Collection SS2016: Les Ailes pleines de joie

 Les Ailes pleines de joie (‘Wings of joy’) is a hymn to Nature. 

Fluttering between earth and sky, a cloud of butterflies haloes a tree as round and bright as planet Earth; fish seem to fly, and all is simple, bright and cheerful. Inspired by Seventies Flower Power, Ljubomir Milinkov’s carré is a delicate, witty evocation of the radiant, natural world of his childhood. Life has taken the artist far from his home village of Sovac, in Serbia. 

In 1962, age 24, he flew to Paris to pursue his dream of becoming a painter. New York beckoned, and Milinkov lived for several years in the United States before returning to France, where Jean-Louis Dumas commissioned his first carré design, Jardin enchanté, in 1986.

Collection FW2015: Brides de Gala Brodé

Brides de gala is without doubt the house's most celebrated carré.  Its subject?  The equestrian world, of course.  The flamboyantly decorative bridles, and the perfection of the composition, capture the essence of the timeless Hermès spirit. 

Its title, short and to the point, has the same, direct impact as the dazzling show bridles themselves, evoking the clink of buckles and chains to the rhythmic, majestic beat of the horses' hooves.  Leïla Menchari reinvented this classic design, having it reworked by the nimble fingers of her master embroiderers.  The sharp, detailed image took on a more sensual, velvety feel.  Framed as an element in one of Leïla's unforgettable window displays, the piece was subsequently hung in the office of Hermès president Jean-Louis Dumas, to whom she presented it, as a souvenir.

Collection FW2015: Original Trocadero Jazz Band

The Original Trocadéro Jazz Band? The name belongs to a combo featuring drummer Jean-Louis Dumas!

Four boys, the best friends in the world, share a passion for comic books and New Orleans ‘trad’ jazz. In 1948, they decide to start their own band.  The trombone player – and later, designer Sophie Koechlin’s father – sold his collection of miniature Dinky Toy cars to pay for his instrument.  ‘The best band you’ve never heard of’ featured up to ten musicians, playing up a storm on Saturday nights: Sidney Bechet’s classic ‘slow’ Si tu vois ma mère, Louis Armstrong’s much livelier Les oignons…  They knew and loved Louisiana, though they’d never set foot in the state. Inevitably, life took them in different directions, to other adventures.  But their friendship, and their love of music, remained.