HERMÈS RELEASES "UN JARDIN À CYNTHÈRE"

With Kythira as Nagel’s muse, she planned to visit the island to explore the garden of that her perfume would embody. But, COVID had other plans… “Normally, with the Hermès garden fragrances, what happens is the perfumer goes to the garden itself to seek inspiration and starts designing the fragrance from the garden itself,” Nagel says. “But, COVID happened as I was organizing the trip, so I couldn’t actually go.” (Nagel via the Vancouver Sun). Fortunately, Nagel had visited Kythira before, and, despite that trip being 20 years prior, she used her memories to craft the Un Jardin à Cynthère scent.

Not only did Nagel have to rely on her memories for the perfumes creation, but she also explained none of the three materials existed as raw materials – meaning, she reconstructed each individual element. Nagel took a twist on the “classic” garden, and innovated it into much more… “For me, this garden is blue, white, and blonde,” explains Nagel. “Blue because it’s the blue of the sea of Greece. It’s absolutely incredible. White because of the beautiful stylistic houses white houses and blonde because of the grasses. And I also like to say that there are three elements in this perfume. First of all, there’s the olive wood, which is the backbone of this perfume. If you compare it to a human being, it would be the backbone. The cereal would be the hair, the blond hair on this perfume and the fresh pistachio would be the flesh.” (Nagel via Vogue).