Few accessories have the luxurious air, unmistakable quality, and zeitgeisty ubiquity of the simple Hermès carré, the square-shaped silk scarf worn by the likes of Queen Elizabeth II, Grace Kelly, and Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
Conceived by Robert Dumas, son-in-law of Émile-Maurice Hermès, this simple, handmade object is recognizable throughout the world for its bright colors, signature artistry, and profusion of designs. First produced in 1937 — exactly a century after the maison was founded — the humble silk scarf (and other textile accessories) was responsible for some 210 EUR of revenue in the third quarter of 2023. Not bad for an accessory derived from mulberry moth cocoons!
The Genesis of the Hermès Silk Scarf
Portrait of Émile-Maurice Hermès - (Image by Wikipedia)
Son of a German mother and a French father, Thierry Hermès was born in Germany in 1801 and moved to France in 1828. In 1837 he established his eponymous harness workshop in Paris, making bridles, harnesses, and other accessories for the carriage business. In 1880, his son Charles-Émile inherited the maison’s directorship and moved it from the Grand Boulevards quarter to 24 rue du Faubourd Saint-Honoré in the 8th arrondissement, where it is still headquartered today.
In the 1920s, fourth-generation Hermès director Émile-Maurice began expanding the business beyond its equestrian roots into accessories and clothing, bringing his three sons-in-law into the fold as partners. It was his son-in-law Robert Dumas who, in 1937, designed the first silk carré, — a move that would have a profound effect upon the Parisian atelier. Produced from imported Chinese silk, it was made from mulberry moth cocoons and printed using a woodblock. Its motif, dubbed Jeu des Omnibus et Dames Blanches, was designed by Dumas and Hugo Grygkar, a German-born artist from a Czech family who contributed many of the maison’s early scarf designs.
Jeu des omnibus et dames blanches, the original Hermès silk scarf - (Image by Hermès)
This initial scarf — which showed women playing a popular period game while surrounded by the horse-drawn carriages of two competing Parisian coach companies, “Omnibus” and “Dames Blanches” — measured 90 cm square and was produced entirely by Hermès in a largely vertically-integrated process that will be familiar to modern fans of the maison: After importing raw Chinese silk — today, it’s grown on the brand’s own farms in Brazil — the material was spun, waved, and printed by Hermès artisans, after which its hems were hand-stitched. In fact, Hermès established a dedicated silk production facility in Lyon, where it continues to make scarves today.
Princess Grace of Monaco — aka American actress Grace Kelly — wearing an Hermès scarf as a sling aboard Aristotle Onassis’s yacht in 1959 - (Image by Respoke)
It wasn’t long before Parisian (as well as British and American) high society adopted the silk carré, which could be worn in a wide variety of ways: Queen Elizabeth II of England wore hers over her hair, while Princess Grace of Monaco (American-born actress Grace Kelly) was famously snapped boarding Aristotle Onassis’s yacht in 1959 with her arm slung in an Hermès scarf. (She had supposedly suffered a painful wasp sting some days earlier.) Jacqueline Kennedy sported one in 1962 while watching the America’s Cup with her husband, President John F. Kennedy; Audrey Hepburn likewise frequently wore one over her hair, as did French actress Catherine Deneuve. (Today, the full-size carré is also worn as a tube top, while smaller versions are used to accessorize the handles of the company’s Birkin and other bags.)
Production of an Hermès Scarf
The manufacturing process of an Hermès scarf - (Image by Lifestyle Asia)
From the initial Jeu des Omnibus et Dames Blanches, a flood of designs and variations have formed a collection constituting a significant piece of Hermès annual revenue. The ideation and production process for these carrés is long and pain-staking but results in a product with few or no equals within the luxury market. Indeed, while silk scarves are themselves a ubiquitous accessory, it is specifically the Hermès silk scarf that most readily comes to mind when picturing one.
Brides de Gala en Fleurs scarf 90, designed by Christine Henry based on Hugo Grygkar - (Image by Hermès)
The maison releases two main scarf collections per year (spring and fall) each totaling roughly 12 designs; these are picked from those submitted by 50-odd freelance designers whom the house regularly contracts to dream up its silk accessories. Once the winning motifs are selected, they are scanned into a computer system in one of the rare digital steps in the production process. Colors are selected from 70,000 available options, and up to 15 colorways are designed for each scarf, from which just a handful are produced. Scarf designs can use over 30 different colors, each of which is screen-printed using its own engraved screen onto high-grade 6A silk grown on the brand’s farms in Brazil. (A 90cm carré, which weighs 65 grams, consists of silk from some 250 mulberry moth cocoons.) Each piece is finished with a 15mm hand-stitched hem and perfect 90-degree corners, after which it is given a silk tag. Upon purchase, it is wrapped in tissue and boxed in the maison’s famed orange box.
It’s little wonder, then, that the production of a single design — when including its ideation, color selection, screen engraving, screen printing, and hand-stitching — can take hundreds upon hundreds of hours of production, with each artisan undergoing up to two years of training before they can begin working for the maison. Up to 18 months can pass during this process, but the results are well worth the effort: The fanciful designs, many of which incorporate equestrian motifs, are printed with vivid, colorful inks on heavy, hard-wearing silk finished with attention to detail that few companies would allocate to simple accessories. In fact, these scarves are so vivid — and so much like pieces of art — that the brand sells a magnetic device that can be used to hang them on the wall like posters.
The Significance of the Hermès Scarf
Mythologies des Hommes scarf by American artist Kermit Oliver for Hermès - (Image by Toomey & Co)
Hermès scarves are available in numerous sizes and can thus be worn in wide variety of ways: While smaller Losange, Triangle, and Twilly versions are perfect for accessorizing bag handles or for wearing around the neck or in one’s hair, the larger 45cm, 55cm, are smaller versions of the original Carré, and the 70cm, 90cm, and 140cm constitute the brand’s true scarf offerings. (Though the very first carré measured 90cm, the maison re-released the Jeu des Omnibus et Dames Blanches in 2007 in a then-new 70cm size in celebration of the scarf’s 70th anniversary.)
Since 1937, Hermès has produced over 2,000 designs; due to their limited nature, many hold their value exceptionally well over time, with certain examples fetching thousands of dollars at auction. The 150-plus artists who have contributed designs sometimes sign their work with a hidden signature and sometimes leave no mark at all. There has only been one American artist commissioned by Hermès to design scarves: Kermit Oliver, a painter whose beautiful, vivid works celebrate Native American and natural themes, lead a quiet life as a U.S. Postal mail sorter for some 30 years alongside his artistic career.
Emile et Une Nuit scarf 90 - (Image by Hermès)
Today, nearly 90 years after the debut of the first carré, the Hermès silk scarf continues to serve multiple inspired purposes: A fashion accessory, to be sure, it is also a (relatively) affordable entry point into a brand whose ready-to-wear collections and custom homeware can run in the tens — or hundreds — of thousands of dollars. More importantly, the carré is a wearable canvas for the work of hundreds of talented artists around the world whose designs explore not only equestrian themes, but also celebrate the beauty of Paris, speak to the history of the American west, and encapsulate the creative ambitions of humanity.
