ITMy Mom's Hermès Scarves
Growing up nothing amused me more than admiring my mother’s closet. I would sneak into her room, get on my tiptoes to reach the highest drawer of her wardrobe, throw my hand in and feel the silk, the sparkles and the velvet at the tip of my fingers. I couldn’t see what I was touching but I would grab a big bulk of scarves.
Came my favorite part of analyzing each one of them. My all time favorite scarf was made of silk, displaying colorful forms on a black background. I would close my eyes and imagine wearing it in a fabulous city when I was old enough - imitating how I had seen my mother wrap it around her head full of luscious blond curls on late mornings running from her bedroom to the front door. It was always the same story, she would run out the door late for work and it’d be a matter of seconds before she was back in the apartment swearing to the weather gods and to her decision of living in one of the rainiest cities in the world. She would run to her bedroom, reach for a silk scarf and tie it around her head in a matter of seconds, but in a way that introduced me to effortless elegance. When she would come home at night I would grab the scarf and try over and over to reproduce her wrap on my small head, on my own slightly smaller blond curls. It never quite sat right...
When my teenage years rolled in my mother formally introduced me to these scarves, which each represented a special memory, time, or story to her. She sat me down on her bed one evening, just like other mothers sit their children down to speak of the birds and the bees or of budgeting their allowances. With as much seriousness, my mother sat me down and retraced each of their stories, just like if they were her friends I had seen around but had never been properly introduced to. She showed me the scarf she got in London with her first real pay check or the one her father got her on their first father daughter trip to Paris. The common thread that linked all of these scarves and the luxury they reflected in my mother’s eyes was the name that was embroidered on each of their tags, Hermès.
At that time I didn’t know what that name meant or the history and cultural phenomenon it implied. To my thirteen year old self, these soft silk squares were just like my drawings - a way for people to exude their creativity on a physical material. Years later I realized the importance and prestige behind the Hermès house, which only amplified the admiration I carried for my mother’s scarves. In some way, it validated my younger self and her obsession for the treasures in her mother’s top drawer.
So, it seemed normal that when my mother’s whole world was shook to its core, she used her Hermès scarves to lighten the load. When my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer she took a few weeks to ponder on how she would announce this heavy news and its implications to her four children. She decided to tell us in the most Brigitte de Vogüé manner. When mentioning she would have to start chemo and ultimately loose her golden locks, which have been her defining feature for her entire life, she told us: “the medicine can tire me and of course I will lose my lovely locks but fortunately I have my 200 Hermès scarves in my drawer”. Through those simple words the grim reality was glamorized and made less daunting. Instead of imagining my mother without hair, I pictured her on her way to work with her various head scarves. They created a link connecting the person she was before her sickness to the person she is now, just as glamorous and unique.
Nowadays, I have acquired my very first Hermes scarf through a close friend. She gave me her own scarf that she bought in Paris on a solo trip in the 80s. By giving it to me she is molding its legacy. Just like my mom with her scarves, I’m making it my mission to take care of it and wear it as uniquely as she would. It’s a way for me to express myself, my creativity and personality - have its pastel yellow reflect in the sunshine, the hot-air ballons printed on it fly against the blue sky. Its simple elegance inspires me, as it transforms a simple outfit into a chic, original one through the accent of a scarf. I’ve found that the true beauty of these scarves are their timelessness, they can be worn over decades in different ways following fashion trends. While women back in the 1920s would tie them around their necks, women in 2024 wear them as halter tops. Each scarf is so rich in its color, material and pattern, but its magic lies in all the stories it’s been a part of.
I have established this link with Hermès, above its own prestige and world renown profile, in my eyes it’s more like my mother’s old friend, who’s seen me grow up, develop my own style and has always supported my Mom through health and sickness.
-COSIMA