The Claudia maxi hair tie features three of the French house’s splashy prints, framed by Hermès-orange piping. No two scrunchies are the same, as the patterned squares are cut at random to match “the chosen colour ambience” of the accessory. (Side note: has a hair bobble ever been chicer?)
Now, the brand’s signature silks have made it onto the wrists of Gen-Z influencers, who have found a youth-centric way of doing screen-chic the Hermès way.
Step up Lisa, she of Blackpink fame. The 23-year-old Thai pop idol has close to 50 million Instagram followers hanging off her every post owing to her ultra-luxe twist on K-Pop style. The Celine ambassador and member of the Bulgari family has a healthy appetite for designer brands, and an accessories collection that could rival a modern-day Carrie Bradshaw’s. Nestled between her Bulgari Serpenti and B Zero bangles in a recent Instagram post sat an Hermès scrunchie – a red herring among the platinum and gold, and a welcome dash of colour in her otherwise monochrome get-up.
The scrunchie is a smart product development for a house at the upper echelons of the luxury fashion market. The peppy wristlets are half the price of Hermès’s classic scarves, and neatly translate the bourgeois codes of the brand into an accessible, fun product. Ponytail elastics were also big news on the spring/summer 2021 runway of Lisa’s beloved Celine, where models wore them as upper-arm adornments. Consider the humble scrunchie the new entry-point product for the most coveted brands in the world.