Hermes

History of the house

Hermes was founded in 1837 in Paris (France) by Thierry Hermes, a harness maker born in Krefeld (Germany) in 1801. The first workshop, near the Madeleine church in the 1st arrondissement of Paris (France), produced and sold harnesses, saddles and equipment for horses for an aristocratic European clientele. For nearly a century the house remained a reference in luxury saddlery, with no fragrance activity (Wikipedia EN, hermes.com heritage page, accessed 2026-05-22).

The perfume division emerged only in the twentieth century. In the 1930s, the three sons-in-law of Emile-Maurice Hermes, Robert Dumas, Jean-Rene Guerrand and Francis Puech, joined the company. Jean-Rene Guerrand developed the fragrance branch. In 1947, the house created the Comptoir Nouveau de la Parfumerie, a dedicated legal entity for this nascent activity (Wikipedia EN, hermes.com archives, Fragrantica designer page, accessed 2026-05-22).

In 1951, Hermes launched its first perfume, Eau d'Hermes, composed by Edmond Roudnitska, an independent perfumer already known for Femme de Rochas in 1944. It remains Roudnitska's only composition for the house. The first feminine perfume signed Hermes, Doblis, followed in 1955. In 1961, Guy Robert composed Caleche, which became the first major feminine success of the house and an enduring aldehydic floral reference (Wikipedia EN, Fragrantica entry, Now Smell This archives, accessed 2026-05-22).

For several decades, Hermes commissioned perfumes from independent perfumers on a release-by-release basis. Bel Ami in 1986 was signed by Jean-Louis Sieuzac, 24 Faubourg in 1995 by Maurice Roucel, and Hiris in 1999 by Olivia Giacobetti. During this period, fragrance production was outsourced to specialist manufacturers, while the editorial direction remained at Hermes Parfums in Paris (Fragrantica, Parfumo entries, accessed 2026-05-22).

In 2004, Hermes crossed a structural threshold by appointing Jean-Claude Ellena as the first exclusive in-house perfumer of the house. Ellena signed the first four Hermessences the same year, an exclusive boutique-only collection that included Vetiver Tonka. He then composed Un Jardin sur le Nil in 2005, Terre d'Hermes in 2006 and the majority of new launches until 2016. His appointment was decided by Jean-Louis Dumas and Veronique Gautier, then president of Hermes Parfums, and marked a long-term editorial shift toward a single signature voice (Wikipedia EN on Jean-Claude Ellena, Now Smell This profile, Persolaise coverage).

In 2014, Christine Nagel, an Italian-Swiss perfumer with prior tenures at Quest International, Firmenich and Jo Malone London, joined Hermes alongside Ellena. In 2016, she succeeded him as director of olfactive creation at Hermes Parfums. She is the first woman to occupy the in-house perfumer role at the house, and has signed the majority of new launches since then, including Twilly d'Hermes in 2017. In 2020, Hermes Parfums et Beaute broadened its scope by launching a make-up activity, the sixteenth official metier of the group (Wikipedia EN on Christine Nagel, hermes.com newsroom, accessed 2026-05-22).

Notable perfumes

The Hermes fragrance catalogue includes several dozen references since 1951. The following nine compositions are documented across Fragrantica, Parfumo and Basenotes with consistent attribution and launch year, and have shaped the perfumed identity of the house.

Eau d'Hermes (1951) remains the founding composition of the house and a documented reference of the woody spicy leather genre. Caleche (1961) is the first major feminine success of the house, signed by Guy Robert in a polished aldehydic floral register. Terre d'Hermes (2006) by Jean-Claude Ellena is widely cited in English-language fragrance criticism as a category reference for the mineral woody hesperidic accord. Twilly d'Hermes (2017) by Christine Nagel signals the editorial shift toward more sensual floral constructions of the post-2016 period.

Olfactive signature

The olfactive identity of Hermes was built in two distinct phases. From 1951 to 2003, the house commissioned its perfumes from recognized independent perfumers (Roudnitska, Robert, Sieuzac, Roucel, Giacobetti). Each composition carried the personal signature of its author, with no unified olfactive direction. The families covered ranged from leather chypre with Bel Ami to aldehydic floral with Caleche and powdery iris with Hiris (Fragrantica, Parfumo, accessed 2026-05-22).

From 2004, the arrival of Jean-Claude Ellena as exclusive in-house perfumer marked a stylistic pivot. Ellena developed for Hermes a writing characterized by short formulas in terms of ingredient count, the pairing of natural materials with recent synthetic molecules, and a sustained focus on transparency and olfactive lightness. The Hermessences in 2004 and the Jardins collection, opened in 2003 with Un Jardin en Mediterranee and extended by Un Jardin sur le Nil in 2005, are the most documented illustrations. Terre d'Hermes in 2006 extended this writing into a mineral woody register that became an editorial benchmark of the decade (Persolaise coverage, Now Smell This reviews).

Since 2016, Christine Nagel has steered olfactive creation toward more substantial constructions, with a return of sensual floral materials (tuberose in Twilly d'Hermes) and the exploration of more contrasted accords. The house continues to edit the Hermessence collection and to sign original compositions in line with both previous periods. Within French perfumery, Hermes anchors a contemporary signature with a strong presence on the mineral woody and pared-down hesperidic segments (Persolaise, Bois de Jasmin, Now Smell This, accessed 2026-05-22).

A French house anchored in saddlery heritage, defined since 2004 by an in-house perfumer working in transparent writing.

Key characteristics

Frequently asked questions

See also