Perfumer Christine Nagel, who has been with Mane since 2010, will join Jean-Claude Ellena at luxury brand Hermès as in-house perfumer. She will begin in March.
Per a statement from Hermès,
In working with Christine Nagel, [Ellena’s] wish is to begin a process of transmission of the philosophy and creativity of Hermès Parfums, thereby establishing the way for a happy succession when the time comes. The arrival of Jean-Claude Ellena in 2004 marked the start of a new journey for Hermès. Ten years later, we are enriching our story with a new and wonderful partnership.
(via wwd)
Update ~ via press release from Hermès:
“Le choix de Christine Nagel est pour moi une évidence. Le temps qui s'ouvre à nous est celui du partage, de la liberté et de la différence ”. Jean-Claude Ellena, parfumeur de la maison Hermès.
While Olivier Polge’s choice for Chanel was the perfect match, the choice of Hermes is strange to put it mildly. The works of Nagel are usually extremely synthetic and most of all done in a sweet way. Miss Dior Cherie, Armani Si, Cartier Delicios, Dsquared2 Potion for Her. Does Hermes decide to renovate the signature and become more trendy?
It is hard to say. She has made some really beautiful fragrances, and not sure that in general she has had the kind of creative freedom that Jean-Claude Ellena has, so perhaps we do not even know her signature style. I certainly don’t care for most of what she’s done lately at Jo Malone & etc.
I was trying to think of who I would have liked them to pick and I’m really not sure, will have to think on it.
Entirely don’t agree, antonpan: Christine Nagel is a world-class perfumer, who has many lush, natural-smelling and/or interesting perfumes to her credit: Fendi Theorema, Armani Privé Ambre Soie, Mauboussin (PF – original), Mauboussin Histoire d’eau topaz, Eau de Cartier, Thierry Mugler Miroir des Envies, Thierry Mugler A*Men Pure Coffee etc. It would seem that she usually gets much less juice budget to work with than JCE and she can do wonders with that: Yves Rocher Rose Absolue being a good example. I’m delighted she’s joining Hermes.
I forgot that Rose Absolue. Plus, Lancomes Mille et Une Roses.
Guerlain Elixirs Charnel are also produced by her, and she has a done a very good job on oriental brullant. There is also her Archives 69 on Etat Libret, which i like a lot, and also her Choppard Madness is another proof that she can do a good job on mainstream – when given freedom, of course. I also think that Hommage a Homme and Lalique White are very good works on mainstream area. Don’t forget about Narciso Rodriguez Her and Si Lolita, both also done by her.
Thanks for reminding me about Chopard Madness. Perfect for snowy weather, have to find my bottle. LOL
Good news! Love Christine Nagel! Though not looking forward to JCE’s departure. Hope he doesn’t retire after leaving Hermes (whenever that may be…).
Gosh, hope he does not retire any time soon, that’s for sure. But does seem sensible to have someone already in place.
This is really surprising, wouldn’t expect that! Well, i hope that they give her as much freedom as they did with Ellena, i’m curious to see what the creator of the amazing Fendi Theorema could do at ther own without much constraints.
Wish they’d start by just releasing a carbon copy of Theorema!!
Me too! Love Theorema, its discontinuation was such a waist of a wonderful fragrance! The lightest and gorgeous complex amber of all time to me.
Luckily, it does seem to age nicely…my very old bottle is just fine despite a bit of degradation of the top notes.
I adore Nagel, and while I appreciate JCE, I’ve never connected on an emotional level with his perfumery. So yay for Christine Nagel!
Oh good then, you’ll be happier!
Completely biased, probably off-trend and not even necessarily in a particular order, my choices:
– Olivia Giacobetti,
– Mathilde Laurent,
– Nathalie Feisthauer.
One can dream …
Olivia Giacobetti would seem a great fit stylistically. Daniela Andrier would also have been an interesting choice.
But isn’t Giacobetti the master perfumer of Honore des Pres right now? Also, she has her own brand, Iunx, so i guess that she wouldn’t fit the Hermès constraints.
Daniela Andrier would be a nice choice if they wanted to stick with minimalism but go into another direction.
I guess, but neither Honore des Pres or Iunx would seem active enough to keep her busy, right? Actually not keeping up with Iunx, but HdP hasn’t released anything new in ages.
Iunx launched a fragrance this year, called L’Arbre, which is a gorgeous and light Mysore Sandalwood thing.
See, I said I wasn’t keeping up 🙂
Or Jaques Cavallier?
I’ve never really connected with JCE either. I like some of the Jardins, but still can’t escape the feeling of wearing a gorgeously luxurious room fragrance. And the twists he adds to Eau de Merveilles … there should be a law against that.
He’s essentially in-house at LVMH now…although sounds like we’ll have a quite a wait for his first scent, I think they’re saying 2016.
What will he live on until then?
In my ignorance i thought noses were like writers, paid for their fragrances once these were launched and sold.
No, perfumers are generally salaried, & either work for one of the big fragrance & flavor houses (IFF, Givaudan, Firmenich, etc) or work directly for a perfume brand.
I like her “eau de cartier” and Lalique White for men…
Bienvenue! hehehehehe
It will be interesting to see the direction this takes…
Ooh, I love Christine Nagel! Maybe she’ll bring a bit more life to Hermes…J C Ellena’s creations are almost as a rule too ephemeral and similar to me.