Kelly Calèche

Kelly Calèche Eau de Parfum reached Hermès in early 2009. It is the third version of a perfume born in 2007 and signed by Jean-Claude Ellena, then the house perfumer: an eau de toilette first, an extrait in 2008, and an eau de parfum with enriched floral nuances.

The bag and the carriage

The name brings together two Hermès emblems. Kelly is the house’s bag, renamed in tribute to Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, who carried it. Calèche refers to the horse-drawn carriage that became the house’s signature, and to the perfume Guy Robert composed under that name in 1961.

For Victoria Frolova, Kelly Calèche was not meant to be a mere variation on that classic. The project was a feminine leather, presented as the house’s first; the critic points out, however, that Doblis, created by Guy Robert in 1955, already existed.

An angel leather

Ellena traces the idea back to a visit to the Hermès leather storehouse. He also cites a passage from Jean le Bleu, by Jean Giono, in which a cobbler talks of making soles from angel leather: the perfume was to render that supple, caressing leather.

The house sums up the intention with a phrase from the perfumer: “A perfume of leather and flowers, as light as an angel’s wing.” It dedicates it to women of free-spirited elegance, whose equestrian style, both masculine and feminine, does not take itself seriously.

Three concentrations in three years

The eau de toilette came out in 2007, in 50 and 100 ml. Today the house pairs it with rose, powdery mimosa and elegant vetiver, and still sells it alongside the eau de parfum, which is not simply a stronger version of it.

An extrait arrived in September 2008, reworked by Ellena to make it more sensual. It was presented in a refillable steel bottle shaped like an Hermès padlock, holding 7.5 ml and priced at 140 euros. Ida Meister reports that it has since been discontinued.

The eau de parfum arrived in early 2009, in 50 and 100 ml. Hermès announced it with Barénia calf leather, lambskin, rose, violet and vanilla, and promised richer floral nuances than those of the eau de toilette.

How the house presents it today

Hermès now sells the eau de parfum in 100 ml. The house presents it as a floral, leathery fragrance that pairs fleshy rose with powdery mimosa and the enveloping character of benzoin, and gives it a warm, sensual olfactory emotion.