Calèche (1961)
by Hermès

I have not smelled Caleche for many years and got a bit of a depressing shock. Can Hermes please stop fiddleing with them, they do not seem get better!!!!
Once more they have taken the guts out of beautiful scents leaving them thin, limp and with a weak base.
Belami has lost its peppery fullness and big warm soft after glow, Eqiupage is synthetic and lifeless compared with the original and Caleche is watery and transparent in the middle. Have the accountants taken over once more or in a rush to be "modern" turned to CK BE for new formulas and style??
Pissed off and disapointed!

Calèche starts out smelling like and aldehydic green floral chypre – a sort of softer and more floral Givenchy III or a muted 1000. It’s the “muted” that impresses me over the first part of the development, as Calèche rapidly settles into a slightly spicy floral leather skin scent with a mossy background. Besides a delicate transparency that’s rare among floral chypres, it’s most appealing feature is an almost-but-not-quite edible, nutty quality about its chypre core. The soapy moss and woods drydown that plays out after a few hours is in keeping with the rest of the scent’s refined development.

With its clean, prim demeanor, Calèche occupies a significant niche in the realm of chypre scents. It’s sophisticated, elegant, and somewhat formal. With its conspicuous aldehydes, it’s also a touch “perfumey,” in the same sense as, say, Chanel No. 5. It strikes me, paradoxically, as very gender-neutral as well, perhaps because it is so dry and understated. At any rate, it is a scent worth exploring if you enjoy chypres but find some of the other classics of the genre too opaque or ponderous.

I tried this recently -- I could not get past the "soap" stage (must be the aldehydes). When not overpowered by the soap "accord", I sense rather nice florals (violets?), but I can only get whiffs of those, and then back to the soap. Overall, it smells like a very luxe, very expensive soap, but not a perfume I'd wear. Definitely try before you buy.

Smells like Chanel No. 5 and urine.... which isn't always such a bad thing.

Some 10 years ago a lady in a pefumer's shop smelled Caleche and sighed: "My, it's so beautiful". She could not afford it, somehow perfumes were (and still are) more expensive in Poland than in Western Europe. I sniffed at it - and it smelled sort of difficult. After some years I took a risk and bought it for myself. The first contact was still difficult - it smelled so unlike today! "So what! - I thought. - I do not need to be like today". At first I planned to wear it only to chic classic dresses, but soon I was wearing it to everything, blue jeans and black emo T-shirts included! You won't believe it, but it went well with these, too! Maybe because it went well with my skin and psyche? One of the greatest masterpieces ever, an adventure for the soul!

I bought a bottle of EDT Caleche for my Mom when she was still alive, then took it over when she wasn't crazy about it. She was a Chantilly Lace fan. I loved it then and I love it now because it reminds me of her and because I just love the scent.