Hermes in print

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#106
From MSNBC - Today's News from MSNBC Front Page

Luxury Forever
Unlike many of its corporate competitors, Hermès hasn't lost its aura of exclusivity.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]By Dana Thomas [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Newsweek International[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Oct. 25 issue - At the Hermès original flagship store at 24, rue du Faubourg St-Honore, in the heart of Paris, slim saleswomen dramatically unfurl silk scarf after silk scarf for clusters of Japanese shoppers and chic Parisiennes. Tailors take measurements for made-to-order suits and millinery experts size up chapeaus to be worn at the next big wedding or horse race. On the mezzanine, jewelers fit watches or help select the perfect pair of cuff links. In the back, saddlers take orders. To be measured, however, customers must make their way upstairs, where they straddle a leather sawhorse—just as clients have for more than a century—as the man in the worn cowhide apron takes out his tape measure and gets to work.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]That, in a snapshot, is what sets Hermes apart from its competitors in the luxury business. As its fall ad campaign, shot by the late Richard Avedon, declares: "Nothing changes, but everything changes." More than 50 percent of the products in the company's 225 stores worldwide are new each season—including, this fall, the first women's wear collection by Hermes's newly appointed in-house designer, Jean Paul Gaultier. Yet the handbags and wallets, scarves and saddles, are still made the same way: by hand. "Hermes is the ultimate luxury," says Harper's Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey. "It's sophisticated, yet not pretentious, and there is always an extreme attention to design, quality and craftsmanship."[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]What's given Hermes its lasting power is the fact that it's one of the last family-owned, family-run companies in the luxury business. In the 1980s and '90s, old houses such as Gucci, Fendi and Celine were swallowed up by corporate groups and made beholden to stockholders who expected increased profits with each quarter. To meet that demand, many luxury houses went downmarket and began selling to the masses. Not Hermes. "They haven't sold out," says Rita Clifton, chairman of Interbrand UK, a branding-consultant firm in London. "Hermes is a rocklike beacon in authentic French luxury."[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]It's in the company's blood—literally. Hermes's 66-year-old CEO, Jean-Louis Dumas, is the fifth generation to run the company. As a child, he played beneath the desk of his grandfather Emile-Maurice Hermes, who guided the firm from the tack shop his grandfather Thierry founded in 1837 to an international luxury leather-goods house. During a trip to Canada in 1914, Emile-Maurice came across the zipper, acquired two-year exclusive rights to its use in Europe, and quickly integrated it into many products, including zip-wrist leather gloves. During his nearly 50 years at the helm, he introduced silk scarves based on jockey prints, silk neckties and Hermes's first scent, Eau d'Hermes—all still staples at the house.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In 1951, Emile-Maurice's son-in-law Robert Dumas took over, and turned Hermes into the jet set's luxury brand of choice. When paparazzi snapped Princess Grace of Monaco carrying a sac a depeches to conceal her pregnancy, Robert renamed it the Kelly bag, and sales soared. Half a century later, the Kelly, at $6,000 to $12,000, remains one of the most popular items at Hermes. In 1978, Robert's son Jean-Louis became chairman and CEO.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Despite his posh upbringing, Dumas remains remarkably grounded. Like his grandfather, he explored the world; in the early 1960s, he and his Greek-born wife, Rena, climbed into a beat-up Citroen and drove down the Silk Road to India, where they experienced firsthand the wide gulf between rich and poor. Dumas has said that the trip opened his eyes and gave him a sense of spiritualism. Later, he went to work as a buyer at Bloomingdale's in New York, where he learned the middle-class retail business. It all has come together at Hermes. Today Dumas is what his co-chairman Patrick Thomas calls "rational and emotional. He dreams all the time, but at the end of the day he does his accounting."