The Enduring Fantasy of the Hermès Scarf Starring A$AP Nast & Christophe Goineau

The rules behind the designs are simple — no blood and no sex. Apart from that, anything goes. Hermès presides over a pool of international contributors to ensure the final results are never the same, each telling its own story. Some are vibrant, others more regal. All are unique. One of the most beloved was designed by a Wacko, Texas postman, and stars a giant turkey. As our wardrobes become more and more dominated by monochromatic, functional clothing built for the urban jungle, there’s a certain romance about owning something that wears pure art on its sleeve.

Traditionally, menswear and the Hermès scarf made for odd bedfellows. Sure, some guys have never hesitated in rocking one — be it the jaunty dandy who hangs out in dive bars ordering Pernod and lemonade as an affectation or your eccentric high school English teacher who wore his under a crewneck while playing Elvis Costello records in class — but the label didn’t create a scarf line specifically for men until 2004. In recent times, owed to certain rappers, younger folks have embraced the scarves’ bourgeois association, pairing them up with their streetwear uniform in a way that transmits a kind of wry “fuck you” to the class system. Queen Elizabeth II might have made the headscarf iconic; style gods like A$AP Nast, seen above and below, are now perfecting it.

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