Once I did a simple one with almost nothing in it: a beach, a reef sculpted from white marble which resembled a wave, a pair of sunglasses, and a swimsuit. And I had Eau d’Orange Verte sprayed into the street. Jean-Louis Dumas’ initial reaction was to say “But Leïla, there’s nothing there!” and then he saw a lady inhale the scent and he said to her, “Breathe, Madame, breathe,” and with that he attracted more people, passed on my story, and there was soon a crowd.
— Leïla Menchari, longtime director of window displays and of the silk colors committee at Hermès; her Tunisian garden was the inspiration for Un Jardin en Méditerranée. Menchari died earlier this month of coronavirus; she was 93. The quote is from Goodbye to Tunisian Hermès Dreamweaver. Remembering Leïla Menchari at Vogue Arabia; you can also read obits at New York Times, Archictectural Digest and Vogue UK. Hat tip to Kevin.
thank you for sharing this sad news. Out of curiosity I did an image search for her store window displays. They are all fantastic. Yes to Leïla Menchari!
I followed your lead and did the same and wow..beautiful displays!
Window displays always seemed like a bygone era…even when I was little and remember looking in Saks’ windows at Christmas in NYC…like out of an old movie. Over the past several years, I buy precious little in actual stores…department stores are headed toward a bygone era as well it seems.
And I should have said, the last link, the one from Vogue UK, has a bunch of window photos.
There is a silk colors committee at Hermès. I mean, of course there is, but that is another gig to add to my list of fantasy jobs.