I first encountered Eau d’Hermès at a huge perfume emporium in Tijuana, Mexico, when I was very young. I sniffed Eau d’Hermès and recoiled, thinking: “It smells filthy!” Over a decade later, on a whim, and at a steep discount, I up and bought a bottle of Eau d’Hermès. I hadn’t smelled it since Tijuana, and this time I loved it. Perhaps age (and feverish buying and sampling of fragrances for years and years) had altered my opinions of ‘difficult’ perfumes and helped me appreciate the “underside” of fragrances: the musks, the indoles, the rude spices.

Legend has it that perfumer Edmond Roudnitska aimed to capture the scent of an Hermès handbag, its insides, with Eau d’Hermès. Right now, I’m retiring my own “handbag” — a big black leather thing that I’ve had for at least fifteen years. My bag used to be handsome, “fit” and trim; now its zippers are failing, it’s more gray than black, and it’s “flabby” after years of being stuffed with my stuff. I call it my Blood (it’s been to the hospital with me many times), Sweat (so many trips to hot places) and Tears (lots of losses occur in fifteen years) Bag…

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