"To put oud in a fragrance is not Hermès: it's a marketing approach to perfumery for those who follow the money," says Jean-Claude Ellena, the legendary French brand's in-house perfumer, with disdain.
— Read more at Why you'll never find oud in an Hermès fragrance at GQ UK. (found via @glasspetalsmoke at Twitter)
Love.This. 😉
And it is comically countered by another article today in the NYT, which I’m about to post 🙂
Too funny!
The two houses do have very opposite tastes. I visited Selfridges this September and the only impression I got from the perfume corner was one company trying to out-price or out-oud the other. Sigh..
While I totally agree with him, is it logically different than using osmanthus and black tea in a fragrance that references his trips to Beijing? I do admire him for sticking to his guns but I feel like if he slipped some oud into an Hermessence because he liked the way it worked, that wouldn’t be the biggest deal.
I think it’s the way Malle did it, basically dumping it into his bottles for $800 or however, and how so many others before him, do it is cynical. But the L’Artisan one? That’s totally in line with their “mission.” Even Le Labo’s Oud makes sense with their line.
Not to sound too grumpy at 9:22 am. I actually admire the way Hermes is kind of a “city upon a hill,” with some of those same connotations. I just think there is more wiggle room than he gives it credit for.
Also, *ahem* Doblis *ahem*
Well, I don’t think he used osmanthus & black tea because they were the “notes du jour” so to speak, and every other brand had one so they should too, or because he thought Hermes could charge more because he used them, so to me it is logically different.
I agree there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with making oud perfumes in general. I think at the moment it’s winding down a wee bit, but when everyone is doing it, emphasizing the rarity even though they’re doing synthetics anyway, putting oud in the name as an obvious selling point, charging more than they do for the rest of their line, etc etc, it is easy to get cynical about it as a consumer (and obviously, I’ve been cynical about it for years now).
Yes, Coumarin! When I read that line about the “(near) perfect back collection” I immediately shrieked (silently), “What about Doblis?!”
Not to underestimate money, but I do think there is another reason for the oud trend. Synthetic oud accords emerged at a time when perfumers were losing so many fundamental notes to IFRA and ecological factors. They had to find another deep note to replace oak moss, sandalwood, and the rest. I prefer the oud accord to those spiky woods and neutered patchoulis.
Interesting. I guess Jean-Claude Ellena has earned the right to brag a bit, but I’d trade my entire collection of Hermes perfumes for one bottle of Diaghilev.
Ha, you know I wouldn’t 😉
LOL, I realized as I was writing that you probably wouldn’t trade your JCEs for anything. Maybe you’d be tempted by an absolutely pristine Diorissimo, as fresh as the day Edmond Roudnitska created it? Then you’d realize you could sniff an exact recreation at the Osmotheque if you really wanted to. 😉
I have 2 lovely versions of Diorissimo, and luckily I also have quite a few JCEs…so far, nobody has made me trade anything for anything else! But I suppose if *forced* I would give up 1 bottle of Diorissimo to keep my JCEs?
BUT will also point out that Edmond Roudnitska, of all people, would be appalled by the oud craze — I think of JCE (in more ways than just this) as carrying on in his spirit
It doesn’t sound like even an original Diorissimo in the Baccarat bottle with the gilded flowers would separate you from one of your favorite JCEs, Robin! I’m glad we don’t really have to make these choices, apart from budgetary limitations. I can at least have decants of Diaghilev.
Yes, I can see your point about JCE carrying on the spirit of Roudnitska in his rigorous pursuit of perfume excellence and balance in creating something new.
I also appreciate that JCE seems to really be exploring, what can we do with the palette we have now? We can’t make chypres anymore, but isn’t there something new that we that we can do with these new aromachemicals? That’s true of Duchaufour, too, although their styles are very different.
No need to follow the money when you ARE the money, it would seem to me 😉
Ha, exactly!
I’m trying to work out which is in worse taste; to add an oud scent to your range because everyone is doing so and you can charge a lot for it, or to brag about how you are NOT going to add an oud scent to your line, because everyone is doing so and they charge a lot for it..
I say the latter, Merlin. 😉
And JCE – Why you’ll never find oud in an Hermès fragrance; until you do.
He may have trouble working it in to his ‘transparent’ style 😀
LOL! But if he said that because they asked him, to my mind, that is not a big deal. If he brought it up to brag, that’s different.
True, there is not much context to the remark! It always makes me cynical though when corporate enterprises suggest they are ‘above’ commercial interests.
Admittedly there are companies which concentrate on being in-step with trends and others which maintain a more conservative and classical image. Hermes would no doubt be in the latter category.
I guess my feeling is that while it is fickle to foreground a certain note just because it’s fashionable – suggesting that there is something intrinsically vulgar or common about an olfactory note (and a HERMES would never be crass enough to use it) – is even worse!