involved two of my most prized scarves. David was a delight to reconnect with and his group created beautiful pillows for me!

Bolduc is a very rare and now expensive scarf – it is orange covered in crossings of the brown Hermes ribbon. I’ve been told that the ribbon is a street map of Paris but I have never confirmed that information. It was given to me in probably 1992 by my daughter Karin and my son Larry as a Christmas gift. I just love the scarve and have worn it many times in many locations – even in Paris.

Kosmima is also rare, in my scarf color – olive green. It is covered with gold jewelry of very sort and was designed in 1994 and purchased shortly thereafter in Paris. I wore the scarf on my last trip to Paris with my dear friend, Judy Daniel. And too, even though there is no more fur coat and it is too warm in Sarasota, I purchased Bracelet du Lumiere by Annie Faivre. It is in its box in my bureau drawer and has never been worn.

Judy and Karin are two of my most favorite people on earth so this past summer I decided I would have my Bolduc made into a lumbar pillow for Karin and the Kosmima made into a lumbar pillow for Judy. Both have birthdays in the Fall.

The ladies have received their gifts and so appreciate the sentimentality. I couldn’t have been more happy to see my favorite Hermes scarves out of their boxes and showing off their beauty on a sofa or across a bed.

Times change, places change and styles change, but an Hermes Scarf is an Hermes Scarf and will be treasured forever. And this year, I hope the winter will bring cool enough temperatures for me to finally wear the Bracelet du Lumiere.

Till next time!