Christine Nagel (born 7 October 1959) is a Swiss
perfumer
A perfumer is an expert on creating perfume compositions, sometimes referred to affectionately as a ''nose'' () due to their fine sense of smell and skill in producing olfactory compositions. The perfumer is effectively an artist who is trained i ...
. She has served as the in-house perfumer at
Hermès
Hermès International S.A. ( , ) is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, silk goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Since the ...
since 2016. Prior to joining Hermès she created designer perfume hits like
Narciso Rodriguez for Her (2003, with
Francis Kurkdjian
Francis Kurkdjian (born 14 May 1969) is a French perfumer and businessman of Armenian descent. He is best known for creating the men's fragrance Le Male for Jean Paul Gaultier in 1995, which has become one of the world's best-selling men’s fra ...
) and
Miss Dior Chérie
Miss Dior Chérie was a fragrance created by Christine Nagel for Christian Dior. At the time John Galliano served as Dior’s fashion designer and creative director, overseeing Nagel’s development of the unusual, youth-oriented strawberry-and ...
(2005), as well as
niche perfume
Niche perfume is an alternative to mass perfume production. Niche is limited by the clientele and therefore with a limited sale range, thus the goal of niche houses is not to sell as much as possible. These companies are generally smaller than the ...
like Wood Sage & Sea Salt, one of 47 perfumes she created for
Jo Malone London
Jo Malone London is a British multinational cosmetics company, perfume and scented candle brand, founded by Jo Malone in 1990. It has been owned since 1999 by Estée Lauder. The brand is known for its perfumes, candles, bath products, and roo ...
. She has been recognized with awards from the
Fragrance Foundation France, the
François Coty
François Coty (; born Joseph Marie François Spoturno ; 3 May 1874 – 25 July 1934) was a French perfumer, businessman, newspaper publisher, politician and patron of the arts. He was the founder of the Coty, Coty perfume company, today a multin ...
Foundation, and the ''
Marie Claire
''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages.
The feature editions focus on women aro ...
'' International Fragrance Awards.
Early life and education
Born on 7 October 1959 to an Italian mother and Swiss father,
Christine Nagel grew up in
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
, Switzerland.
Her earliest scent memory is of the Italian
talc powder
Talc, or talcum, is a clay mineral composed of hydrated magnesium silicate, with the chemical formula . Talc in powdered form, often combined with corn starch, is used as baby powder. This mineral is used as a thickening agent and lubricant. I ...
her mother bought to care for Nagel's baby brother.
(Nagel's brother also grew up to work in perfume.)
Her grandmother was a seamstress, sewing men's trousers, and the smell of freshly pressed pants formed another important early scent memory.
With the goal of becoming a midwife, Nagel began her studies in medicine, but found her calling was chemistry,
which she studied at the
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...
.
This in turn led her to perfume.
At the time this was an unusual route into the industry—most perfumers were men who grew up in the perfuming business in
Grasse
Grasse (; Provençal dialect, Provençal in classical norm or in Mistralian norm ; traditional ) is the only Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur Re ...
—but Nagel notes that since then perfumery schools have begun requiring training in chemistry as a prerequisite and more women have joined the industry.
Career
Early career
Nagel began her career in the research department of Swiss fragrance firm
Firmenich
Firmenich SA was a Swiss company in the fragrance and flavor business. The company has created perfumes for over 125 years and produced a number of well-known flavors. Founded in 1895, it merged in May 2023 with the Dutch company DSM to form ...
, where she became enchanted with the strong emotional reactions a male perfumer colleague's work elicited from the women smelling it. The perfumer was
Alberto Morillas, one of the giants of the perfume industry.
Nagel asked to transfer to the perfumery section, but lacking the traditional background was told no and switched to chromatography instead, examining fragrances and their ingredient recipes on a molecular level.
Subsequently, this has become a mechanized process but Nagel was one of the few in the world trained to recognize ingredients using only her nose.
Unable to advance any further at Firmenich, Nagel moved to Italy to strike out on her own. Within a year she held 60 percent of Italy's perfume contracts, including work for
Fendi
Fendi Srl () is an Culture of Italy, Italian luxury goods, luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925 by fashion designers Edoardo Fendi and ...
and
Versace
Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury elite fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as well as '' haute couture'' under it ...
.
She moved to Paris in 1997.
Nagel established herself with successful creations in a variety of registers. These include major hits like her 2003 collaboration with
Francis Kurkdjian
Francis Kurkdjian (born 14 May 1969) is a French perfumer and businessman of Armenian descent. He is best known for creating the men's fragrance Le Male for Jean Paul Gaultier in 1995, which has become one of the world's best-selling men’s fra ...
, Narciso Rodriguez for Her,
the 2005 strawberry-and-popcorn confection
Miss Dior Chérie
Miss Dior Chérie was a fragrance created by Christine Nagel for Christian Dior. At the time John Galliano served as Dior’s fashion designer and creative director, overseeing Nagel’s development of the unusual, youth-oriented strawberry-and ...
