Bonjour les amis!
If you have always dreamt about those gorgeous Hermès silk scarves but never got the bank account to afford it, don't despair...your dream might come true. Now, I'm probably the only Parisian sharing the info with you but that's what friends do, correct :)? So here is one of the best kept secrets in the city of fashion...twice a year (usually end of January and end of June) the famous French house holds private sales. Hermès never sells off in its boutiques (sales and luxury not the right combo lol) so you will have to go to the Palais des Congrès to find your object of deisre...at 50% off!!
But before I tell you more, here is a quick reminder for those who are not familiar with the orange luxury brand.
How it all started?
Hermès opened a shop in 1837, specializing in the horse harness’s for carriage fittings. Hermès’s vision of the horse and fine equipage remains the bottom line vision of the brand still today; luxurious leathers, masculine tailoring, heavy hardware and the stitch that will ultimately structure the accessories that keep Hermes a household name. The saddle stitch, which can only be performed by hand, is the stitch in the Kelly, Constance and Birkin still today and if done properly, will never come undone.
By the time the second generation of the Hermès family took over the business in 1880, they moved Hermès to 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, it’s flagship ever since. It is said that royals coronations were delayed if the Hermès carriage fittings were not finished, thus the famous Hermès wait was born!
In the late 70′s, Hermès introduced the Kelly, named after Grace Kelly, hiding her pregnancy from the press with an Hermes ‘Kelly’ bag.
In the 1984, famed fashionista, Jane Birkin complained of the lack of the perfect travel bag to her seat mate, Jean-Louis Hermès. The ‘Birkin’ was sent to her the same week; igniting the ever growing Birkin bag trend.
Carré Hermès
The scarf or carré was introduced in 1937. Contemporary Hermès scarves measure 90 cm × 90 cm, weigh 65 grams and are woven from the silk of 250 mulberry moth cocoons. All of the hems are hand-stitched. Scarf motifs are wide-ranging, Two silk-scarf collections per year are released, along with some reprints of older designs and limited editions.
Since 1937, Hermès has produced over 2,000 unique designs; the horse motif is particularly famous and popular. An Hermès scarf is sold somewhere in the world every 25 seconds; by the late 1970s more than 1.1 million scarves had been sold worldwide.
How to hit the battlefield?
Back to our sales...now don't get over excited, you won't be able to find ALL the Hermès collection ie, forget the handbags and H belts but scarves, ties, bracelets ready to wear, shoes homewear and small accessories are all there! All items are sorted by categories on different corners. As you can imagine, the crowd is huge and crazy so my best advice is to dash to your favorite item categorie section...because you will have to line up there too :(. Obvioulsy the scarf, tie and bracelet corners are the busiest so hit them first before everything is sold out :).
Now that you've got your precious piece of silk, how do you wear it?
The next step is to learn how to tie your scarf. There are plenty of ways to wear your scarf and Hermès has come up with a very helpful app available on smartphones and tablets...you'll learn all the secrets of silk knots! Enjoy!
And for those you can't download the app here is the Hermes Scarf Cards.
bisous!