“Those horses are so spoilt I swear they sleep on straw strewn with rose petals”.
With an equine huff of a laugh, he rears his head back and raises a riding crop from aside his muscular calf to tap a glowing forehead.
He breaks a large-toothed smile and with a click of the heals of his long brown leather riding boots turns to leave.
A self-conscious flick of the head to show off his golden mane to its best effect and he is gone.
He smells of early Summer roses, thoroughbreds and animal hides.
He smells exactly as you do.
He had come, as a messenger from “The Gods”: the judges.
Venerated men and women, with scores of Olympian accolades between them, in whose hands your equestrian fate now resides.
He came to ready you for the off and remind you of “The Immortals” marking schemes.
You reflect on how much easier the fates of others are.
How much simpler for the show-jumpers?
The powerhouses, projecting into the air with flair and barely controlled strength.
Their task is merely to dazzle, to defy sense with their penetration and precision.
They can be judged objectively:
All they need to do is fly high, make no errors and achieve the required time.
And the masculine three day eventers?
As long as they stay the course and come up reeking of earth and animal and grass, well, who cares?
Yours is the more difficult labour.
You must harness horse with gleaming equipage into a wholly pleasing whole.
Your task no less than to combine film star glamour and princessly grace into three minutes of four legged ballet.
The final preparation for your moments in the ring.
Exchanging whispers with the beast, he acknowledges you with a swish of his tail that throws a shower of fine white powder into the air.
You adjust the saddle, a practical ornament of the finest French leather, cured and scented so that not even an allusion to the abattoir might upset the ride.
You mount and breathe in deeply, the breeze brings the hint of wild yellow irises from the meadows lying fallow beyond the Chateau.
The same wind brings your name made tinny by Tannoys.
You bridle for a moment.
Your desire to perform, the urge bring pleasure and win points makes an anxious knot of your insides.
Walk on.
The Arena.
The illustrated sports photographers’ flashing bulbs, the hubbub, the crowd, the swell and the excitement.
First silence.
The smell of his perfume, the rose aroma of your own scent, fragrant riding leathers, the horse.
Then music.
The dance begins.
Kelly Caleche by Hermes is, like the pursuit of dressage, more aesthetic sport than art.
It is a physical perfume that exists above all to bring pleasure with its presence.
It strikes elegant turns, makes graceful moves and possesses the essential Hermes quality of unwaivering poise.
And what if it does not challenge or unsettle or push back boundaries?
So be it, it never intended to.
At the commencement gorgeously groomed citrus, in the shape of an ever so subtly bitter grapefruit, starts the proceedings.
The fruit yields almost instantly to early June roses and then the perfume widens and deepens to include the unmistakable hue of the most luxuriously scented leather.
This leather, the distinctive Hermes note, is floral, high, transparent, and has about it a refined fragility.
It has a haunting, or perhaps more precisely a yearning quality.
It is this sense of searching and the sparseness of the relatively simple composition that raises this rose perfume above the thorny crowd.
This is a fragrance that seeks to fulfill desire.
To give and receive pleasure.
Are not both men and women capable of reciprocation in love?
I believe so, and that this is an especially suitable scent for men as well as women.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy.
The Perfumed Dandy. 
The scent of roses and thoroughbreds (and saddles) reminds me of my childhood. Lovely post. ❤
Dearest Julie
Yes, there is something youthful about the perfume, though I like to think young at heart!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Dearest Julie
Apologies for your comment not appearing sooner… there seem to be strange goings on at WordPress at the moment as I replied to this last night our time!!
Yes, there is something youthful and vigorous about Kelly Caleche. But I'[d like to think that it’s a scent quite appropriate for the young at heart everywhere…
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Hello, Mr. Dandy. This same occurrence has happened to me as well on my blog – I don’t know why that is.
To the young at heart everywhere… 🙂
Ahhh. Thank you Julie.
At least we are all in this together!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Oh, bravo, Mr. Dandy! That is some fine writing! I cannot wait to try Kelly Caleche again now. That yearning, searching quality is calling me.
Dearest Lily
I do hope that you experience it.
