Hermès
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Bitter orange zest meets the astringent snap of black tea, immediately dry and bracing. There's none of the sweetness you might expect—just this beautiful, austere clarity, like inhaling steam from a gaiwan of high-mountain oolong.
Osmanthus finally reveals itself, but filtered through a grey suede glove, its apricot tones muted to suggestion rather than statement. The freesia contributes a watery, mineral quality that keeps everything cool-toned and precise, whilst the tea accord remains present, anchoring the florals with its persistent tannin.
What lingers is a soft, worn leather—not biker jacket but the supple nap of old chamois cloth—with the faintest ghost of dried apricot and a papery floral echo. The whole composition has condensed to something abstract and skin-like, intimate without being warm, present without projecting.
Osmanthe Yunnan is Jean-Claude Ellena's meditation on osmanthus in its most tea-stained, leathery guise—a fragrance that captures the flower not as sweet confection but as something earthy, tannic, and surprisingly austere. The opening marries bitter orange peel with the dry, smoky character of black tea, creating an astringent clarity that immediately sets this apart from conventional florals. As osmanthus unfolds, it brings its characteristic apricot facets, but here they're muted and dusted with suede rather than glazed with sugar. The freesia adds a mineral coolness, keeping the composition taut and refined rather than plush.
What makes this remarkable is how Ellena has captured the smell of osmanthus growing wild in Yunnan—petals warmed by sun yet shadowed by the vegetal bitterness of tea leaves drying nearby. The leather accord doesn't roar; it whispers, lending a subtle animal warmth beneath the floral-fruity overlay. There's something distinctly Chinese teahouse about the whole affair: wooden tables worn smooth, apricot stones drying in terracotta bowls, the faint suede of well-used tea caddies.
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3.6/5 (92)