Hermes Purple Twill Silk 90 cm Jaguar Quetzal Scarf

Since 1937, the silk scarves of French fashion house, Hermès, has become an iconic fashion accessory that is recognized all over the world. Hermès scarves and shawls have been collected and adorned by celebrities and royals throughout history, from Audrey Hepburn to Grace Kelly and even Queen Elizabeth II. 

Renowned artists are commissioned each year to create elaborate artworks with bright, vibrant color combinations. An individual scarf typically integrates 20 to 30 different hues, each printed from a unique silkscreen process that can take hundreds of hours to complete. Each one is painstakingly screen-printed, with each color allowed to dry before the next is applied. These art pieces have proved to be timeless collectable pieces of history.

DESIGN HISTORY:
The “jaguar warriors” of the pre-Columbian Aztec civilisation inspired Alice Shirley to dream up this big cat and its superb headdress, which is loosely inspired by the famous Penacho conserved in the Museum of Ethnology, Vienna. Made of feathers and semi-precious stones, this enormous headdress owes its beauty to the brilliance of more than 400 quetzal feathers. The quetzal is a tropical bird that lives in Central and South America, whose Aztec name means “long green feathers”. The designer, who is passionate about the animal world, gives us a tender portrait: a sleeping jaguar “dreaming of freedom”.