31 Oct

Patchwork (2004)

Designer: no artist is attributed but it’s the idea of Bali Barret, the head of the Hermes silk dept

Year: Fall 2004

seton says: This was the original Carre en Carres. It came in 2 forms – 36″ square and a stole (etole). Both retailed for US $500+. They were literally five strips of different scarves machine-sewn with whip stitching together, finished with a Hermes handrolled hem and a bolduc loop attached. I found the bolduc loop handy to loop the scarf through but did thought the dichonomy of the machine and hand sewn within the same carre very strange.

The Patchwork came in two basic combinations and 2 or 3 colorways each. There was the Couvertures/Tigre Royal/Brides de Gala/H Cinetique/Pani combo (which was the one used for Carre en Carres) and the H Cinetique/Mors et Gourmettes/Caleche Elastique/Monde/Bouteilles combo.

Since Hermes was using actual stripes of scarves, there were variations even if you got the same combo and same colorway. For example, with the last strip with the Pani la Shar Pawnee, sometimes the edge with the corners were used and sometimes the middle was used. Compare my pic of the Patchwork with the Carre en Carres.

From Hermes:
Hermes is constantly exploring new treatments of silk — different sizes (twilly, pochette, carre, PM/GM), different materials (silk/cotton voile, silk/cashmere, silk mousseline/chiffon), and different styles (plisse, the new ‘glam’ lames). For a brief time, Hermes experimented with ‘patchwork’ scarves — sewing together swatches of different scarves to make an entirely new creation. This concept has recently been updated with this season’s “Carre en Carre” where the different scarves are not sewn together but printed together seamlessly.

For your viewing (and collecting!) pleasure is an authentic Hermes patchwork scarf, comprised of five individual scarves sewn together — three contemporary Bali Barret designs intermixed with two 1960s classics:

1) H Cinetique, a 2004 Bali Barret design from the ‘Soie Belle’ series of more graphic designs

2) Mors et Gourmettes, a classic Henri d’Origny design from 1961

3) Caleche Elastique, another 2004 Bali Barret design

4) Le Monde est un Fleuve (The World is One River), a 2005 Bali Barret design

5) Bouteilles a le Mer (Ships in a Bottle), a classic Pierre Peron design from 1960

Details:

Ad campaign photographed by Richard Avedon right before he passed away:

Stole version:

Pic credits: Oyveyhermes, TPF





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