HERMES 90cm SILK SCARF, 140cm CASHMERE SHAWL and 70cm SILK SCARF - TYGER, TYGER by ALICE SHIRLEY
My first Alice Shirley purchase was the 2016 Tyger, Tyger shawl. At the time I was focused on the gorgeous greens rather than the design (I do like a good animal print and thought that was a bonus to the color). Fast forward five years and I'd developed a full-on Alice Shirley obsession. The shawl is definitely a CDH and a grail; this amuses me because so many people try to predict which scarves will become grails, and there will often be a run on certain designs when they are first released and then...they are everywhere on the resale market at a fraction of retail. If there's a formula for grail designs I have no idea what it is and why it changes over time (Rencontre Ocean by Annie Faivre was a huge grail when I first started collecting in the early aughts, then Tohu Bohu became the grail du jour, followed by Animapolis). It seems many of Alice Shirley scarves have attained grail status (hello DUJA and Grrrrr! and Awooooo! and Aaaaargh!) but for different reasons.
Anyhoozle, so yes I got the shawl because I loved the colors. Took a hiatus from scarves for a few years (what was I *thinking?!*) and when I woke back up I started seeing the light. By then the Tyger carre was long gone from boutiques and it took me until 2023 before I found one I didn't have to sacrifice a limb or internal organ for. And I wasn't going to dither when the 70cm was released in 2025; I, er, pounced on the black colorway and was thrilled to find the H magic was easy to unlock. I love how the brown tiger and the black sky make this either cool or warm depending on how you knot it.
From the Hermes Story Behind:
“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night” Alice Shirley learned William Blake’s poem The Tyger, written in 1794, as a schoolgirl. Hailed as a forerunner of the Romantic movement, the celebrated English poet and painter was born in London in 1757, and died there in 1827. Once learned, never forgotten, the poem’s mesmerising power has imprinted the hearts of generations of children. Now a talented young illustrator, Alice Shirley offers an affectionate portrait of the great beast, reclining in gentle majesty on a bed of flowers, beneath a star-filled sky. Specialising in the animal kingdom, Shirley is a regular collaborator with London’s Natural History Museum. Here, in the museum library, she discovered the magnificent collection of botanical illustrations commissioned by the East India Company, including the flora of the Periyar tiger reserve in the Indian state of Kerala. Here, she depicts the tiger at home, in his natural habitat.
Anyhoozle, so yes I got the shawl because I loved the colors. Took a hiatus from scarves for a few years (what was I *thinking?!*) and when I woke back up I started seeing the light. By then the Tyger carre was long gone from boutiques and it took me until 2023 before I found one I didn't have to sacrifice a limb or internal organ for. And I wasn't going to dither when the 70cm was released in 2025; I, er, pounced on the black colorway and was thrilled to find the H magic was easy to unlock. I love how the brown tiger and the black sky make this either cool or warm depending on how you knot it.
From the Hermes Story Behind:
“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night” Alice Shirley learned William Blake’s poem The Tyger, written in 1794, as a schoolgirl. Hailed as a forerunner of the Romantic movement, the celebrated English poet and painter was born in London in 1757, and died there in 1827. Once learned, never forgotten, the poem’s mesmerising power has imprinted the hearts of generations of children. Now a talented young illustrator, Alice Shirley offers an affectionate portrait of the great beast, reclining in gentle majesty on a bed of flowers, beneath a star-filled sky. Specialising in the animal kingdom, Shirley is a regular collaborator with London’s Natural History Museum. Here, in the museum library, she discovered the magnificent collection of botanical illustrations commissioned by the East India Company, including the flora of the Periyar tiger reserve in the Indian state of Kerala. Here, she depicts the tiger at home, in his natural habitat.
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