THE WAY FORWARD

ECOUNTING THE HISTORY OF HERMÈS, Ménéhould de Bazelaire du Chatelle tells the story of Émile Hermès, the patriarch of the luxury French brand, purchasing his first“treasure” at the age of 12—“He got his first tip of two francs in 1883, making deliveries for his grandfather’s company [of leather accessories for horses], and it was quite a lot of money for a young boy. He bought—that contained a little parasol hidden inside the handle.” This became the starting point for Hermès’s collection of antiquities from around the world.