As the first photographs started to appear online for Hermès Autumn/Winter 2022 scarf season, I couldn’t see any that really attracted me. OK, I thought, perhaps I will save my money this time…

Perhaps not! One of the new scarves suddenly caught my attention. It had all of the attributes and elements that I love in a scarf: gorgeous colours, a meaningful design (more about that later), and something about it that sang out to me. And it was designed by one of my favourite artists, Alice Shirley. There was just one problem: the cost. Hermès 90cm silk scarves are expensive enough, but this one is a double face, which means that it is printed on both sides. The price seemed prohibitive for me.

But I talked myself into it anyway! Here it is: Sous le Charme d’Orphée by Alice Shirley, a 90cm double face, colourway #05 rouge/rose poudre/bleu gris, purchase code H903702S 05.

Description

These are my own comments about the design. Lower down this post, you will find the artist’s own thoughts that I was able to find on Instagram. Her writing is detailed and very insightful.

To begin: Sous le Charme d’Orphée translates into English as “Under the spell of Orpheus”. Looking at the scarf, you can see a circles of beasts, creatures, plants and figures from Ancient Greek mythology sitting or dancing and moving around. In the four corners of the scarf are trees which appear to bend in the wind as the dance swirls before them.

Orpheus himself sits and plays a harp. Hermes can be seen and also Pegasus, a snake, a centaur and numerous animals and fish. All of these creatures, gods and goddesses circle around the great tree of life. The effect is joyous and celebratory.

Looking at my scarf, the front has rich autumnal feel with the use of a warm red shade, pink, orange and subtle blueish grey. The design is beautifully framed by the rolled contrast hem in a shade of blue-grey. The scarf looks lovely with grey clothing. The reverse is a study in a range of grey tones against a pretty pale pink background with the surprise appearance of touches of orange on some of the trees.

Colourways

These are the colourways for the Autumn/Winter 2022 double face silk twill 90cm scarves. I have added in the codes to help those of you who wish to purchase this scarf. As this is a double face design, I have included both sides of each scarf, plus the Hermès modelling photos.

Here we have the twillies of this design from the Autumn/Winter 2022 season:

Design story

This has been taken from the Hermès website:

“A tiger, a peacock, a bull, and a python, along with a centaur and winged horse… all the animals of Greek mythology form a joyful ring around five ancient trees: an olive tree, bay tree, pomegranate, apple and Aleppo pine—each one charged with symbolism. Some dance, while others sleep under a starry sky. Orpheus, a disciple of both Dionysus and Apollo, also the protagonist of this scarf, is a master of extravagance, as well as wine, wisdom, music and rhythm. He is the poets’ poet, a shaman and magician who can bewitch the world with his lyre and move with the gods of the underworld.”

Artist’s thoughts

I have added some screenshots of Alice Shirley’s own comments about her design, from her Instagram account:

Details

Here are some closeups of my scarf in a slideshow format:

How I wear the scarf

The warm, rich colourway of this scarf suits my grey clothing beautifully and I can see that I will mainly wear it during Autumn and Winter. As we are now (at the time of writing) in full Summer heat, I only have two quick modelling photos and one collage. I will add more collages here later in the year.

In these photos, I am wearing the scarf with a Lands’ End short sleeved cotton mix top in grey and Swarovski grey crystal earrings.

Scarf ties

I have tried on this scarf in a variety of ways. At the moment, as it is so new, the silk fabric is very crisp and stiff so doesn’t fall easily into soft folds. Anyway, you can get the general idea of how it looks when worn. This double face scarf really needs to be tied in ways that make the most of the two sides, although it will be nice, occasionally, to highlight one side or the other. The scarf rings are by MaiTai.

Background information

The best explanation of this scarf comes, naturally, from its designer, Alice Shirley, and I have copied her Instagram posts further up.

This is her website:

Alice Shirley
https://aliceshirley.com/
Alice is also on Instagram and Twitter.

Here are a couple of YouTube videos from a few years ago featuring her:

Information about Orpheus himself:

Wikipedia
Orpheus
Very detailed article.

Greeka
Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice
Clear article about the character and this particular myth.

Mythopedia
Orpheus
Article with images from art.

And here’s a quick video version of the famous Orpheus and Eurydice story:

If you are interested in finding out more about the wonderful tales of Greek mythology, there are thousands of websites available!

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I hope readers have found this exploration of Sous Le Charme d’Orphée 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.

Love and best wishes,

Anne