Le Premier Chant by Sophia Andreotti and Edouard Baribeaud is my first Hermès scarf of the 2022 Spring/Summer collection. Usually Hermès posts a “story behind” explanation about the meaning of the design, but so far Hemès has not provided a text.
In my Instagram account, livinglavidafifi, I often post about Hermès scarves providing background information about the designs. I will soon be posting about Le Premier Chant and have examined the carré and wrote some thoughts about the illustration. I will use part of what I wrote when I create my IG post.
I thought some may be interested in my interpretation of the design. If anyone wishes to quote or use any part of this text, all I ask is that you please credit me.
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Le Premier Chant by Sophie Andreotti and Edouard Baribeaud
Hermès wonderful carré, Le Premier Chant, (The First Song), designed by Sophia Andreotti and Edouard Baribaud for its Spring/Summer 2022 collection is not only a festival of color and beautiful patterns, but a design full of deep meaning and symbolism.
The illustration depicts a young woman in her room adorned by beautifully patterned textiles with a starry desert landscape beyond. As an inspired singer, her treasured possessions are close: her guitar, microphone, amplifier, and on a nearby table, a book entitled La Loba: the female wolf of lore; the mythical empowered female who is a wild creative force. The young singer arches her back to belt out a song filled with the force of a primordial chant. Her song rises organically as a beautiful, rhythmical tidal wave and becomes a hymn of creation, an anthem to the power of the artistic soul.
The myth and lore of the primordial chant, of a song of creation, appears in the literature and folklore of various cultures throughout the ages. Historically the Book of Genesis was sung by the ancient Hebrews; the Celts spoke of the Oran Mor, or neverending Great Melody; Australian aborigines tell of their land having been sung into being.
Perhaps one of the best known and poetic examples of the song of creation exists in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. Tolkien begins his creation myth by describing how the universe is “sung into being” by spiritual creatures named the Ainur. These creatures are invited by God to sing a great song of creation, having been provided a theme upon which they are to improvise.
The fabled God states, “Of the theme that I have declared to you, I will now that ye make in harmony together a Great Music. And since I have kindled you with the Flame Imperishable, ye shall show forth your powers in adorning this theme, each with his own thoughts and devices, if he will. But I will sit and hearken, and be glad that through you great beauty has been wakened into song.” C.S. Lewis illustrates a similar tale of song and creation in his The Magician’s Nephew, where the noble Aslan sings and the world begins to take form.
But the book displayed on the young singer’s tabletop may be more indicative of her spirit and the source of her inspiration. It is entitled La Loba, (The She-Wolf), alluding to the mythical, wild woman of the Pueblo people popularized by Clarissa Pinkola Estés in her Women Who Run With the Wolves.
According to Estés, the tale tells of a woman who lives in a remote cave waiting for wanderers and seekers to visit. She toils collecting bones and “to collect and preserve especially that which is in danger of being lost to the world.” Estés explains that “when she has assembled an entire skeleton, when the last bone is in place and the beautiful white sculpture of the creature is laid out before her, she sits by the fire and thinks about what song she will sing. And when she is sure, she stands over the criatura, raises her arms over it, and sings out. That is when the rib bones and leg bones of the wolf begin to flesh out and the creature becomes furred. La Loba sings some more, and more of the creature comes into being; its tail curls upward, shaggy and strong. And La Loba sings more and the wolf creature begins to breathe. And still La Loba sings so deeply that the floor of the desert shakes, and as she sings, the wolf opens its eyes, leaps up, and runs away down the canyon. Somewhere in its running, whether by the speed of its running, or by splashing its way into a river, or by way of a ray of sunlight or moonlight hitting it right in the side, the wolf is suddenly transformed into a laughing woman who runs free toward the horizon.”
So, in essence, we are witnessing that mythical, powerful, utterly creative Wolf Woman in a young modern incarnation, bringing the universe to life and displaying the power of her song. Estés poetically states, “So it is said that if you wander the desert, and it is near sundown, and you are perhaps a little bit lost, and certainly tired, that you are lucky, for La Loba may take a liking to you and show you something - something of the Soul.”
In this carré, we meet that youthful woman who runs with wolves and weaves her magical and powerful tale. The design is full of beautiful, decorative patterns evocative of Indian miniatures and the dense jungles of Rousseau in the artists’ unique style. A design not only full of harmonious patterns, symmetries, colors and textures, but also of dynamic juxtapositions, it is a fascinating pean to the creative spirit and the female force.
-Josie Sullivan