,
and fruity gourmand Armani Sì (2013); luxury lines like Guerlain's Les Élixirs Charnels;
as well as
niche perfume
Niche perfume is an alternative to mass perfume production. Niche is limited by the clientele and therefore with a limited sale range, thus the goal of niche houses is not to sell as much as possible. These companies are generally smaller than the ...
creations like 2011's "bizarre yet fascinating" Archive 69 for
Etat Libre d'Orange
(pl. ) is a Norwegian state, county or municipal agency. An is a subdivision of the administration which has been given responsibility for a special area. An agency does not have a board of directors, but it does have a director, appointed by ...
, a camphorous rose and incense scent, and Wood Sage & Sea Salt (2014) for
Jo Malone, a
skin scent of salt lingering on the body after a day at the beach.
Nagel also created 46 other scents for Jo Malone,
including the more conventional bestseller English Pear & Freesia in 2010.
Hermès
In 2014, Nagel went in-house at Hermès, joining
Jean-Claude Ellena
Jean-Claude Ellena (born 1947) is a French perfumer and writer. He served as the in-house perfumer at Hermes from 2004 to 2016, prior to the appointment of incumbent Christine Nagel. He has collaborated with other major brands such as Van Cle ...
who had become the brand's first house perfumer in 2004. In 2016, as Ellena neared retirement, Nagel became the sole in-house perfumer at Hermès and the director of olfactive creations for Hermès Parfums.
This made her the second woman ever to hold an in-house perfumer position at a major luxury brand (the first was
Mathilde Laurent
Mathilde Laurent is a French perfumer. After studying perfumery at ISIPCA in Versailles, Laurent began her career as an apprentice to Jean-Paul Guerlain. She went on to work at Guerlain for 11 years. Since 2006, she has been the in-house perfume ...
at Cartier).
Two of Nagel's first Hermès releases were Galop (2016),
a rose and leather scent inspired by Doblis, a suede-like leather kept in the Hermès cave of archival leather in Paris,
and Twilly (2017), a youthful fragrance that added ginger as a twist on a classic
tuberose
''Agave amica'', formerly ''Polianthes tuberosa'', the tuberose, is a perennial plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, extracts of which are used as a Note (perfumery), note in perfumery. Now widely grown as an ornamental plant, ...
note.
Critic Tania Sanchez (co-author of ''
Perfumes: The Guide'') said this made for a totally new perfume accord, "an androgynous fougere of fantastic beauty".
Other early Hermès fragrances include Eau des Merveilles Bleue (2017), a minéral and woody marine scent,
and two additions to the Hermès line of
colognes
Eau de Cologne (; German: ''Kölnisch Wasser'' ; meaning "Water from Cologne") or simply cologne is a perfume originating in Cologne, Germany. Originally mixed by Johann Maria Farina (Giovanni Maria Farina) in 1709, it has since come to be a generi ...
, Eau de Rhubarbe Écarlate (2016) and Eau de Citron Noir (2018).
Awards

In 2005, Nagel and Kurkdjian won the
Fragrance Foundation France Award (called the
FiFi Awards
The FiFi Awards are an annual event sponsored by The Fragrance Foundation which honor the fragrance industry's creative achievements. Known as the "Oscars of the fragrance industry", the awards ceremony was conceived by the former president o ...
) for best women's fragrance for Narciso Rodriguez for Her. They were recognized again for this fragrance with the "Twenty Years of Creativity" Prize at the 20th anniversary of the FiFi Awards in 2012: Narciso Rodriguez for Her was selected as the most iconic women's fragrance of the 20 the Foundation had honored with its annual prize over its 20-year history. Nagal also won the 2007 Prix François Coty (then briefly retitled the Cosmetic Valley's International Fragrance Prize, but since returned to its original name). In 2015, the ''
Marie Claire
''Marie Claire'' (stylized in all lowercase; ) is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages.
The feature editions focus on women aro ...
'' International Fragrance Awards honored Nagel's creation Wood Sage & Sea Salt for Jo Malone as the year's most daring fragrance for women.
Influences
Speaking to
''The Cut'', Nagel said her favorite perfume is always the "next one" she's working on, but she continues to feel the admiration for perfumers that first drew her to their profession, inspired by their creativity and the signature "personality" of their scents.
Among contemporary perfumers, she named Morillas and
Dominique Ropion
Dominique Ropion (; born 1955) is a French master perfumer. Born in Paris, he trained at Roure Bertrand Dupont (now Givaudan perfumery school) in Grasse. After joining International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. in 2000, Ropion has worked for fragra ...
as notable influences, but especially emphasized path-breaking female perfumer
Germaine Cellier
Germaine Cellier (1909–1976) was a French perfumer. She was known for creating bold, pioneering fragrances such as ''Fracas'' and ''Bandit''. Cellier was also one of the first prominent female perfumers, at a time when the industry was dominated ...
, the creator of historic fragrances like
Fracas (1948) and
Bandit
Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, e ...
(1944) for
Robert Piguet, at a time when the industry had almost no women.
Nagel said: "I would have liked to have had the audacity of Germaine Cellier … when she presented in 1945
..It's an incredible fragrance that, if it came out today in its original formula, would be extraordinarily modern."
Personal life
Nagel is married to Benoit Lapouza, who is also a perfumer.
They live in Paris
and have a weekend home in
Normandy
Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.
Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
.
They have three children
and one grandchild.
Nagel has
synesthesia
Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with sy ...
: “she sees and feels scents.”
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagel, Christine
Perfumers
Swiss people of Italian descent
Living people
1959 births
People from Geneva