I hope that readers of this blog enjoyed a lovely Easter Weekend. In this part of the UK it was mostly a bit grey and gloomy, but it is nice for many people to have four days off with the family. We didn’t do anything much, although Younger Son went away to visit his Uni friends. The rest of us mainly mooched around.
The morning news about the impending General Election shocked me so much that my mental health started to spiral down. I simply cannot cope with so much change and uncertainty these days. The situation in this country, and also the wider world, feels very precarious and even though my own family will probably be OK, I am very concerned about the poor, the disabled and the vulnerable in our society. I am going to have to deal with it and face up to my anxiety. Chin up, as they say!
The scarf I wore today is great for lifting my mood as it is so bright and cheerful. This colourway of Au Pays des Oiseaux Fleurs has shades of yellow, turquoise, blue, and purple with touches of taupe, green and grey. The hem is a gorgeous aqua and the pattern is of birds, plants and flowers in intricate fine detail. I will write a Scarf of the Moment post about this scarf in a few weeks so that I can show close ups of these details.
It has been a lovely sunny day today and Lovely Husband and I went out to the supermarket for a few bits and pieces and then wandered into the café for a drink. I was pleased to get out of the house, even if it was for only a short while.
Today’s outfit:
Silk scarf 90cm – Au Pays des Oiseaux Fleurs – Hermès. Tied as an asymmetric wrap.
Cobalt blue, cotton cable jumper – Lands’ End.
Navy jeans – Cotton Traders.
Turquoise gemstone bracelet – free gift with one of my Etsy scarves!
Aqua glass and silver, heart-shaped earrings.
Outfit of the day 18/04/17 with Hermès’ Au Pays des Oiseaux Fleurs
I have been practising with my new iPad camera, taking photos of some of my jewellery. Some of these will be used on here in collages. All will be entered into my inventory on Evernote.
Another photo, showing how well the bracelet goes with this scarf:
Au Pays des Oiseaux Fleurs – Hermès – with turquoise bracelet
Update 01/06/20: This has been one of the most visited posts on my blog since it was first posted back in 2017. Having read through it, I decided that it needed an update. I hope that this makes the post even more useful to Hermès scarf lovers. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you see any errors or know of any other ways that it could be improved.
I thought that I would write a couple of posts with all of the bits and pieces I have gathered together about Hermès scarves along the way. Also, when I find something new, I will continue to add things to these and maybe flag that up in a quick post.
Hermès scarves: Scarf knots showing off contrast hems
The series begins with the massive amount of information available on The Purse Forum.
The Purse Forum
tPF is a great source of information about Hermès scarves, and designer clothing and accessories in general. The members are incredibly knowledgeable and also very helpful. The best threads for Hermès scarves are the following, in my opinion. Please bear in mind that when each thread becomes very long, the moderators start a new one, so my links may become out of date in a while. If you find a broken link, please feel free to tell me in a comment and I will do my best to sort things out.
Note: all of the active and more recent threads about H scarves are now flagged up, so it is much easier to find them! The word “Scarves” is placed at the front of the thread title, like this:
Main Hermès scarf threads
Scarf of the Day
This thread asks “Which Hermès scarf are you wearing today?” Members contribute modelling pictures of their scarves in a range of ties, and also flat. There are themes for each week, but there is no pressure to keep to the theme. The scarves shown cover the whole range of formats and vary from well-loved vintage beauties to recent purchases. The thread is also very friendly, humorous and supportive to new members. So don’t worry if you only own one scarf! The breadth of knowledge is also superb. As it moves so quickly and is so popular, a new thread is started at the beginning of each year. Well worth reading.
When purchasing “pre-loved” scarves, be very careful to avoid fakes! They can be very difficult to spot. The Authentication section of the Hermès forum has a thread for scarves: Authenticate this Hermès Scarf. Check the rules of this thread in the first post before asking for authentication or your post will not be answered. There is another helpful thread about fakes listed on eBay called Hall of Shame – sometimes scarves are flagged up here.
New season Hermès scarves
Each year, new scarves become available in two “seasons”: Spring/Summer and Autumn (Fall)/Winter. Well before each season’s scarves start to appear in the boutiques and on the web shop, tPF members start a new thread with speculation, hopes and dreams about the new designs. The thread then continues for several months until everyone has speculated, hoped, dreamed and purchased their fill. The next season’s thread will usually start before the previous one ends, and so on!
