In the 15 years since the French high fashion house Hermès released its Terre d’Hermès men’s fragrance, the scent has come to represent the brand’s olfactory interpretation of masculinity. Spicy, minerally, and slightly vegetal, it was devised by the company’s former in-house nose Jean-Claude Ellena, who wanted the aroma to signal the presence of a man. In 2018, Hermès’s current head perfumer, Christine Nagel, reimagined the fragrance for a new generation, evolving it with notes of green bergamot, Sichuan pepper, and vetiver. Then she took on an even greater challenge: creating an entirely new smellable identity for men. Collaborating with Véronique Nichanian, Hermès’s menswear creative director, she devised the resulting H24 perfume, marked by a lively yet delicate bouquet, based on Nichanian’s ready-to-wear collections. But how, exactly, does the house’s latest spray define the modern man?