Collection SS2017: Into the Canadian Wild

A beautiful depiction of the natural habitat of Canada - in all its majesty.  Limited edition in Canada, available for sale June 15, 2017.

By the talented Alice Shirley who also designed a series of scarves for Hermes, most notably Appaloosa des Steppes (SS2017), Under the Waves (SS2016), Zebra Pegasus (SS2015), Tyger Tyger, and Dans un Jardin Anglais.

Collection SS2017: Appaloosa des Steppes

This daring composition combines some of the traditional motifs of Kyrgyzstan, the mountainous country of Central Asia, with the spotted coat of an Appaloosa, the horse bred for centuries by the Nez Perce Native American tribe in the north-west of the United States. 

The motifs against which the silhouette of the animal stands out are inspired by shyrdaks, felt carpets made by Kyrgyz women according to ancestral techniques passed on from mother to daughter. 

Warm, solid, insulating, indispensable and beautiful, they form one of the great riches of nomadic life.  The illustrator Alice Shirley took pains to faithfully reproduce the legacies of this little-known culture.

Collection SS2016: Under The Waves

 Alice Shirley pays tribute to the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s biggest coral reef, off the coast of Queensland in northern Australia.  The reef is the largest living organic structure on Earth.  It features on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, and is home to a fascinating abundance of fauna. 

The living coral ‘sculptures’ attract a multitude of marine species, in an endless ballet of forms and colours.  The sea turtle swims to Milman Islet, a small island off the far north of Queensland, to may its eggs.  The leafy sea dragon takes shelter among the fronds of seaweed, while the mandarin fish busies itself hunting for plankton.  Each owes its existence to the fragile balance of this extraordinary ecosystem.

Collection SS2015: Zebra Pegasus (Gavroche)

Colour variations on the same theme - Zebra Pegasus

Collection SS2015: Zebra Pegasus

A graduate of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and The Prince’s Drawing School in London, Alice Shirley is a frequent collaborator with the city’s Natural History Museum.  Fascinated by the myth of Pegasus, and the famously untameable African zebra, Alice Shirley reinvents the classical legend, transporting it to southern Africa.

The celestial mount of Zeus brought forth the fountain of the Muses with a kick of his hoof, and was turned into a constellation by the king of the gods.  Here, he swaps his immaculate white coat for the two-tone pattern of his close equine cousins.  Completing this highly original portrait, his magnificent wings turn flaming orange, echoing the plumage of African parrots.

Has his metamorphosis given Pegasus the power of speech, like them? We cannot know…

Collection SS2015: Un Jardin Anglais

Keeping in line with Hermes 2015 theme, "Un Jardin anglais" ("an English garden") is most appropriate both for a place to wonder around admiring the surroundings, and for the design to transport us into the magic of nature.

The colours are unapologetically strong, making this design a strong statement piece.