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Browsing by tag: jean claude ellena

The scavenger of odors…

Posted by Robin on 28 September 2007 2 Comments

"I am a pilferer, a thief, a scavenger of odors," he said, adding he's not interested in copying nature but rather "transforming it" and conveying aspects of nature using as few materials as possible. "It's a challenge to be simple," he said. "If I'm simple, the better [one] understands." If a composition is "too complex," he said, "the message is lost."

— Perfumer Jean Claude Ellena discusses his approach in a talk at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York earlier this week. (via Women's Wear Daily) His latest: Hermès Kelly Caleche.

Hermes Kelly Caleche ~ fragrance review

Posted by Robin on 3 July 2007 142 Comments

Kelly Caleche perfume by HermesHermes Kelly Caleche fragrance advert

Kelly Calèche, which launched recently at the new Hermès boutique on Wall Street, is the brand’s first major feminine fragrance since Jean Claude Ellena took over as house perfumer. I adore Hermès, and I adore the work of Jean Claude Ellena, and I thought last year’s Terre d’Hermès was brilliant. Kelly Calèche was the perfume release I was awaiting most eagerly this year.

Kelly Calèche was named for the Kelly handbag and the original Calèche perfume. Jean Claude Ellena, who frequently cites a book as inspiration for his fragrances, mentioned for this one Jean Giono’s Jean le Bleu, about a village cobbler and his son (Giono was also named as an inspiration for Terre d’Hermès), and particularly a passage about “making soles in angel leather”. The notes for the floral leather scent include iris, lily of the valley, mimosa, tuberose and climbing rose. (quote and notes via Women’s Wear Daily, 5/11/2007)

Kelly Calèche starts off with sparkling citrus. For a few moments, it calls to mind the bright, grapefruit-y effervescence of Rose Ikebana, then it gets a teensy bit darker…

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Hermes Kelly Caleche ~ new fragrance

Posted by Robin on 27 April 2007 35 Comments

Kelly Caleche fragrance by Hermes, ad imageHermes Kelly Caleche perfume

Hermès will launch a new fragrance, Kelly Calèche, this summer. The name comes from the iconic Kelly handbag (“the most coveted bag on the planet”, according to fashion.about.com) and from the original Calèche perfume, but Kelly Calèche is not a new variation on that scent…

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Hermes Paprika Brasil fragrance review

Posted by Robin on 26 October 2006 21 Comments

Hermes Paprika Brasil fragrance

Paprika Brasil is the latest fragrance to join the Hermessence Collection at Hermès. Like the others, it was developed by Hermès house nose Jean Claude Ellena. Paprika Brasil was reportedly inspired by the 1955 Claude Lévi-Strauss book Tristes Tropiques, which recounted his travels in the Brazilian interior. The fragrance notes include pimento, clove, paprika, iris, green leaves, reseda, ember wood (aka Brazilwood or Pernambuco) and woody notes.

My initial trials of Paprika Brasil cannot be described in any way other than disappointing, and the experience points to the dangers of building up expectations based on the fragrance name, back story and notes. I suppose what I was expecting was a deep woods scent with exotic spices, something that would evoke the jungles of Brazil before the impact of globalization, where Lévi-Strauss was said to have found “a human society reduced to its most basic expression”.

I wouldn’t necessarily know such a thing if I smelled it…

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Anti-celebrity perfume quote of the day

Posted by Robin on 21 October 2006 13 Comments

What we sell is a product that is the result of a lived experience...You won't smell like Jennifer Lopez; you will be yourself. You might try other products, but you will always come back.

— Perfumer Jean Claude Ellena on the difference between the artisanal approach at Hermès and the marketing approach used by other perfume houses, in yesterday's International Herald Tribune.

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