May Notebook

Behind The Scenes at Hermès

We know where we’ll be on May 21 – at the Hermès Festival des Métiers; an exhibition showcasing ten different Hermès crafts which opens that day at London’s Saatchi Gallery. Working just as they would in the Hermès workshops in France, craftspeople will be in situ for seven days, making a wide selection of objects by hand, and providing a fascinating insight into how pieces are crafted. Visitors will have an opportunity to meet the artisans and watch closely as they do their work. We think it’s worth a visit just to see the famous Hermès silk scarf printed (this will happen three times a day) but other iconic items – handbags, watches, ties and fine jewellery – will also be brought to life, in a beautiful exhibition space designed by Paola Novone. Festival des Métiers: 21 May – 27 2013 at the Saatchi Gallery: Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, Chelsea, London SW3.

This story appears in the May issue of The Gloss. Find more features like this in next issue, out June 4

Observer

A reader, paying a visit to her dermatologist recently, was amused to be greeted by an iPad-bearing assistant who proceeded to upload a photograph of her face onto     a cartoon-like body on the screen, before mapping her moles. Somehow this digital evidence seems more intrusive than the handwritten notes, voice dictation, Polaroids and stapling onto charts of yesteryear. Not all medics see the advantage. One doctor, whose father was a skin specialist, remembers on very dull days at home (of which there were many if you were a child of the 1970s) venturing into her dad’s study with her sister to take a sneak peek at his notes. They found his notes, with dark hints of disgusting skin complaints, thrilling but mainly impenetrable. She now worries these will be substituted by the full technicolour evidence, eminently explorable by today’s tots who know their way around any multimedia device.

Beyoncé Knowles plays the 02 this month. Her contract includes the rider that her dressing room must be kept at a constant 78 degrees – a toasty 25 Celcius to you and me. So no doubt she’ll be lounging around in pieces from her swimwear line for H&M – top of our wish list for summer.

This story appears in the May issue of The Gloss. Find more features like this in next issue, out June 4