Photography: Boyd Alexander. Styling: Kashmir Wickham. Vía Spindle.
The Parisian independent fashion designer Cléo Ferin Mercury creates beautiful, unique, timeless fashion accessories that complete an outfit and add colour and joie de vivre. She innovates traditional silk scarves into modern, playful pieces. She is best known for her signature animal scarves, but she also designs detachable collars and square scarves.
Cléo Ferin Mercury is inspired by nature, pop culture and the arts. Recurrent themes include holidays, vintage kitsch and glamour and the nautical world. Only weeks ago the label launched their new Autumn Winter collection which is full of American icon imagery and is inspired by pop culture. The designs incorporate iconography from American cinema, road trips, neon signs and postcards. The designer elaborated on her choice of motifs and shared that she has always liked neon signs for diners and motels as she finds them fun! She is also enthusiastic about cowboys -bandanas, paisley prints and embroidered shirts.
The designer also got her inspiration from great artists of the past. In the 30’s and 40’s people would hire artists to design a small line of scarves for them, Picasso and Matisse have both done square scarves.
Image: Cleo Ferin Mercury Trapece artists scarf. Shop at Cleo Ferin Mercury
Her statement pieces were exhibited in London Fashion week this year and her animal scarves remain favourites. The scarves come in three sizes and once wrapped around your neck, the beautiful prints take on the shape of different animals. She has various cat designs, jaguars, pandas in bright colours, tigers, wolves, each more original than the other. For those animal-lovers who wish they could always carry their cuddly companion around with them they can, curling them around their neck and looking fashionable doing it.
Image: Lazykat. Shop at Cleo Ferin Mercury
The label is very popular within the Asian market. Cléo says that the scarves do very well in Korea and Seoul and “also in Hong Kong and Japan they are really keen. They love anything to do with animals, anything cute or fun and illustrations.”
Cléo Ferin Mercury also shared some secrets about scarf knots and illustrates original ways to wear a scarf. She talked to a blogger about a necklace knot, with three knots, bandanas, large foulards, and even as a belt. She is full of bright ideas to change a look completely and modernise such a classic fashion accessory.
How to wear the scarf – Cléo Ferin Mercury website
The designer launched her first collection of narrative-based scarves in 2010. She became interested in the industry at a young age and got the passion for designing from her grandmother who taught her the art of needlework. Her studies brought her to London where she studied textile design at London College of Communication. She have various internships with Alexander McQueen where she experienced the reality of the fashion industry and the hard work behind the beautiful masterpieces that we see on the catwalk.
Since then, her brand and universe has grown, for the joy of all scarf lovers out there.