[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Dumas has guided the company with careful attention to detail—and a certain degree of spontaneity. In 1984, he sat next to the actress Jane Birkin on an Air France flight. After watching her spill the contents of her purse, he asked her what would be the perfect bag. He adapted her specs to an old classic design called the haut a courroies and came up with the Birkin. Today, at a starting price of $8,000, it's one of the house's bestsellers. In 1982, he bought John Lobb shoes, and during the last decade, he has taken minority stakes in such luxury companies as Saint-Louis crystal, Puiforcat silversmiths and Leica cameras. The goal, says Thomas, is to invest in "exceptional products that have nothing in common and try to help them to grow."[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In 1993, Dumas listed 19 percent of the company on the stock market, which gave Hermes some outside pressure to be fiscally responsible. The company's stock has risen steadily ever since. Four years later he hired Martin Margiela to design women's wear, and to everyone's surprise, Margiela—known for radically deconstructed clothes—turned out one discreetly elegant collection after another.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Then in 1999, Dumas stupefied both fashion and business establishments by buying 35 percent of Jean Paul Gaultier, the bad-boy French designer best-known for his conical-breasted corsets for Madonna. The cash infusion allowed Gaultier to expand his then 20-year-old company with new lines and move his headquarters into a newly restored city mansion in Paris. When Margiela's contract expired, Dumas asked Gaultier to suggest a replacement. After thinking a bit, Gaultier called back: "What about me?" Dumas agreed. "He gave me carte blanche," Gaultier told NEWSWEEK backstage after his Hermes women's wear show in Paris last week. "The only thing he told me was, 'Jean, I don't want to see logos like we see everywhere else. Hermes is about discretion, refinement and subtlety.' "[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]But that didn't mean the enfant terrible couldn't play. His first order of business was to create new spins on the classics, making a mini Kelly bag and a squat version of the Birkin—both of which became favorites of glossy editors. After Gaultier's wildly lauded second collection last week—light-as-air silk-scarf gowns, skintight glove-leather bodices and handsomely tailored peacoats—the fashion crowd is loudly comparing the powerful pairing to Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel. Today ready-to-wear is Hermes's second largest business after leather goods, last year accounting for 22 percent of sales, or 267 million.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hermes is growing in other directions as well. Three years ago it opened a 5,600-square-meter store in Tokyo. In 2002, it launched an e-commerce site in the United States—Hermes.com. The company is developing its arts initiative, with photography and contemporary exhibits in its in-store galleries in New York, Los Angeles and Brussels, and underwriting shows such as "Carried Away: All About Bags," which opened earlier this month at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs. This year it's opening two new production sites outside Paris, adding more than 200 leatherworking artisans. "They are willing to invest time in craftsmen in order to maintain their quality," says Dana Telsey, luxury analyst for Bear Stearns in New York. "In the long-term we will continue to see growth."[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]That's certainly what Dumas hopes. These days he's slowing down, easing into retirement. He named Thomas, a longtime Hermes executive, as co-chairman so he could spend more time with his wife at their homes in Normandy and Greece. But with a half-dozen relatives in key positions, there will no doubt be a sixth-generation in the Hermes saddle for years to come. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]© 2006 Newsweek, Inc.[/FONT]
 