Please bear in mind that the current crisis may have an effect on how quickly Hermès brings the new designs into boutiques and online shops.
Other Hermès scarf threads on tPF
Lots of other threads about scarves appear in the main section of the Hermes Forum. I won’t even try to list them all, but I have found the following interesting, entertaining and useful. Be aware that new threads are added frequently.
Look out for the orange “Scarves” logo… …then you won’t miss anything!
Cleaning Scarves
Lots of advice here on how to get scarves dry-cleaned or how to wash them yourself. I haven’t had mine for very long and they are pretty fresh, for now, but I am sure that I will have to venture into washing them at some point. There is also a very helpful post about this on MaiTai’s blog too.
How to Wear a 90cm Casually
Lots of ideas here for wearing scarves with less formal outfits and with more ordinary clothing.
Storing my Scarves
I am beginning to reach the time when I might have to think about this. Some tPF members have 100s, if not more, scarves and have put a great deal of thought into storage, so there are some great ideas in this thread.
Your Grail Scarf
Do you want to know which scarves are most popular? Why not have a read of this thread. Do bear in mind, though, that resellers must read the forum and often seem to raise prices when rare scarves are mentioned!
Scarf Knots and Ties
There are a few threads about this, as you would expect:
Also some of the threads above talk about this subject, such as How to Wear a 90cm Casually and Tango Tosca’s Scarf Circus.
There are lots of other threads linking scarves and shawls with handbags and clothing, but I tend not to read those as these items are way beyond my reach both financially and psychologically! It just shows that there is so much to explore.
Have fun!
Love and best wishes,
Anne
💕💗💖💗💕
Updated 01/06/20: links checked and new ones added. Some general updating and reorganisation.
The sky is grey and gloomy today, but I am feeling quite pleased with myself. I woke up too early this morning and felt pretty lousy for a few hours, then Elder Son rang from work to say that he needed some items taking in. Lovely Husband had already done loads of errands and looked tired out, so I volunteered to go. ES works in the café of a local supermarket with a good car park and very easy access. So, I drove myself there and went in to see him. I even managed to look around the clothing department, pop in to see Younger Son who works nearby and then sit reading my book with a nice cup of tea!
That is what success looks like for me at the moment. 😀
I have carried on a purple and teal theme this week and today wore the pretty “Lilacs” scarf by MinkuLUL via Etsy that I showed some weeks ago:
Silk, hand-painted scarf, Lilacs – MinkuLUL via Etsy.
Bright teal, cotton mix, cardigan – Lands’ End.
Purple, cotton mix, short-sleeved, top – Lands’ End.
Navy cotton joggers – Cotton Traders.
Lilac enamel and gold plain bangle – Halcyon Days.
White enamel and gold chain patterned bangle – Halcyon Days.
Purple enamel and gold, skinny chain bangle – Halcyon Days.
Amethyst and silver earrings – Blue Nile.
Outfit of the day 14/04/17 with Minkulul’s Lilacs scarf
Reading
Now that I have mentioned reading, I must catch up with the books that I finished recently.
The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths
First of all The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths. I am really enjoying this series and am so pleased that I have quite a few still to read. As I finish each one, I request the next one from the library, via their online catalogue. I love the characters and the personal situations they are in. It is nice to have a female lead who is not a stereotype and for some reason I identify with her a bit. I can’t wait to read part three!
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly
I also think that the interlocking series by Michael Connelly are great. And to have a character named Hieronymous Bosch is simply fantastic! I don’t think I could ever get bored reading Connelly’s books – I love stories where I don’t guess what is going to happen and this one, The Brass Verdict, certainly had me surprised, several times.
Crash & Burn by Lisa Gardner
I started reading Lisa Gardner’s Crash & Burn this afternoon and will probably carry on with it this evening, if my lads aren’t too noisy. I find it much harder to concentrate these days and Elder Son’s room is right next to ours with very thin walls between. He likes to play the same tracks over and over again, which doesn’t help! Anyway, when I finish this book I will, as always, write a short review on Goodreads. I don’t like writing long reviews because a) I am terrible at writing them and b) I want to get on with the next book in my pile!
There will not be a proper post today as I have been very ill again. I hope things are better tomorrow. Instead, here is a lovely video from Hermès about their scarves. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks to The Purse Forum member who posted it.
