Nov
04
I love pretty much everything about Hermès. The craftmanship (if you didn’t see our Style Icon on the scarves you should check it out), the designs, and the history of the pieces.
While the scarves are a beautiful lifelong investment for any age group, I have personally been vying for one of their exquisite and yet not-exactly-in-my-budget bracelets. Their leather cuffs and watches are so lust-worthy I can’t even express how much I want one.
And now at just the cost of a little ink and a piece of paper you can make your very own. Seriously? Oh yes. First step, go onto the Hermès website. Browse around in the “learn about the world of Hermes” section, find the little drawing on the right that says “I want it I have to have it” and voila, a printable bracelet of your very own. There are even instructions along with the cut-outs on how to make it. Whether you’re having your very own high-fashion tea party for kids or you’re artistic enough to create this and rock it yourself, this is a very exciting idea.
Here’s the link in case you can’t find it. And you can download different colours and patterns!
– Kate Daley
Oct
07
Calgarians are getting lucky lately. With the new Hermès and Louis Vuitton expanding their Calgary locales, these lucky Albertans will have an array of items to spruce up their cowboy hats and boots. (Hey, I’ve only been there during stampede, what can I say.)
Either way, these luxury brands have felt the urge to go West. On October 7th, at the Holt Renfrew location on 8th Avenue SW, the Louis Vuitton store will double in size. Not too shabby eh? So now you can either browse the men and women’s shoes and check out all of their luxe leather as well as accessories like jewellery and sunglasses.
The Louis Vuitton Bag Bar in Calgary’s Holt Renfrew.
And get this – the store will debut a Louis Vuitton bag bar, the first of its kind in Canada. The other Vuitton locations at Holt’s include Bloor Street and Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, Dunsmuir Street in Vancouver and at Manulife Place in Edmonton.
And if Louis doesn’t do it for you, Hermès no doubt will. Their new 130-square-metre store at 510-8th Avenue S.W. in Holt Renfrew was designed by the RDAI, the Parisian interior architecture agency, (so it’s obviously fancy because it’s French) and it has all of their silks, leathers and jewellery, as well as ready-to-wear.
It’s the fourth location in Canada including Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto… And if you haven’t checked out their amazing leather bracelets you must. I cannot justify spending the money quite yet but someday!
– Kate Daley
Jean-Claude Ellena
The house of Hermès, renowned for its celebrity-loving purses, makes amazing perfume. And although the handbags can cost as much as a car, the fragrances don’t.
I had the pleasure last week of having lunch with Jean-Claude Ellena, the Hermès perfumer. Well, actually, it wasn’t just him and I. We were joined by a small group of other journalists and hosted by the company’s Canadian president at her lovely home. The event was to mark the official launch of two new olfactory creations by Ellena, colognes actually: Pamplemousse Rose and Gentiane Blanche. Actually the event also marked the relaunching of sorts of Hermès’s sprightly Eau d’Orange Vert cologne.
Ellena has concocted some of my favourite Hermès scents since being named the official nose for Hermès in 2004: Kelly Caleche, Un Jardin Après La Mousson, and my absolute favourite, Terre d’ Hermès. (Strangers stop me routinely to ask what I’m wearing when I have it on. Note to self: Replace empty bottle.)
Ellena personifies my romantic notion of what a perfumer should be. He is elegant and well-dressed in a casual, classic way – white shirt, no tie, blazer, well pressed dress pants and good shoes; he has a slight tan but one you imagine was achieved wandering the far reaches of the world rather than lounging poolside on a chaise; he listens when you speak; he chooses his words carefully; he is a poet and a scientist; he is a husband and father, and he has a good laugh.
Sorry, I was talking about fragrances. Right.
Well, they’re colognes, so are meant to be splashed and rubbed on your skin. “Women are used to spritzing, it’s true,” says Ellena, “this is more intimate.” He illustrates, caressing his arms as one would in the morning, mimicking the splashing and massaging on of a toilette onto freshly showered skin.
Pamplemousse Rose is a citrusy grapefruit splash made richer with the heady notes of the iconic garden bloom. The other fragrance, Gentiane Musk, is a deeper-smelling fragrance without cologne’s usual citrus kick. It’s got a creaminess to it that is different from vanilla but similarly milky without being sweet. It’s interesting, not my favourite, but sexy in an unexpected way.
The new scents don’t hit stores until May, but in the meantime, give yourself an hour and go on a perfume trip. Stop and smell the roses: Go check out some of the brand’s other toilettes. But first, do a little reading: Some of the beauty of perfume is the stories that lie behind their creation, and when you spritz it on, you have the ability to wear and carry with you that history and romance.
– Deborah Fulsang
