All of last week, the Hermès store in Horniman Circle was transformed into a playful, whimsical area reminiscent of their new La Maison des Carrés website. An origami artist, Hermès tattoos and a photo booth, all added to the delightful mise-en-scène, to display the newest renditions of the Hermès classic—the scarf.
Over the last few years, the Hermès scarf, once a bastion of elegant ladies (read, those of a certain age) has now become the coolest accessory with its many avatars. From the classic squares to the bandanas, pareos, the twillys and the maxi twillys, there are so many ways to wrap this beautiful piece of silk, that Hermès has launched a dedicated app, tutorial videos and a site devoted to just the scarf.
Vogue caught up with Bali Barret, the deputy artistic director for Hermès women's collection, while she was in Mumbai (on her way to Jaipur) to celebrate the La Carrés, to talk about her latest project and tell us where she thinks the scarf is headed next.
Wondering how many ways can you wear the classic Hermès scarf? If Bali Barret has her way, it will go into the hundreds.
What was the idea behind creating this whimsical, doll-like home?
We had done a few pop-up physical stores around the world to show our silks and I was very keen for the next move to be digital. It's the perfect way to showcase the scarf. On the web, you can either dream or buy, it's rare to have both. So my idea was to have a fantasy world but to be able to buy.
Is there a particular room that's your favourite?
What I like with the filters is that you can really build your own house. You can design it. So using the filters, if I want a giant scarf in red in the botanical theme, you can design the room yourself. It becomes yours very quickly. It's very interesting to build a website because you are thinking of the behavior and mixing it with the editorial aspect. It's about having fun and having a great variety. When you travel, in different Hermès stores you will see certain selections of the scarves, but this is the first time you will see such a variety. Currently, we have scarves from three seasons, so we would have approximately a thousand designs at a time.
How do you decide which ones you want to include?
It's really like a magazine. We decide which ones we want to enhance, what is visual, and where there is a narrative. It's very hard for me to chose but I love the La Maison des Carrés scarf that was created once we finished the site, we wanted to showcase the process of making the scarf, and in that scarf you have all the key people, including Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Axel Dumas and myself! It's fun; it's like a family photo.
Given Hermès' focus on tradition, digital in the form of this platform and other apps related to scarves in particular have been extremely popular.
The app was a natural. The knotting tips have been in the house for a long time; I changed them to cards when I joined, it was more playful, and then to have them in motion, it seemed obvious. The Hermès philosophy has always been about being contemporary. In people's minds the house is classic and traditional, but our way of working is a reflection of the times. And the scarf is really about that—it's about re-editing archival pieces but also about modernity. We wanted the site to look like a house in order to represent the tradition, and keeping the link with history alive.
The scarf has really made a comeback. What role does it have in a woman's wardrobe now?
When a product becomes an icon, it can be paralyzing. When I first joined Hermès over 15 years ago, the scarf was at that stage. No one wanted to touch it. Everyone adored it but they were not sure if they want to wear it—so they keep it in boxes in their cupboards. The idea was to really stop that and bring it to life again. So it wasn't just about making it modern, but making it cooler, and taking it out of the cupboards. So how do you do that? The first idea was to do a street style shoot—which was a new concept at that time. We used different real girls, and message was that they are young, cool, edgy, trendy and they are wearing Hermès scarves. We had a great response. At that time, the standard was the classic 90X90 size but we started adding different shapes and sizes. Now, I just watch women in the streets, and take cues from them, especially the young ones, they are the most daring. Soon, we will have over a 100 ways of wearing the scarf!
Which are your favourite ways?
I am very versatile but I love the idea of a dress made of scarves, especially the giant scarves. It's very modern. You can wear them as a pareo, skirt, layered around the neck. We also just did a boyish knot with the twillys, its almost like a tie. I love the bandanna in the hair, but I also like it when it's very excessive—when girls take 10 or 12 of their scarves, twist and roll them and wear in layers. It's beautiful. For next season, we have also done a little bow tie, it's very cool, but I would recommend the Silk Knot app as a great inspiration tool.
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