If you walked into The Chanakya today, or any day until Dec 8, youll find the café area in the atrium changed drastically. Instead of tables and sofas and uniformed staff bussing tables, there stands an enclosed structure. With a curved upper façade and white walls, beyond the red velvet ropes of its entryway stands a beautifully illuminated, calligraphed R and H. This is the Rouges Hermès exhibition in Delhi.
Step inside and its a bit like walking through a simplified maze of five rooms, each housing artefacts that are loosely tied together with a theme, although the strongest one is noticeable immediately. It is the colour red. All 81 objects, ranging from modern-day scarves and ties, an old book, stuffed toy, and fly bonnet, to 18th and 19th-century writing cases, are all in different hues of the fiery shade.
[caption id="attachment_739718" align="alignnone" width="806"] The Rouges Hermès exhibition at The Chanakya opens today[/caption]
The Rouges Hermès exhibition is an ode to the brands love for the colour red, which became its intrinsic part ever since Emile Hermès, the person credited with changing the maison's creative vision, developed a process to dye box calf leather with the help of skilled artisan tanners in the early 1920s. Every artefact at this travelling exhibition it comes to India from Bangkok and Jakarta - tells the story of how that red colour wheel grew and the inspirations behind it. There are around 20 shades, from vermilion and magenta to bright and soft reds.
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Red is a universal colour it is a symbol of life, love, passion, energy, action, movement - but it had a special place for Emile Hermès, who was a visionary. Red was a traditional colour, associated with a rich way of life, the French cavalry etc. The house had even made a red harness for the Emperor of Moroccos horse. When Emile wanted to diversify the activities of the company [from saddlery] to a new way of living, red naturally came to his mind. He wanted to reinvent it, says Menehould de Bazelaire du Chatelle, artistic director of the Cultural Patrimony of Hermès. When we started exploring Hermès relationship with it recently, we found 40 different hues and nuances of it. It was a keen discovery of our relationship with not just red, but reds.
[caption id="attachment_739716" align="alignnone" width="806"] Reds in everyday objects like boots, watches, pens, and perfume bottles, by Hermès[/caption]
With Hermès for more than 30 years, du Chatelle is the custodian of Hermès rich heritage, with a deep understanding of everything that has influenced and continues to influence the brand. Under her direct supervision is the eponymous, mysterious (because few are allowed access to it) Emile Hermès Collection, a lifetime of treasures that creative tour de force amassed. Hand-picking pieces from this private collection, along with those from Hermès archive, i.e, Conservatory of Creations and Contemporary Collections, du Chatelle worked with Pierre-Alexis Dumas, artistic director, Hermès, and Bruno Gaudichon, curator, for three years to bring the exhibition to life.
Jewellery cabinet Les Curiosities d'Hermès collection, 2016. From the Contemporary Collection.In the exhibition's Original Crimson Room, youll find the exquisite 1995 Flamboyant vase with its luminous red pigment made with gold, created in collaboration with Saint-Louis crystalworks, along with two maroon writing cases from the 18th and 19th century that Emile Hermès found. In the room The Invention of a Deep Red, one sees how the brand worked with the Combe tannery in the early 20th century, to dye leather red proofs are the 1920s golf bag and vanity set on display. Other displays include bags we loved the 1953 gold-plated brass Museliere in marsala, a pocket watch designed with Movado (1928) with a red cover, a majestic Rouge Hermès perfume bottle (2000), a Marc Newson designed pen (2014), and even a chewing gum holder (1983). The pieces de resistance, however, are the gown in a Jupiter red designed by Claude Mouret for FW 1995, inspired by the riding suit that once belonged to Emiles wife; and a limited edition 2016 jewellery cabinet featuring secret compartments, a central mirror, and LEDs, all trimmed with red leather.
[caption id="attachment_739715" align="alignnone" width="538"] Gown by Claude Brouet, FW 1995. From Hermès' Conservatory of Creations collection[/caption]
The Rouges Hermès exhibition in Delhi is a great platform to understand Hermès evolution, themes, colours, and patterns, and what makes it one of the most iconic fashion houses in the world. Better still, it is a rare and intimate look at those creations and artefacts that are otherwise inaccessible to the public.
'Rouges Hermès is on display at The Chanakya till Dec 8, 2019, 11:00 am -- 10:00 pm
All images: Courtesy Fabien Charuau
The post This new exhibition in Delhi traces Hermès love affair with the colour red appeared first on Lifestyle Asia.
