I had some time today and thought, why not?, let's do one more. And the faster I finish, the sooner PbP will start her showcase thread!
Like many of you, 140cms are my absolute favorite. But honestly, I find the CSGMs too high maintenance. I love their snuggle factor as well as their ability to hold a knot easily (no slippage) but the runs...oh the runs...as we have witnessed Mrs. Owen demonstrate recently on her fixing a pulled thread thread (yes I meant to write thread
twice lol) happens way to often. I wear rings, I wear necklaces, and they all get caught on a CSGM. The angst of a pulled thread drives me to insanity sometimes when I'm traveling and don't have a needle around to fix it immediately. And let's not even talk about the pilling. I have even bought special brushes from the laundress to minimize the pilling but it always comes back. I know for certain that my shawls will not last forever and at Hermes prices, I would really like the items I buy to last forever. So for me, the second best alternative is a 140cm silk. The only downside is that they are more expensive (but cheaper than CSGMs!) and only 2 designs are issued every season.
So that does not leave me a lot of designs to choose from. I only have 4 in my collection but I think they are my most used scarves (aside from mousselines in the summer). They wear like the 90cm silks and I do feel like they will last practically forever. Interestingly, the weight of the 140cms changes all the time. I have felt some that were whisper thin, some that feel like 90cms in weight, and some in between. It seems like Hermes is changing the formula on this format all the time. They even once did a perforated one with astrologie nouvelle. Does anybody here still have one? I never got to feel or see one in person but I thought that was super interesting.
So with every new season, that's where my focus goes to first. But I am picky! Since the size of the scarf is big, I prefer the design to have a medium-large format. I adored the tapis persian design from last season but I felt the little flowers and designs were too busy for me. Then they did brides de gala, which I also couldn't do because of the wide border and the astronauts. So I'm crossing my fingers the SS2016 season brings something I will love. For all these reasons, this is only why I have 4 measly 140cm silks. Boohoo!
With the 140cms though, one does need to get a bit more creative in tying and knotting if you one wants their scarf to stay in place. A couple of well placed knots usually does the trick. Scarf rings are also quite useful with the 140cms. For instance, with the CSGM, if you want to do an infinity knot, you can just loop around your neck twice and you are set. With the 140cm silks, not so fast! If you just throw two loops around your head, one loop will inevitably be heavier than the other and that loop will start to sink lower and lower, while the small loop starts to choke you! So the best thing to do here is to do a knot in front of you and then tie in back of your neck (like in this pic) or loop twice and instead of just knotting the two scarf ends you are holding, incorporate the bit of scarf laying on your neck into the knot.
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I have been on the fence about this scarf at times. Really, does anyone think brown, orange, navy, periwinkle, turquoise, and white is a good idea? It has been on the chopping block several times but each time I look at it, the design and colors just make me swoon. I love the Coup de Fouet design. It has horseys but in a modern geometric way. My hubs loves it too and many friends have said, no! it stays. So I have grown to love it except for the turquoise bits that don't look good near my face. This scarf requires lots of spatial calculations when I'm considering which knot to use but I guess it will make my mind sharper! Like a scarf puzzle. The other downside of this scarf is that it is almost strictly a fall/winter one. The colors in it do not lend well to spring/summer. And in a way, that's why I chose it. At the time I bought it, I already had both astrologie nouvelles and a fleurs d'indiennes scarf. The AN scarves could work in all seasons and the FdI only works in the spring/summer so I figured I could use a darker more wintery scarf in my 140cm collection. I tend to look at each format as it's own little capsule collection. I try to cover the spectrum within each size. So on a cold wintery day in Philly when we were having an epic snowstorm and power outage, I headed to KOP for some retail therapy and this scarf came home with me. I think of it as my power outage scarf lol.
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My little collection of 140cm silks.
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But I do love it so and would love a few more!
And I almost bought it. But at the time I had already bought some red/orange scarves recently and I wanted to go in a different direction. I bought the 
Here you go - the thrill of the cocoon in a Grail.