This will be quite a quick post today as we didn’t do very much! Elder Son went back to work after a week off with illness – I hope his shift has been OK and he isn’t too tired. Younger Son is looking into car insurance so he can drive my car. And Lovely Husband and I sat together for a while, watching Tuesday’s Holby City and cheering when the horrible Isaac got his comeuppance. I then sat and watched The Last Kingdom on my own – I love this series and have read all of these books by Bernard Cornwell.
I will catch up with blogging my reading tomorrow as I have finished three books since I last wrote about this subject.
Even though we stayed in, I still put on a nice scarf. This one was bought from SilkScarvesColorado via Etsy and cost more than I had anticipated. I was a bit daft and ordered from a craftswoman in the USA, forgetting that duty would be added! The scarf is hand painted on silk in a lovely range of colours: greens, oranges, yellow, brown, lilac and mauve with bands of metallic gold, bronze and turquoise. Very pretty but a bit costly!
The whole outfit:
Silk scarf, multi-colour, hand painted – SilkScarvesColorado via Etsy. In a half-bow knot using a MaiTai horn scarf ring.
Bright teal, cotton mix cardigan – Lands’ End.
Purple, cotton mix, short-sleeved top – Lands’ End.
Indigo cotton mix jeans – Cotton Traders.
Purple leather and pale gold wrap bracelet – Ferragamo.
Gold knot earrings – H Samuel.
Outfit of the day 12/04/17 with scarf by SilkScarvesColorado
I didn’t get much sleep last night, so woke up feeling pretty yucky this morning. In fact, I was nauseous and was actually sick. But…it was Hairdresser Day today and I was not going to miss that!
Now, I have to say something about the state of my hair. When I was younger, I was never satisfied with my hair. It was a mid to light brown with a strong natural curl, but was very fine. I did all kinds of things to it: straightening, perms, colours. In fact, I tried out so many colours that my Dad once walked past me as he didn’t recognise me with aubergine colour hair! When I look back at photos, it was really rather nice in its natural state.
Me and Elder Son in 1991
In my 40th year, I was extremely ill with blood poisoning and all my hair fell out apart from a small fringe at the back of my head! I vowed that if I ever got my hair back, I would never complain about it again. Well, I suppose that I broke that promise. It did grow back, with all of the curl, but with a thinner and finer texture. I felt very relieved to have it back after weeks of wearing hats and scarves to disguise my baldness.
When I started the menopause in my late forties, my hair became thinner still. I also have an under active thyroid, which makes all of this worse. So, I have now reached the stage where I am very unhappy about how I look. I’m not too bothered about wrinkles, but I hate the fact that my hair is so thin on the crown of my head. The curls are still there and I cover up the grey (I keep wondering when to stop doing that).
Anyway, the hairdresser did her best. Here are the after and before shots, both taken today:
After (left) and before (right) my visit to the hairdresser
A few months ago, I read a real horror story on The Purse Forum about a disastrous accident with a very expensive handbag at a hair salon. As many of my scarves are very precious to me, I decided to wear one of my cheaper ones today. In fact, I picked this one up from a market stall years ago! It does go nicely with my bright teal twinset, though 😊
My my outfit today was:
Silk scarf in teal, white, blue, gold and silver. In a bias fold, secured with a medium MaiTai horn scarf ring.
Bright teal cotton mix cardigan – Lands’ End.
Bright teal matching cotton mix short sleeved top – Lands’ End.
Indigo jeans – Cotton Traders.
White enamel and gold bangle – Halcyon Days.
Turquoise enamel and gold narrow bangle – Halcyon Days.
Turquoise enamel and rose gold skinny star bangle – Halcyon Days.
Blue topaz and gold stud earrings – H Samuel.
Blue Africa leather handbag – Massaccesi.
Outfit of the day 11/04/17 with teal silk scarf
New iPad
I am really enjoying using my new iPad. My old one is now six years old and was really slowing down. The new one feels lightning fast and the camera is sooooo much better. The two photos below will show the difference, not only in clarity but also in colour. Wow!
I am standing in the same place, with the same lighting and wearing the same bright teal twinset. So at least, from now on, my photos on this blog will be much more true to the correct colours (and show my wrinkles 😉).
