15 October 2024 |
Director of olfactive creation, Christine Nagel, pays homage to Hermes’s house codes of timeless luxury for exceptional women with her own spin on chypres.
Hermès understands the importance of patience. The French house’s trend-averse commitment to classicism is the stuff of fashion legend, so it’s fitting that its latest fragrance was ten years in the making. Barénia, the brand’s effervescent take on achypre, is presented in a Philippe Mouquet-designed bottle that riffs on the iconic studs and leather of the Collier de Chien bracelet. It couldn’t feel more modern, yet it’s steeped in fragrance history. A chypre composition, it adheres to the citrus, floral, oakmoss construction that has delighted since François Coty dreamt up the Mediterranean-inspired creation back in 1917. Updated for a new audience, it marks the house’s first foray into the complex fragrance family.
Barénia began as the passion project of creative director of Hermès Perfumes, Christine Nagel, who, upon joining the house in 2014, knew she wanted to introduce a chypre into its lineup. “It was just so obvious to me,” she shares from the brand’s Paris headquarters. “It’s the most beautiful of perfume structures, and when you love one, you love it for life. It’s timeless, and Hermès is a house of timeless objects.” Drawing inspiration from her childhood fascination with mythology and eclectic icons such as Peggy Guggenheim and the 19th-century English explorer Isabella Bird, the fragrance is an ode to “exceptional women who chose their life using their instincts.” It’s a characteristic Nagel has also come to appreciate in the Hermès consumer. They, in turn, have grown to trust Nagel’s expertise and artistry, which is laid bare with Barénia.
“It’s a recipe, really,” the perfumer says of the ingredients required of a chypre. But Nagel’s bergamot is “bespoke,” grown in Sicily and harvested before the fruit is fully ripe for a particularly lively burst of clear citrus. Eschewing more traditional rose or jasmine notes, she found her floral in the butterfly lily from Madagascar—the first time the bloom has been used in perfumery—which softens the bite of more common white varietals. And in
place of oakmoss, Nagel used roasted oakwood, which has an addictive, rum-like quality. “It’s the backbone of this fragrance,” she says. But the real reveal comes from a synthesized note of miracle berry, the crimson West African fruit with a unique protein that can make anything sour taste sweet. “Younger people are tired of all those very sweet notes that are proposed in women’s fragrances today,” says Nagel, who has deciphered a pleasant softness without the syrupy, saccharine hangover.
Those unfamiliar with the complex nature of a chypre will be pleased to learn that the blend is also an ode to the patinated Barenia leather that lets Birkins and Kellys age like fine wine—and all that it symbolizes. “Eventually, it becomes like silk against the skin, giving you that gentle caress,” Nagel says. Her ultimate goal? “To reach people emotionally.”
