Bali Barret
Bali Barret is likely responsible for my love of Hermes, mostly because she absolutely modernized the brand during her 17-year tenure. She began working at Hermes in 2003, leading the women's silk division. In 2009 she added all women's products to her purview. Her 2020 departure sounds like it came as a shock to her team. But it's been four years since and I don't see scarves becoming stodgy so that's a good thing.
Bali Barret recruited a lot of the young designers that I've been so smitten with, and she also experimented with different scarf shapes (the circular Claire de Lune, the heart-shaped Jungle Love Rainbow). She ushered in new technologies that allowed the creation of double-face scarves, stitching designs together (Carre en Carres was the first, which literally had pieces of scarves stitched together before moving to all-printed combinations), as well as the launch of 'vintage' silk (which later became wash scarves and summer weight scarves). She also initiated traveling events (The Carre Club, Hermes yoga, Hermes In the Making).
Not only was she leading the charge into the 21st century, she was also designing scarves. As with so many other Hermes artists, several of these have passed through Ye Olde Scarf Drawer but only one remains (mostly because I put a huge run in it which makes it less saleable). Interestingly, a lot of her scarves leverage pieces of other designs - MetM shows the couple with Hermes objects in their silhouettes; A Cheval sur mon Carre is a horse made of scarves; Caleche Elastique takes the Ex-Libris carriage and stretches it.
Bali Barret recruited a lot of the young designers that I've been so smitten with, and she also experimented with different scarf shapes (the circular Claire de Lune, the heart-shaped Jungle Love Rainbow). She ushered in new technologies that allowed the creation of double-face scarves, stitching designs together (Carre en Carres was the first, which literally had pieces of scarves stitched together before moving to all-printed combinations), as well as the launch of 'vintage' silk (which later became wash scarves and summer weight scarves). She also initiated traveling events (The Carre Club, Hermes yoga, Hermes In the Making).
Not only was she leading the charge into the 21st century, she was also designing scarves. As with so many other Hermes artists, several of these have passed through Ye Olde Scarf Drawer but only one remains (mostly because I put a huge run in it which makes it less saleable). Interestingly, a lot of her scarves leverage pieces of other designs - MetM shows the couple with Hermes objects in their silhouettes; A Cheval sur mon Carre is a horse made of scarves; Caleche Elastique takes the Ex-Libris carriage and stretches it.
Monsieur et Madame II, 2013
Other scarves designed by Bali Barret
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