Hermes Le Palais des Quatre Vents Shawl 140 70% Cashmere 30% Silk H244312S 07

Wind is the theme and, appropriately, this shawl is built to handle it. Le Palais des Quatre Vents, the palace of the four winds, is Rosa Maria Unda Souki’s imagined architecture, a building with its doors open to every direction at once, and the drawing has the warm, hand-painted quality of a folk mural. Wrapped high around the neck on a real windy day, it is both the joke and the solution.

I live in mine along the coast, where the weather changes its mind every hour. Doubled into a triangle and knotted at the front, it covers the sternum on a raw morning; rolled into a wide band it sits like a collar under a wool coat; spread across the shoulders at an outdoor lunch it becomes a small pavilion of its own. The cashmere and silk blend is what makes the versatility work, warm as it needs to be, but with just enough body to hold a fold in the wind. Evening walks with the dog are its home turf, and the folk-palace architecture keeps winning the argument on colour.

Construction: 70% cashmere, 30% silk, made in France, hand-rolled edges, around 53.5 inches square as listed. Expect the actual measurement to vary a little, since every edge is finished by hand. It is dry-clean only, as the label will confirm.

The practical downside of a big, dense square is bulk under a fitted coat. Over the coat is its natural place; worn underneath, you may want a smaller format instead.