Images from new iPad on the left and old iPad2 on the right.
La Promenade de Platon was the first Hermès scarf that I bought. It was designed by Annie Faivre for Hermès Autumn/Winter 2013 season. The season had a theme of Sport and so the scarf design shows some Ancient Greek sports in a garden setting, surrounded by leaves of different kinds – I can see olives in there. There are also plenty of horses, as you would expect from Hermès!
La Promenade de Platon by Annie Faivre for Hermès
I came to this “scarf moment” after stepping up to higher cost scarves when I bought my first from Liberty of London. MaiTai’s site had fascinated me with her sense of style and use of Hermès scarves. So I just had to explore the Hermès site itself. I looked at the wonderful designs and colours, in awe of the quality. Then I spotted Platon and was hooked! It fitted perfectly with my love of Ancient Greece and the fact that my Masters degree was based on Red and Black Figure vase painting. I pushed the button in the Spring of 2014 and fell down the Hermès slippery slope!
My choice was colourway 17 with a bright turquoise background, purple rolled hem and accents of brick, mauve and a golden/beige.
I have put close-up photos of the details into a slideshow so that you can examine the lovely figures and patterns used by Faivre as well as the colours and shading:
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
The design story is as follows:
Plato loved to stroll in the gardens of Akademia. It was here, in 387 BC, that he founded his ‘Academy,’ the first of its kind in history, named after its birthplace, which was itself named for the ancient Athenian hero Akademos. Teaching at the Academy nurtured the mind and body alike. Plato wrote his Dialogues here, debating goodness, beauty, justice and truth in an elegant style worthy of the finest authors. A pupil of Socrates, the young Plato received a typical, aristocratic Athenian education, honing his skills as both an artist and gymnast. Drawing on artworks of the period, this carré evokes the annual Panhellenic games, held in honour of the gods. Here we see a horse and rider inspired by the Penthesilea Painter, famous for his beautifully decorated vases, and a javelin-thrower and horse from the canon of the vase painter and potter Euphronios. The Niobid Painter contributes his celebrated discus-thrower, the Euphiletos Painter hymns the ancient sprinters, and the Andokides Painter – an important pioneer of the Red Figure technique – honours the wrestlers. Inspired by their subjects of choice, designer Annie Faivre recreates scenes from ancient Greece, in her own inimitable style.
I find it slightly amusing that the sportsmen are shown fully clothed on the scarf, when the Ancient Greeks took part naked. Annie Faivre has given them lovely patterned clothing. Here are some Ancient Greek sports as depicted on some of their Red and Black Figure vases:
Ancient Greek sport
The scarf has been shown on the blog already with the collage below. I wear it with teal, navy or purple, in the main.
La Promenade de Platon – Hermès – collage #01
Here it is shown in different scarf knots. I wore the same Lands’ End cotton short sleeved top in a purple shade throughout.
La Promenade de Platon – Hermès – scarf knot collage #01
From the top right, going clockwise, the knots are: crisscross, simple bias fold, half-bow, simple bias fold tie, bias fold the other way around!
La Promenade de Platon – Hermès – scarf knot collage #02
Again from the top right: cowboy cowl, asymmetric wrap, cowboy, waterfall, edo, asymmetric wrap reversed. Horn scarf ring by MaiTai. You can also find instructions for these and many more knots on her website or have a look at the resources on this post from a few weeks ago: Wardrobe planning #11: Scarf tying
I would love to collect more scarves with the themes of Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, but I missed the year that Greece was featured and have not seen any scarves yet that are within my price range. Someday, perhaps.
If you are interested in finding out more about Greek vase painting and the painters mentioned in the design story, here are some links:
I have very little to post about today. Last night, I was up for hours with awful acid reflux pain, which continued this morning. I did get up for a while and watched TV, then came up to bed for a read. Elder Son is still quite ill and has been taking it out on us all morning – ASD rages are sooo wonderful! [sarcasm alert] 😬😬😬
Tomorrow’s post highlighting my first ever Hermès scarf, La Promenade de Platon, has already been prepared and is scheduled to appear at 19.00. I hope you enjoy it.
La Promenade de Platon – Hermès – in a waterfall knot
I hope readers have a very happy rest of the week and weekend.
All of this lovely Spring weather has really put me in a bright mood this week, so I thought I would really celebrate this today by wearing bright colours.
