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PROTAGONIST / HEROES BEYOND THE LIMITS

he most intense thrill? “In Mongolia, innovation alone does not lead to much if you lose the human
Jean-Baptiste and I were guests of a high-plains factor, which connects the softest and most delicate raw mate-
rancher who had never met a foreigner before. rial in the world to the ever-lighter yet more resistant wonders
We were stunned by his kindness and his passion displayed on the fashion catwalks, under the thrust of market-
T for his work. For passion is what breeders the ing and everything else that creates added value in the luxu-
world over have in common, whatever the differences in their ry goods industry. Luxury, this testimony teaches us, is not just
language, culture or income.” The ode to the passion of grow- industry. If anything, it is the fruit of a long history, peopled
ers and artisans of wool resounds from the Parisian offices of by men capable of creating balance as successful as it is fragile.
Maison Dormeuil, home of fashion’s most prized fabrics since And without the mémoire of the past and the knowledge of the
1842. Singing it is Dominic, fifth generation of the Dormeuil present, we risk compromising the future. And so we set off on
family and author of an unprecedented journey in episodes, our discovery of qiviut, created by the Maison from a blend of
which in the space of five years, together with photographer cashmere and wool from the musk ox, an Arctic bison that is
and globe trotter Jean-Baptiste Rabouan, has the mammal with the thickest, longest and
brought him to share the joys and sorrows of finest fur of all mammals, which is already an
an activity almost as old as civilization with } Wool is like wine. endangered species but is also an important
breeders and shepherds from every latitude. Quality depends source of income for the Inuit of Greenland.
This is not some wealthy manager’s affecta- greatly on soil and And of eshki, the Kyrgyz goats that Dormeu-
tion, nor the eccentricity of a snob jumping climate. Drought il ‘discovered’ after the fall of the Soviet Un-
into a new undertaking. Nor even the whim has weakened the fibres ion allowed the veil of secrecy about their
of a rich sophisticate with a penchant for silk-like wool to slip aside. Not to mention
Proust as suggested by the title of the book Ladakh, where they produce the pashmina
In search of precious wools, which recounts in pictures and words which mixed with vicuña gives rise to vanquish, the most ex-
an odyssey among the plateaus, steppes and plains of the five pensive fibre in the world. And, from isolated areas to regions
continents. No; from this episodic reportage, which the compa- covered by miracles of technology, where the herds are tended
ny manager has produced over five years by stealing time from using GPS and powerful 4x4s or helicopters zooming through
his holidays, a problematic document emerges that the fashion the skies over the Australian deserts. Everywhere, Dormeuil
industry must reflect deeply on. “Our travels,” says monsieur teaches, what counts is man. Coming to grips with nature, oth-
Dormeuil, “reveal that every country has major problems and er men, and of course, money problems.
concerns that place the future of breeders at risk.” Problems Question. What is the main problem for the shepherds and
that, by extension, cannot but worry Dormeuil, who since ’99 ranchers of the 21st century?
has been running the family business on which he has imposed Answer. It is not only price. Take the case of Mongolia, for ex-
a marked change of pace, innovating products and processes ample, which is a great cashmere producer. Nowadays, it must
in order to exalt the characteristics of the fabric and also to ca- be admitted, it produces far too much cashmere. By now any-
ter to the demands of a market that by now has global dimen- body can afford it, and so breeders have been encouraged to
sions, going far beyond the traditional Paris-London axis. But increase the number of animals they keep.

Above, left, the hunter Johanne Bech aboard a sled in Søndre Strømfjord fjord, Greenland. Right, a changpa holds the goats for milking “I think it is my duty to
thank the communities of breeders andshepherds who have produced the exceptional wool we use,” says Dominic Dormeuil. Other page, combing
a fleece on a wooden cylinder to obtain qiviut wool (which comes from musk oxen) in the workshop of the producers Anzita Høegh and Birthe Melin Andersen.

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