The new Hermès Un Jardin à Cythère is a poetic love letter to Greece

Nature has always been a major source of inspiration for fragrances, but what if you wanted to capture the essence of a moment in time? 

For the seventh and latest addition to Hermès’ Parfums-Jardins collection, Christine Nagel took the opportunity to bring the magic of her first trip to the island of Kythira, in southern Greece’s Peloponnese to life, choosing to bottle a feeling rather than a particular botanical. 

And this feeling is one that you’d be inclined to reach for again and again – and not just because the Hermès Un Jardin à Cythère smells unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before. The distinctive, blond fragrance here is a balanced amalgamation of citrus, woody, and malty notes, all of which work together to evoke the same awe and astonishment Nagel felt when she first stepped foot on the island, where the sea, fields of olive trees, and high grasses fill the visual landscape.

You’ll immediately catch notes of crisp sun-dried grass and the nutty scent of olive wood, and then whiffs of fresh pistachio. The warmth of the sun is conveyed through comforting notes of oat. This is all the more impressive considering that none of these have a natural essence, so everything had to be created from scratch via different materials and ingredients. 

Equal parts familiar and well, astonishing, the Hermès Un Jardin à Cythère is a dream for whose who want to be transported to a different world at a moment’s notice. 

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Housed in the iconic lantern-shaped bottle in 30ml, 50ml and 100ml sizes, the fragrance is accompanied by a box that’s illustrated by Greek artist Elias Kafouros, who brought Nagel’s vision to life using ink, pen, and paint. He’s no stranger to Hermès’ design language either, having inspired the designs of many Hermès scarves, including Eleftheria, meaning “freedom”, created in 2021 for the bicentennial of Greek independence. 

Now that’s what we call an escape.

Find out more and shop the new fragrance here.

This story first appeared here.