Climbing the Ladder to the Sillage d’Hermès
Over the years, I’ve been slowly climbing the Hermès ladder. And if I play my cards right, I might just end up sitting on the 40,000 euro Sillage d’Hermès armchair.
Over the years, I’ve been slowly climbing the Hermès ladder. And if I play my cards right, I might just end up sitting on the 40,000 euro Sillage d’Hermès armchair.
I started out on the lowest rung about twenty years ago with (what else?) a small bottle of Eau d’Orange Verte I received as a gift from someone who didn’t like it herself. To me, it smells like a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils (and yes, I’m quoting Nora Ephron here). It’s still my go-to scent, together with Eau de Menton, which I wear on hot summer days.
Two years ago, I progressed to a Fred bucket hat. It’s not like I had voices in my head that commandeered me to order a 290 euro hat online. Anyone who has ever met me in person knows that I have an enormous head, and Hermès is literally the only brand that makes bucket hats in my size. That I know of.
If that wasn’t enough, I also bought a vintage Hermès scarf at Catawiki, which is where I work. I was going to a wedding of a colleague in Toledo (Spain, not Ohio) and did not feel like wearing a necktie in the hot September sun.
Instead, I loosely tied my Hermès scarf around my neck and combined it with a relaxed linen suit and shirt. First world problem solved! And call it metrosexual, call it gender-bending, I just loved how good I looked at the end of the evening, as I zigzagged my way back to my hotel through the medieval alleyways after one, two, many glasses of cava.
With any luck, I’ll live long enough to be able to afford the ultimate Hermès item. And no, it’s not a Kelly bag, it’s this Sillage d’Hermès. Not necessarily a steal at 40,000 euros, but it just so incredibly bon chic bon genre in a modern way that I don’t even know where to begin. If you forced me at gunpoint to point out what I like best about this chair, it would have to be the hand-painted red stripes. Aren’t they just so? And no, don’t think you can copy the idea and paint a few red stripes on any old chair because that would just scream ‘I want to, but I can’t’. Just work hard, have patience and hope you win the lottery.