The brightest scarf in my collection must be Au Coeur de la Vie, first designed by Aline Honoré for Hermès Spring/Summer 2007 collection. The almost fluorescent yellow border surrounds a teaming jungle of plants, flowers and wildlife in stunning shades of green, turquoise, blue, purple, red and orange. The detailing, as expected from Honoré’s work, is incredible with beautiful shading. It is a scarf to lift the mood on a gloomy day, a scarf to celebrate a sunny one. Put your sunglasses on!

Au Coeur de la Vie by Aline Honoré for Hermès

I bought my colourway of this 90cm scarf, number 13, from the Spring/Summer 2014 collection. This was a reissue of the design which had previously appeared as both a 90cm silk twill and also as a silk mousseline.

Here are some of the colourways that were made for 2014. They do come up on reseller sites and on eBay from time to time.

Au Coeur de la Vie by Aline Honoré for Hermès

The intricate details of this scarf demand close-up photos. Here are some in a slideshow – aren’t the plants and animals amazing:

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The design story:

Life is an extraordinary series of metamorphoses. Like an allegory of life itself, this scarf takes us on a incredible journey, beginning at the heart of a single living cell, and ending among the branches at the tops of the very tallest trees in the equatorial rain forest. From the infinitely tiny to the infinitely great… The forest canopy is an expanse of greenery reaching into the empty sky – all that lies between it and the sun. Remote and inaccessible, it is beyond the reach of man: this is the realm of the imagination of Nature herself. The incredible, rich tapestry of fauna and flora is protected by its great height. The fabulous, living treasure-house holds innumerable undiscovered secrets. The heaving swell of dense, luxuriant vegetation is the setting for innumerable encounters and adventures. Chameleons, monkeys, parrots, humming birds and tiny lemurs busy themselves amid orchid flowers and flesh-eating plants, leaping or flying from vine to vine. Energy is the heart of life.

I think, in my case, the scarf looks best against my cobalt cotton jumper or plain blue, navy, white, teal or turquoise t-shirts. Although this image is a bit blurred (I took it with my old  iPad), I must admit that I like this selfie. Well, I had just come back from the hairdresser!

Au Coeur de la Vie

And here is a collage that I have shown before showing how I might wear this gorgeous scarf:

Au Coeur de la Vie – Hermès – collage #01

You can highlight the yellow border or minimise it according to the way it is tied:

Au Coeur de la Vie – scarf ties

Scarf ties clockwise from the top left: asymmetric wrap, asymmetric wrap reversed, necklace tie, simple bias tie, criss-cross knot, half-bow knot, cowboy cowl knot, cowl knot. I was wearing my new purple sapphire vest from Lands’ End when I tied these – phew it was hot! Some are tied using a MaiTai horn scarf ring.

Links

I have been able to find a few mentions of this wonderful scarf on the web:

Hermesology: Au Coeur de la Vie (2007)
Some information about the 2007 version of the scarf.

HSCI Hermès Scarf Photo Catalogue: Aline Honore
You can see more colourways of the scarf here.

Le Parisien Magazine: Carre d’as dans l’atelier d’Hermès
Article about the making of the scarf – in French.

MaiTai’s Picture Book: Au Coeur de la Vie search results
MaiTai has modelled her mousseline version in several posts on her blog. Here are the search results.

I hope you have found this Scarf of the Moment post both useful and interesting. Please let me know if you find other information or links that I could add to this page. I am always happy to learn and share!

Best wishes,

❤️💙💛💜💚