Collection SS2016: Bain de Mer

Jean-Louis Clerc met Robert Dumas in 1950, when the artist was in his forties, with a string of prestige collaborations to his name.  Clerc went on to create a dozen carrés with the house of Hermès.  Bain de mer is based on an original drawing belonging to Jean-Louis Clerc’s family. 

The decade is the 1950s. On a deserted beach, a young woman in a broad-brimmed hat sits gazing at the sea. Her name is Minouche, and she is none other than the artist’s wife, captured with his characteristically lively, light touch, in just a few lines, evoking the graphic elegance of an era. Duplicated here, the drawing suggests a strip of vintage film, a sweet souvenir of summer, the kind we warm to on a cold winter night.

Collection SS2015: Paddock

Jean-Louis Clerc was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland, in 1908.  He studied architecture and fine art in Zurich, Geneva and finally Stockholm, developing his characteristic graphic style: a fine, lively line with delicate touches of color, earning a string of prestigious clients for his distinctive illustrations.  A lover of horses, and a keen racing enthusiast, he published several equestrian-themed books including "Le Prestige du cheval". 

A meeting with Robert Dumas in 1950 led to a dozen designs for Hermès scarves, including Soirée de Gala and Paddock, a lively evocation of that favorite meeting-place of racehorses and their owners, jockeys, elegant ladies and punters, before the beginning of each race.  A thicket of top-hats, broad-brimmed ladies’ hats and jockeys’ silk caps… Captured here with such immediacy, we might almost hear the hubbub of conversation.

Collection FW2010: Soirée de Gala

This week I continued my exploration of the City of London, and while the museums were great and the food tasty, the epitome of the culture I found at the Royal Opera House, at Covent Garden.  It was by chance that I had such an incredible experience.  Not only have I been lucky to come across the tickets, but also, for the big opera aficionado that I am, I got to see Rigoletto, one of my all-time favourite operas.  Needless to say, the experience was truly unforgettable, and not as much for the venue where the artists performed, as for the staging.  The sheer number of singers provided both an insight into what the court of an Italian Duke would have likely looked like, and a depth to the performance (voice-wise) unmatched in many a performance.

"Soirée de Gala" ("Gala Party") is a rendition of the scene (read: commotion) in front of the (old) Opera House in Paris (Opera Garnier) with an arriving patron descending from a coach, other greeting and exchanging pleasantries on the steps of the imposing building, richly ornate to match the grandeur of the upcoming spectacle.

Issued originally in 1950, this design was recently relaunched in 2006 and, more recently, as part of the Fall/Winter 2010 collection.  Jean-Louis Clerc, the artist behind this rendition, created other designs for the Maison, such as Armenonville (of 1961) where his "signature" style is obvious.  

The scene leaves you anticipating excitedly the lifting of the curtain, just as the scarf, wonderfully wrapped around someone's neck and revealing - intriguingly- only brief snippets of the performance leaves you ever so mesmerized...

For added excitement, I'm attaching below a picture featured by Hermes in its fashion magazine.  The scarf depicted in the picture is of cashmere, with fringes - a beautiful scarf that can be decidedly unisex with the right accessories (such as a pair of masculine boots, or possibly a "rough"-looking beard).