Daffodil by actor212 on Flickr
I mean….really….bright….colours….
Let me introduce another of my Hermès scarves to this blog – Aline Honoré’s Au Coeur de la Vie. I will write about this scarf in a “Scarf of the Moment” post in a few weeks. It is certainly the brightest and most colourful scarf in my collection with a wide yellow hem and plants, animals, birds, insects and flowers in a huge range of colours, including purple, blue, turquoise, pink, orange, green, red and so on.
My favourite flower of all is the daffodil as it uplifts my mood with that Spring feeling. The yellow in the scarf is not really that of daffodils, as it is a more acid yellow, but it invokes that same happy feeling for me.
Here is the whole outfit:
Silk scarf – Au Coeur de la Vie – Hermès. Worn in a half-bow knot using a MaiTai horn scarf ring.
Cobalt blue cotton cable jumper – Lands’ End.
Indigo jeans – Cotton Traders.
Navy leather shoes – Hotter.
Bright blue glass earrings.
White and gold enamel bangle – Halcyon Days.
Cobalt blue and gold enamel bangle – Halcyon Days.
Outfit of the day 05/04/17 with Hermès’ Au Coeur de la Vie
Well, I am very pleased with the camera on my new iPad as the colours in the selfie above are much more true. In fact, tomorrow, I might wear the same outfit as yesterday. Then I will take a photos and put then side-by-side to compare.
We went out this afternoon to one of our usual garden centres. They really have had a massive change around and have added in loads of new concessions. I was pleased to see that Hotter are moving in. I know that they have a reputation for “old lady” shoes, but 1) I suppose I am an old lady now I am 60, and 2) If you look carefully through their ranges you can find some really nice footwear, and 3) It is all soooo comfortable!
So, perhaps that is a bit old lady! Anyway, it will be nice to be able to try their shoes on instead of relying on their website as I have my eye on a couple of items:
My new iPad has arrived! Whoop! So I am going to have lots of fun this evening playing with it and setting it up how I like. This afternoon, I have been using Dropbox to make sure that all my photos are saved in the cloud and then uploaded to both my laptop, my old iPad and my new one. I took the opportunity to sort them all out and delete loads of me pulling a variety of weird faces whilst wearing gorgeous scarves. My Mum used to tell me that my face would be frozen in a particular pose if the wind changed direction. Let me say now that it is just as well that comment is not true! Phew!
We didn’t go out as I was waiting in for the parcel to arrive. I did, however, wear a nice outfit today, just in case:
Silk scarf – Zebra Pegasus gavroche in a simple cowboy knot – Hermès.
Bright teal, cotton mix, cardigan – Lands’ End.
Bright teal, cotton mix, matching short sleeved top – Lands’ End.
Indigo jeans – Cotton Traders.
London Blue topaz, stud earrings – Blue Nile.
Blue Indien leather and pale gold bracelet – Ferragamo. This blue exactly matches the bright blue in the scarf.
The photo of me modelling the scarf looks far more blue than it should. The cardigan and top are a few shades darker than the background teal shade in the scarf, so they go very well together. The gavroche size is 45 x 45 cm and looks very neat around the neck. It is ideal if you are going out for a meal as it doesn’t get in the way! Can you see that I was hoping to go out for our belated anniversary meal? Perhaps tomorrow…
Outfit of the day 04/04/17 with Hermès’ Zebra Pegasus gavroche
Last week and this one, so far, the household has been Cough Central. Not because of me, for once. Sadly, my two lads have both had a really nasty virus and they have been hacking away all day and most of the night, poor things. A couple of nights ago, I forgot that they are now grown up and “Mummy Instincts” kicked in! I was fast asleep when Elder Son started coughing so loudly that he woke me up. I jumped out of bed and was in his room stroking his back, giving him water and generally sorting him out, when I pulled myself up – he is 27! The next day, both lads were giggling at the thought of “Mummy Instincts” – mind you, I think they were rather pleased that they are still there in a crisis.
Hoping that the dreaded coughing virus does not get you and yours…
Former professional school librarian, now retired through chronic illness. Trying to keep cheerful by reading, drinking lots of tea, blogging my new life, and my love of bling!
…then you won’t miss anything!
The Librain
Dear Shruti, thank you for your lovely comment. I really hope that you can find this gorgeous scarf one day…