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…
