Hermès Scarf
Commemorates the Marquis
BY MIKE LITZENBERGER
In honor of the 250th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s birth, Hermès, the renowned French design house, is producing one of its famous scarves depicting the life of the Marquis and the connections he helped forge between France and the United States.
Designed by artist Kermit Oliver, who has designed more than a dozen Hermès scarves, it features images from paintings and other historical items in the College’s collections.
There will be a special
Tracy Hart ’77 (left), the main architect of the Hermès project, views an image of the scarf with Diane Windham Shaw (L-R), special collections librarian and College archivist, and Elaine Stomber ’89, assistant archivist.
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opportunity for members of the Lafayette community to purchase the scarf during the anniversary year. A percentage of the sales through the College will benefit the Friends of Skillman Library and the College’s art collection. There are also plans in the works to feature the scarf in other ways during the celebration. The scarf will be added to Skillman Library’s special collections.
Tracy A. Hart ’77, who graduated with a degree in French and currently lives in Easton, has been the main architect of the project. While living in Paris in 1992, Hart met Bertrand de Courcy, the manager of Hermès’ Paris boutique, through a fashion show she helped put together as a member of the American Women’s Group of Paris.
A decade later, Hart, who is a member of the executive council of the Friends of Skillman Library, attended a lecture presented by Diane Windham Shaw, special collections librarian and College archivist. The topic was the Marquis de Lafayette’s design influence
on the early 19th century.
The talk planted the seed for the project, and, with Shaw’s encouragement, Hart pitched the idea of a scarf commemorating the Marquis’ 250th birthday to de Courcy in 2005. He directed Hart to contact Christine Duvigneau, a manager in the Hermès Design Studio, who showed Hart’s letter to company president
Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermès.
“I’m very proud that Mr. Dumas-Hermès particularly liked the idea of a Lafayette scarf as a symbol of the friendship between the United States and France,”
Hart says. “It’s amazing how you meet people in the business world, and one contact leads to another.”
Elaine Stomber ’89, assistant College archivist, supplied Hermès with digital images of items in Skillman’s special collections, and Hermès commissioned Kermit Oliver, of Waco, Texas, to
design the scarf using these images and ones from
other collections. Stomber checked the work for historical accuracy.
“The inspiration for many Hermès products has come from historical documents and artifacts. Their work is very authentic, which is why I felt Hermès would be the ideal company to design a scarf based on the College’s Marquis de Lafayette collections,” Hart says.
“This is really a prestigious project, the first time Hermès has designed for an American college or university,” she says. “I’m very excited that it has come together in time for the celebration.”
The 137-year-old Hermès company introduced its scarf line in 1937 as it expanded from a leather-goods company into a lifestyle brand. Hermès releases about 15 new designs each year, which are made at a factory in Lyons, France. From an artist’s sketchpad to the final inspection, each scarf can take as long as two years to make and involve as many as 40 artisans.
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