What Does It Mean to Truly Enjoy Your Hermès Collection?

Worn often or kept pristine.

Dear Abby,

“I wanted to ask your opinion removing the tags from a grail/collectible scarf I purchased from you to wear. I have other Hermès scarves and wear and travel with them all the time. I never really thought of them as collectibles, but only as wearables. With a scarf like this new one, am I crazy to wear it? Is it like a new car losing it’s value when you drive it off the lot, and as soon as you take the ticket off it it’s worth half? I don’t mean to sound crazy, but want to take a thoughtful approach with this beautiful investment, which I purchased to enjoy, but find myself pondering the other part of the equation.”

This is a dilemma I’ve seen over and over and actually have pondered myself. And not only that, I’ve actually been thinking about it throughout the day, while I was filming, running errands and taking photos of some new scarf consignments.

What does it actually mean to enjoy an Hermès collection? Is it the satisfaction in wearing and styling it, or the satisfaction of knowing you’ve kept it pristine, like a piece of art?

I posted a video last night of part of a gorgeous single-owner collection still with tags that will be for auction 10.1.25, and a few people messaged me saying they felt sad the owner never wore them. But pleasure in scarves doesn’t have to come from wearing them at all. My personal collection represents both. Each piece is art and art can be appreciated in many different ways.

Collectors often fall into two camps, though most of us blur the line between them. There are those who treat their scarves like a fine wine, tucking them away, never broken in, savoring the perfection of “new with tags.” And then there are the wearers, who believe a scarf only fulfills its destiny when it’s knotted, folded, lived in. Both sides claim to honor the scarf, but they approach that honor in entirely different ways.

The truth is, this tug-of-war is at the core of Hermès collecting. Whether you lean towards preservation or towards use, most collectors have felt the pull of the other side.

So what does it really mean to enjoy your collection? That’s where the debate begins.