Hermès

Thierry Hermès opened his harness workshop on Rue Basse-du-Rempart in Paris in 1837, supplying European nobility and Russian aristocracy with horse harnesses and saddles. His son Charles-Émile expanded into saddles and moved to 24 Faubourg Saint-Honoré — still the brand's flagship address. Three generations later, in 1880, Émile-Maurice Hermès broadened the house into leather goods, including the bags that would become the Kelly (1956) and the Birkin (1984). The fragrance arm launched in 1951 with Eau d'Hermès, a leather-aromatic composition by Edmond Roudnitska, but only became a serious creative house with the appointment of Jean-Claude Ellena as in-house perfumer in 2004.

1837 — Thierry Hermès opens his harness workshop. 1951 — Eau d'Hermès by Edmond Roudnitska, the brand's first fragrance. 1979 — Calèche. 1986 — Bel Ami. 2004 — Jean-Claude Ellena becomes in-house perfumer; the Hermessence collection launches; Terre d'Hermès launches and becomes the brand's commercial flagship. 2014 — Christine Nagel joins Hermès as Director of Olfactory Creation, working alongside Ellena. 2016 — Ellena retires; Nagel takes sole creative leadership. 2018 — Twilly d'Hermès. 2019 — H24, the new masculine signature. 2022 — Plein Air. 2024 — Ellena returns briefly as a special collaborator on a Hermessence project.