Summer Bummer

Mock Hermès scarf design featuring mirror, radial, and border repeats.

SCAD Bazaar prompt: 60/70s and early 00s Missoni, 60s Pucci, Palm Royale, St. Tropez, Il Pelicano

Narrative:

It’s the 1960s in Palm Beach. Sunlight streams harshly through the

dusty curtains of a lavish summer house. Party goers wake up in last nights

makeup and outfits on moth eaten, patterned couches and face reality after a

dreamlike night of rich, over the top, pool partying. The kids are forgotten at

home with their nannies. The house is trashed. It smells like cigarettes and

perfume and hot musty beach towels. It’s too late in the day. Think the life

that happens before/after a Slim Aarons photoshoot. The Virgin Suicides gas

mask grad party. Moth eaten. Morning after comedown. Treading a thin line

between blissful and uncomfortable, lavish and passé, exciting and overdone,

contentedness and regret, bliss and angst.

This design is inspired by the sinister exclusivity of lavish summer parties in Palm Beach circa 1960. I wanted the imagery to feel a little uncomfortable, treading a line between bliss and restlessness. Here, moths symbolize quiet decay, and the idea of grasping onto something that isn’t quite there anymore.

The center of the scarf features four moths, four mothers and eight little girls, four party girls, four ladies awakening the morning after, four pairs of lips kissing, four psychedelic faces, and a ornate iron gate.