Meet: Leila Menchari, Hermes window designer

There are many wonderful stories how Tunisian-born Leila Menchari got her start designing windows for Hermes.

Do look at her Youtube videos. A storyteller/creator since 1961 designing windows for 50 years.

Her thoughts are electric, inspiring.

We've been lucky to have this homage to Menchari on for a month at Grand Palais.

Always a sense of mystery to her window designs.

Luxurious fabrics and textures weave a surreal, ephemeral atmosphere.

Diaphanous and poetic veils of color. You are drawn into a magical fairytale.

Fantastical animals show up in her windows.

Especially Hermes' iconic equestrian horse in a violet geod.

Her harmonic colors caught my eye. I tried to capture her palette in watercolors washes.

Warm deep rusts and oranges with touches of cool turquoise and blues, sea foam greens. Mencharie says,"Things exist only through their color." She was director of the brands' color committee. For her, color is life and movement. The one great objective of a window is to suggest color harmony, to avoid dissonance (taken from the exhibit cataloge, The Queen of Enchantment).

I wish her preparatory sketches were part of the show.

And the models she prepared. There is a lengthy slide show of over 100 Hermes' window displays.

The cataloge is available now in Hermes' stores. The stories behind 137 windows.

Mencharie cultivated many artists to create for her windows. Christian Renonciat sketched and sculpted the 'going light-footed'

Outside in the Paris chill, many waited to get in with frozen feet. Mine too.

Afterwards I went to rue de Sevres Hermes to see if their current window displays could possibly compete with Menchari's brilliance. In fact they did very well. The theme is color. Belgian paper artist Isabelle de Borgrave has created a beautiful and lively tropical display accenting reds and greens of Noël.

Hermes colorful perfume flacon always captivate me.

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Hermes Sale!

 The quest for orange is relentless in France.
 

 The orange bird of happiness is twittering away.
 

 Hermes had their semi-annual sale last weekend at the Palais des Congres. Today is the last day.
Hurry!

The details c/o My Little Paris.
 

 Ex-pat Mary Kay is our Hermes Sale expert.
 

 Are you champing at the bit?
 

 Hermes provides horsey set photos as to gaze at longingly at while you wait in the line.
 

 Once inside the drama begins. You may wear orange anything as long as it's NOT an Hermes items. L'orange homages going on right and left.

 Try..try...try
The price of the silk scarves is 175 euros marked down from 300 (or 305?) euros c/o Mary Kay.

 Mary Kay says women fly in especially for the sale.
 

 The vendeuse demonstrates the wearing of l'orange.
 

 You are only allowed to buy 10 scarves. The scarves are the hot items. Racks of clothing and menswear barely get a glance.
 

 The Hermes bag from the sale are white not the signature orange.

In fact all the solde/sale bags in Paris are white. No fooling anyone you paid full price, ahem.
 

A happy successful shopper.

That's an orange box/boite not an orange bag/sac she's shlepping.

 

 Bonne Shopping!

Sadly no orange macarons were served at the sale.  

Today I painted my nails orange - that's my homage.