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Hermès Terre d'Hermès Parfum (2009) {New Perfume}
Following up on yesterday's post about an upcoming Eau de Parfum flanker to Terre d'Hermès, I received a correction from well-informed reader M saying that perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena is actually working on an extrait version of the masculine bestseller, not on an Eau de Parfum. The Hermès press office confirmed the news this morning...They are confirming that a Terre d'Hermès extrait is in the works and it is titled Terre d'Hermès Parfum.
Needless to say, the news come as even more interesting than the anticipation of the creation of an eau de parfum. It follows the previous pattern for Kelly Calèche which was redone as a parfum first and an eau de parfum next. One would note in passing that a parfum does not take the same financial risks as it a priori targets a smaller segment of the market.
But a men's parfum is something nevertheless a little revolutionary by mainstream standards. Terre d'Hermès although having a unisex charm once you dig into its olfactory personality is marketed as a men's fragrance. In 2008 it became the 5th best-selling masculine perfume in France. To plan to launch a pure perfume version of the scent can be appreciated as a notable gender twist and example of forward-thinking as extraits are usually reserved for the décolletés of women in the social imagination rather than the skin under the cuffs of men.
A "parfum" is the highest concentration a perfume can be sold in. But more than that minimal technical requirement, offering a new concentration of a fragrance requires a rethinking of the composition. Jean-Claude Ellena moreover is known for his preference for creative flankers rather than for just offering minimal twists.
It will be exciting to see how men take to this new habit for Terre d'Hermès.
Update: Further information here about the extrait, via Hermès
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You can count this man as very excited about this news. As a big fan of both Ellena and Terre D'Hermes I can't wait.
Also going by what Ellena pulled off with the Declaration flankers for Cartier this promises to be one of the most interesting scents of 2009.
Posted by: Somerville Metro Man | June 23, 2009
Very glad for you the Men! I guess that in the cosmos of perfumes, a little geotechtonic shock could be heard with this announcement of a pure extrait for men...Hermès are really two steps ahead from the game. The bottle should be very interesting too going by Kelly Calèche and the need to translate the idea of a masculine parfum well. Although I would wager that they can't neglect the fact that women like Terre d'Hermès too and buy it sometimes in order to share it.
Posted by: Marie-Helene Wagner | June 23, 2009
Happy for the menfolk to have the constraints of tradition loosened that much more...
...and happy for all folk who enjoy this scent!
Posted by: ScentScelf | June 23, 2009
Yes, both men and women should be very glad. I learned that it is coming sooner than expected, in August. Also, it will be widely available and affordable too.
Posted by: Marie-Helene Wagner | June 23, 2009
I'm really looking forward to this concentration being put on the market. For some reason cologne never sticks on me, and the longest one will last on my skin is about 3 to 4 hours, sometimes even less. I've gone through so many testers of scents that I really really liked and had to throw them away because they wouldn't last, constantly in search of something with staying power that doesn't smell like industrial cleaning solution.
Maybe I'm just weird about staying power (are most fragrances supposed to last only a few hours?) or not accepting that I might actually have a bad nose. (or just adapt very quickly) Input and help?
Posted by: Daniel | June 24, 2009
Just to be fair. Hermes is not the first brand to lauch a masculine perfume. Guerlain launch Habit Rouge extrait for Christmas in 2008. Created in 1965, Habit Rouge was the first oriental masculine fragrance ever. In 2008, Guerlain still innovate with the extrait. Terre d'Hermes is one of the best juice launched this 10 last years, i sure that the perfume will be a great success and it will be totally deserved.
Posted by: arthur | July 21, 2009
You're absolutely right to be fair. Fair should not be an option but mandatory :)
I added this precision to the follow-up post "A First Look at a Masculine Extrait", but should have done that too with this article. You just did it for me :)
But what about Mouchoir de Monsieur (1904) as an earlier-still oriental marketed to men? Jicky also should be taken into account as a grand testimony to the masculine taste for orientals.
Posted by: Marie-Helene Wagner | July 21, 2009
Guerlain has created Jicky as a Chypre - Oriental and not as a real oriental like Shalimar. And Jicky wasn't a masculine fragrance but a feminine one. I guess we can say that is the first modern fragance by using for the first time synthetic materials and natural raw materials. It was the first perfume with différent facets intead of being (as requiered by uses and habits in the 19th century) just a picture of a flower bouquet or a cologne. At the beginning, it was too innovative and different for the ladies with this animal notes that this fragrance was used by men before being a success for both.
For mouchoir de Monsieur, i think that it's a "fougère" with some aromatic and woody notes.. Do i am wrong ?
Posted by: arthur | July 22, 2009
I think that you are right to point out that Jicky is not just an oriental. It is often given as a "semi-oriental" in the literature. I suppose that I am a bit skeptical about the claim that Habit Rouge is the first oriental for men, except in the modern, marketing sense of being explicitly advertised for men. If you think of Hammam Bouquet, you can see that Orientalist fragrances were already used by men even if the composition was not canonical of the Guerlain definition of an oriental. I would feel more comfortable about these statements after I did systematic critical research.
Posted by: Marie-Helene Wagner | July 29, 2009