Hermès

Civilization.

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At the Hermès stand in the local department store, while collecting smelling strips and begging for samples from a sales attendant who clearly thought I was an unsavory character, I fell into conversation with a young woman, her boyfriend, and her mother. She was looking for a fragrance and thought I worked there. She wanted something “fresh,” and I steered her towards the Hermès Eaux—Orange Verte, Citron Noir, etc.

Her reactions told me that Hermès faces a headwind. She thought they were all too weird, too edgy, and not very pleasant. Christine Nagel’s brilliantly creative and utterly civilized work comes across as not perfume to people used to mainstream fragrances. Tania points out that what the average customer wants is a sprayable version of the functional fragrances (shampoo, conditioner, face cream) they are used to. Small wonder that after Galop didn’t sell, Barénia was made so boring.

I find it wonderful that two genius, genuine in-house perfumers in major French brands are women: Nagel at Hermès and Mathilde Laurent at Cartier. France is easily the most macho country in Western Europe, though this fact often goes under the radar. Furthermore, neither Laurent nor Nagel is a nepo-baby born to the Grasse mafia, for whom, as Françoise Caron once memorably said to me, the only career choice was “stealing mopeds or going into perfumery.” Those two women got where they are by sheer talent, and in Nagel’s case after spending a decade or so in the chromatography department of a big oil house, the graveyard shift of the industry. May they live long and prosper.

For paid subscribers: reviews of Tutti Twilly, Twilly Ginger, Twilly Eau Poivrée, H24, H24 EdP and H24 Herbes Vives.