I know that some people find Jean-Claude Ellena’s perfumes too minimal, or simplistic even. I find them fascinatingly sparse and often quite emotional.
It would be such fun if you were to let us know how the re-test went!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
I will, I promise! 🙂 I once said not too long ago that JCE’s minimalist style wasn’t to my taste but lately I’m i a different mood. I fell hard for his Bois d’Iris for The Different Company. If he created that then I must retry KC and try others. I can’t make pronouncements about anything — I always make a liar out of myself.
Dearest Lily
No, not a liar at all.
As the great economist John Maynard Keynes is reputed to have said “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”
And the facts as regards perfume are always changing, our clothes, our mood, the colour of the sky.
The Dandy says to change one’s mind is divine.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
You see??!!! ^^^ Julie’s message is not there. And mine posted above your response to hers, although mine came later. Odd.
Dearest Lily
Isn’t it!?!
Strange goings on… a couple of my posts didn’t appear on the reader over the weekend either!
Hopefully it will all be sorted out soon…
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Bravo BRAVO! Oh a cinematic telling and a telling review. I must sample this. It sounds coolly elegant and so serine. Kelly,,,,,,? Kelly,,, Where did they come up with that name? Speaking of Serine. Could it have been named after a certain cool blonde from Philadelphia?
Dear Mr Lanier
There’s no way of getting anything passed you… I wonder why those horses dance with ‘princessly grace’?
Though not you’re usual style, this very, very light take on suede and roses might just make a mininmalist Summer counterpoint to Oud Ispahan!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
“This is a fragrance that seeks to fulfill desire.To give and receive pleasure”
and now I want to sample this!!!!!!
Dearest Brie
Do try it Brie… I know that you always approach such things with an open mind, and I do believe that most people doing so would find this a very pleasing scent indeed!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Quick question, Mr. Dandy: Did you wear the edt, or the more recent edp?
Dearest Lily
I’ve tried both, I invariably try all the concentrations I can get my wrists around (or around my wrists).
I think I slightly prefer the EdT, but that may be because, as is so often the case, it is a little sharper.
There is a fuller quality to the EdP that might bear an evening wear better.
I hope that makes sense.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Perfect sense. Thank you!
Something elegant with a rather primal heart? Interesting…
Dearest V
Indeed. Rather like horses in fact!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
A lovely piece, saying much with few words, a bit like JCE. I recollect finding the citrus opening a bit sharp, and I didn’t give it a proper wearing. I love a leather note in perfume, so it’s now back on my fast growing ‘to try’ list.
Dear Alice
To be compared with JCE is a compliment indeed!
That grapefruit is rather sharp, and the leather actually rather subtle. But on a second and third wearing I came to appreciate both and the rose note quite considerably.
I’m not sure this will ever be a universal ‘winner’ but The Dandy would support a second hearing for it.
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Dear Mr Dandy
Another wonderful review, so vivid and real!
Flowers and leathers- now I wouldn’t have believed that was ever possible until I tried Jolie Madame, where violets and leather live together in harmony. But leather and roses? Kelly Caleche is now firmly at the top of my must try list. The Sales Assistants are used to me now.
Your friend
IScent
Dearest Iscent
A little caution, this is a subtle very high-end Hermes leather, not the sort of beautifully knocked about Bader-Meinhof black leather jacket of Balmain’s creation.
They both have their place (The Dandy has such a leather fetish – in perfume I stress), but some might find the animalic in Kelly Calech a little to aerated.
Happy hunting though as it’s a very nicely rendered rose!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy
Dear Mr Dandy
Thanks for the warning. I liked the leather in Cuir de Russie but Dzing was a little de trop for my sensibilities. I have been leaning towards leather and masculines a lot more recently. LisaWordbird says this is normal in perfumes and everyone goes through this phase at some point!
Your friend
IScent
Dearest Dandy,
This was a treat. Very dramatic, indeed. Well done. I think I’ll go out today and sample this fragrance if I can find it. Elegant, confident, noble.
I know I’d like to exchange whispers with the beast… 😉
Gripping
Reblogged this on The Perfumed Dandy. and commented:
A speedy rose-themed reblog from rainy Britain… a tale of young love amongst the petals and the hay!