I have decided to work through all of my Scarf of the Moment posts and update them in line with the structure I used for the more recent ones. Also, as and when the scarves are reissued I will add in information about the format and images of the colourways.

This Scarf of the Moment post about Le Jardin de la Maharani was last updated on 05/01/23.

I freely admit that I am absolutely crazy about beautiful scarves. Supple silk with gorgeous patterns gives me so much pleasure and adds a great deal to my fairly practical wardrobe.

For a number of reasons – illness, retirement – I tend to wear jeans or jogging pants with a jumper or t-shirt on a daily basis. As I spend so much time either in bed or sitting around at home, these are comfortable and easy to put on and off as necessary. So scarves and jewellery give my clothes and my mind a real lift.

This gorgeous scarf, Le Jardin de la Maharani, was designed by the artist Annie Faivre for the famous design house Hermès’ Spring/Summer 2017 collection. In my view, Hermès scarves are the pinnacle of scarf ownership! I have to save up for months for each one, but, to me, they are worth the cost.

Le Jardin de la Maharani by Annie Faivre for Hermès

Description

My scarf is in heavy twill silk and measures 90cm each way. The complex design uses motifs from Indian Art to show a garden in full bloom. Each of the four corners is entirely different but the whole design is wonderfully balanced and so the scarf ties beautifully. If you look at the Design Story further down the page, you will be able to read further information about the inspiration for the scarf.

Colourways

It took me ages to choose from the 12 alternative colourways as they are all so gorgeous. In the end, I went for colourway #18. It has the famous Hermès rolled hem and the colours are stunning. They are navy, sky blue, grey, white and other blue shades. The rolled hem is pale blue and there are images of fantastical beasts in grey around the hem. These square images of the scarf are more dull and do not really show the true beautiful colours, but do show the intricate pattern. You will see a truer version further down the page.

Here are all of the 12 colourways that were produced by Hermès for the silk 90cm.

These are the colourways for the 140cm cashmere/silk shawl:

Then there has been another cashmere/silk 140cm shawl called Le Jardin de la Maharani Recadré:

And there has also been the 45cm gavroche in similar colourways:

The Spring/Summer 2019 season saw the addition of a twilly (these are some of the colourways and I will add more as I find them):

For the Spring/Summer 2023 season, Hermès added 55cm bandanas in this lovely pattern:

H043998S 01

H043998S 02

H043998S 03

H043998S 05

H043998S 06

Design story

Almost all Hermès scarves have what is called a scarf story – these are usually shown on their website, although the company seems to be moving them into scarf booklets instead. Helpful people on The Purse Forum (link in the sidebar) gave me the story for this scarf:

Freely inspired by Mughal motifs, this scarf is dedicated to the Maharani of Jaipur, born Princess Gayatri Devi of Cooch Behar, the third wife of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II. Her tastes and culture were equally inspired by India and Europe. She marked her time through her political engagement and her determination to bring education to Indian women. At the beginning of the 1940s she created the girl’s school that bears her name. Twenty years later she became a Member of Parliament, elected by the largest majority in Indian history. The Maharani of Jaipur loved nature and gardens. with this scarf, Annie Faivre wanted to pay homage to her by “offering her flowers”.

Details

Here are some close-ups of my scarf in a slideshow format:

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How I wear the scarf

Le Jardin de la Maharani – winter clothing suggestions

The collage above shows some clothes I might wear with this scarf in the winter: grey cashmere jumper, navy wool mix cardigan, velour jogging pants or jeans, navy cashmere jumper with diamond earrings (60th birthday present) and a pretty leather bracelet by Ferragamo.

The way I have tied the scarf in the above image is called an asymmetrical wrap. It is a lovely way of showing off a nice border like this one. You simply fold the scarf in half into a rectangle, then grab hold of the diagonally opposite corners, drape around the neck and tie. I learned this scarf tie from MaiTai’s wonderful website (link in the sidebar) where she demonstrates a huge range of ways of wearing scarves with step-by-step instructions and videos.

In the summer, I might swap to linen pants and a white T-shirt with navy sandals. The enamel bracelets here are by Halcyon Days:

Le Jardin de la Maharani – summer clothing suggestions

By the way, these two collages were amongst my first attempts, so please bear with me whilst my skills, hopefully improve!

Here are some more recent collages:

Outfit of the day 31/08/17 with Hermès’ Le Jardin de la Maharani

Outfit of the day 07/09/17 with Hermès’ La Jardin de la Maharani

Outfit of the day 25/01/18 with Hermès’ Le Jardin de la Maharani scarf

Outfit of the day 13/11/18 with Hermès’ Le Jardin de la Maharani scarf

As you can see, the scarf looks wonderful with clothes and accessories in various shades of blue, but I have also recently started to experiment with grey.

Scarf ties

As you can see in the collage below, this scarf ties beautifully. As the animal border and the contrast hem are so lovely, I like to find ways to show them off – it is not difficult!

Le Jardin de la Maharani – scarf ties

1) Top row L to R: wrap tie, made up knot (fold in half, pleat lengthways then place around neck using a MaiTai shawl ring, fluff out), asymmetric knot turned to face the front.
2) Middle row L to R: asymmetric knot, cowl knot, criss-cross knot with MaiTai scarf ring.
3) Bottom row L to R: waterfall knot, cowboy cowl knot, simple bias fold tie.

Background information

1) Maharani of Jaipur

Wikipedia
Gayatri Devi
Comprehensive article about the Maharani.

The Telegraph
Rajmata Gayatri Devi
Obituary of the Maharani.

2) Mughal Art and motifs

Wikipedia
Mughal painting
Extensive information with images.

Homergize
Inviting Mughal motifs into your home
Interesting article, with images of art and architecture.

Pinterest
Mughal motifs
Mughal motifs
Two wonderful collections of images to explore.

I hope readers have found this exploration of Le Jardin de la Maharani both interesting and useful. Once again, if you find any errors or have any additional information that I could add, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes,

💙💙💙💙💙

(Edited on 27/01/17 to add scarf story).
(Edited on 01/04/17 to add in alternative colourways).
(Edited on 09/03/18 to add in new versions of the design and to fit with the format of newer Scarf of the Moment posts).
(Edited on 14/03/19 to add in twillies and another Outfit of the Day collage).
(Edited on 05/01/23 to add in bandana 55cm scarves).