Hermes's Texas Postman-The strange and secret world of Kermit Oliver.
In July 2011, more than five thousand miles
east of Waco, an assistant designer at the Hermès silk factory, in Lyon,
France, unfurled a ninety-by-ninety-centimeter square of the company’s
famous silk twill. It was lushly illustrated with the plants and animals
of Texas.
“This is my favorite scarf,” she said, pointing out the
highlights to those of us assembled at the factory for a tour. The
scarf, called Faune et Flore du Texas, was designed
for the state’s sesquicentennial and had all the romantic detail of a
vintage encyclopedia illustration.
The assistant designer ran her finger
around a ring of prickly pear that encircled an enormous turkey. Her
hand brushed over nests of mallards, clusters of raccoons, a rearing
mustang, a wild hare, and a stoic-looking Longhorn.
More than fifty
native animals coexisted within a viny ivy frame that blossomed with
firewheels, Texas bindweed, and a particularly lovely downward-facing sunflower.
There ...
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