#108
Found a article about watches.

Time according to Hermes
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Guillaume de Seynes, managing director of the watchmaking division, talks about company strategy

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Hermes times.Paprika watch in stainless steel with Mysore goatskin strap (left); Cape Cod chronograph watch in stainless steel with black barenia calf strap (right). Following the family company’s tradition in fine leather goods, the Hermes watchmaking division was developed in the late 1970s by company president, Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermes. Situated in Biel, Switzerland, the assembly lines produces 140,000 pieces annually.
By Elis Kiss - Kathimerini English Edition
From the celebrated Faubourg Saint Honore flagship to stores in Beijing and Shanghai, pure luxury-lovers flock to Hermes outlets to order their Kelly or their Birkin — handbags named after Grace and Jane respectively. Some also come for the Paprika — one of the company’s stylish timepieces.
“More and more people are interested in watches today; they have developed into an accessory of personal elegance and status,” said Guillaume de Seynes, managing director of La Montre Hermes, to Kathimerini English Edition on a recent trip to Greece.
A member of the sixth generation of the Hermes family — great-grandson of Emil Hermes and nephew of current President Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermes — de Saynes built a solid marketing background in companies such as La Chemise Lacoste and Mumm Cordon Rouge Champagne before joining the Hermes watch division in 1997. His mission? To make the timepieces as popular as the house’s renowned silk scarves.
Though clearly at the high-end of the global watchmaking industry, Hermes watches are more affordable than the impeccable Hermes leather handbags. And while they might be a household name in countries such as France and Japan, there is room for growth in other places.
In Greece, La Montre Hermes has entered into a fruitful partnership with Flamme Hellas, with a network of six exclusive selling points (five in Athens and one in Thessaloniki) while plans include more selling points in hot spots like Myconos and Santorini.
For Hermes, watches are not an accessory diversification simply capitalizing on the brand’s power. As with all 14 families of Hermes products, the watches go back to the company’s roots. A family affair since Thierry Hermes opened his saddle-making unit in Paris’s Madeleine quarter in 1837, the company’s refined skills have always been recognized. Following World War I, Emil Hermes, a member of the third generation, realized that horses were going to go “out of business” as means of public transport, giving way to automobiles. His idea was to develop a series of products whereby the highly skilled Hermes ateliers could carry on executing the finest pieces while venturing beyond the focus on horses. As the house of Hermes moved into leather luggage and bags, a mini-revolution was taking place in the world of timepieces, with wristwatches beginning to take over from pocket watches. In 1928, Hermes began selling timepieces — a variety of watches, some were “imagined” by the house and made by Swiss watchmakers, while others were high-quality pieces by other labels. In the 1970s, the quartz revolution urged Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermes to develop an in-house division and let go of other labels.
“At Hermes, we often say that we prefer the term ‘creation’ as opposed to that of marketing,” said de Saynes.
But Hermes watches do not enjoy the handmade qualities of the saddles, for instance. What do Hermes watches take from the house’s renowned artisanship?
“Being essentially quartz timepieces, we claim the discreet style of Hermes,” said de Saynes. “It’s an everyday elegance with a quality of utility; the house of Hermes was not born into the department of jewelry or haute couture.”
Today, watches represent roughly 10 percent of the company’s consolidated sales, and together with products such as perfumes, they are sold both in Hermes outlets as well as in other stores. (In France alone, Hermes timepieces are available in 80 selling points.) And as is true of high fashion and accessories, watchmakers are expected to come up with exciting new stuff, in an increasingly competitive and challenging market.
“Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermes is very concerned when it comes to design; he does not like to travel back in time and resuscitate old models, as he is deeply interested in creativity,” said de Saynes. “It might sound a little bit provocative, but sometimes it seems that our problem is that we have too many ideas.”
Abundant creativity translates into steel, gold and steel or solid gold, metal or stitched leather straps for models such as the Nomade, the Cape Cod chronograph and the H-Hour, to name just a few. With assembly lines situated in Biel, Switzerland — where components come from around the country, except for leather straps which are made by Hermes in France — the annual output is estimated at 140,000 pieces.
The oldest design still in production is the Kelly. Originally designed in 1975, it was recently given a modern spin by Hermes’ womenswear designer, Martin Margiela. A good example of in-house creative synergy, Margiela began working on an idea for a key ring, finally coming up with a hanging watch. And while design remains crucial, the division is also on a quest for technical development, where the Hermes craftsmanship spirit would be more evident.
Meanwhile, the house’s tradition remains intact: These are beautifully handmade utility products, executed to perfection for a long life and becoming more noble as they grow older.
“All Hermes products, including the timepieces — even though it is hard to see the patina of time — are essentially inspired by this philosophy,” said de Saynes. “One of the nicest compliments I ever received was in Belgium recently. Showing me her 16-year-old Hermes watch, a lady spoke of how it was working wonderfully, justs like the day she bought it. I told her that was great and that it was probably time for her to buy her second one!”

From ekathimerini.com
 
#112
great article - reminds me when I was in Paris a long time ago and all the women doing their shopping were carrying lv speedy's - they put their vegetables in them - they also carried a real handbag (forget which one - Chanel / hermes - it was the 16th Arrondisement) - the speedy was just a shopping bag for meat and vegetables - they would never have dreamed of using it as their only bag - and I was told by my elders: - see, in the US, everybody has to have this LV "handbag" - but here in Europe - it's JUST a vegetable bag = I was supposed to learn a lesson from this....I think - beware the trend, you could end up carrying a plastic sack! Something I will never forget.
 
#116
^^That photo of SJP originally came from an article in Harpers Bazaar, although I believe in the original article I have at home that BJ ostrich was actually a Vert Anis/Chartreuse Ostrich. I think an eBay seller photoshopped it at some point and the BJ colored version has been circulating around.
 
#117
orchids said:
^^That photo of SJP originally came from an article in Harpers Bazaar, although I believe in the original article I have at home that BJ ostrich was actually a Vert Anis/Chartreuse Ostrich. I think an eBay seller photoshopped it at some point and the BJ colored version has been circulating around.
Click to expand...

No kidding?! Thanks. If you happen across your copy I would love to see the "original" version. :yes: So the bag in this pic is ostrich? I can't tell on my monitor, although I did think the color looked closest to the Blue Jean. It's gorgeous!
 
#118
I think I ripped out that photo b/c I loved the ostrich so much, and it may be in my file. I'll check when I get back home later this weekend; I am travelling at the moment. The original is gorgeous.
 
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