Kilian Hennessy

The luxury fragrance house Kilian Paris is now a frequent topic among perfume lovers in Japan, too, and has suddenly become a brand people want to own by the bottle, or rather, by the entire collection. Who exactly is its founder, and what kind of life has he led? Fact or legend, let us explore the extraordinary life of Kilian Hennessy.

What matters most is knowing that my success is something I achieved entirely for myself, not through my last name.

Kilian Hennessy

The Birth of the Eighth Generation

Kilian Hennessy was born on March 27, 1972, in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, the eldest son of the Hennessy family’s eighth generation. Named after his grandfather, he grew up in a household where luxury was part of everyday life.

The Hennessy house, officially Jas Hennessy & Co., is a cognac producer based in France’s Cognac region. It is said to be the world’s largest cognac company, supplying at least 40% of the world’s cognac.* Today, it belongs to LVMH, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy.

Born into a family in the drinks business, Kilian’s childhood scent memories were of the sugary aroma evaporating with the alcohol in cognac and the wood of the barrels in which it matured.
The women in his family, his mother, grandmother, maternal aunts, and cousins, all wore tuberose (in Japanese): the era-defining tuberose perfumes Tubéreuse by Le Galion, Fracas by Robert Piguet, Poison by Dior, and Tubéreuse by Caron (in Japanese). Tuberose therefore feels comforting to him, and even now he sometimes keeps a bouquet of the flowers at home.

One memory stands out particularly vividly: his grandfather’s Eau Sauvage, by Dior. His grandfather would wet his hair with Eau Sauvage and smoke Montecristo cigars. Waking up with him every morning, Kilian never forgot the mingled scent and later brought it back to life in Dark Lord, one of his own house’s perfumes.

Perhaps because his father was busy building his career at Hennessy, Kilian seems to have been strongly influenced by his grandfather. From the man who had led Hennessy, he learned the principles of leadership.

I was raised by my grandfather, and to a lesser extent by my father. For both of them, success depended on two things: never compromise on quality, and understand the cultures of different markets and keep an open mind toward them.

Kilian Hennessy

*From Brandy Daddy

A Calling Chosen by Fate

Some people wanted me to work with Tom Ford or Hedi Slimane, but what I loved was perfume.

Kilian Hennessy

From childhood, he had not wanted to work for his father or grandfather. He wanted to create something perfectly on his own. At first, he considered a career in fashion: after all, he was a strikingly handsome heir with excellent style. Everything changed, however, when the time came to write his university dissertation.

Kilian attended CELSA, a school within the Sorbonne that ranks among France’s leading institutions for advertising, journalism, and communication. He studied communication, marketing, and linguistics. Reading a great deal of prior research for his dissertation, he came across one paper in particular.
It concerned the lack of a shared vocabulary among people discussing smells. Kilian recognized the same problem in discussions of perfume and decided to make it his topic. This was just after an internship at Kenzo Parfums.

He changed his planned dissertation topic from “luxury” to “scent” and decided to write Semantics of Odors: In Search of Languages Common to Gods and Mortals (the Japanese source glosses this as “The Semantics of Scent: A Search for a Common Language of Gods and Humans”).
To understand more deeply what he was writing about, he also attended the Paris fragrance school Cinquième Sens (in Japanese) during his fifth year of university. In the very first hour of his first day, smelling raw materials and ingredients, he was immediately drawn into the world of scent and became absorbed in perfume. It was September 1994, and Kilian was 22.

During a subsequent internship at Firmenich (in Japanese), a twist of fate brought him into contact with Maurice Roger, then CEO of Dior (in Japanese) and a friend of his grandfather. Roger told him, “If you want to do business in this industry, you have to learn perfume like a craftsman.” Relying on Roger as a mentor (in Japanese), Kilian was finally introduced to one of Firmenich’s stars.

The difficulty in the perfume industry is that there is no shared vocabulary for describing fragrance from one person to another.

Kilian Hennessy

Meeting His Teacher

For his dissertation, Kilian interviewed many perfumers. One was the young Jacques Cavallier (Jacques Cavallier Belletrud (in Japanese)), who had been at Firmenich since 1990 and is now Louis Vuitton’s in-house perfumer (in Japanese). The two immediately hit it off, and Jacques soon became Kilian’s mentor.

Jacques taught me everything about perfume composition (in Japanese). We became very close very quickly. When I interviewed him, I persuaded him to keep me by his side and mentor me. I learned all the techniques of perfumery from Jacques: knowledge of more than 3,000 materials and how to blend them skillfully and build a composition.

Kilian Hennessy

Confident in his skills after graduating, Kilian applied to become an assistant to Thierry Wasser (in Japanese), then working at Firmenich in New York and now Guerlain’s in-house perfumer. Twice a week in the evenings, Thierry taught him about fragrance families and their emblematic perfumes. What a luxury!
He studied, for example, the rose (in Japanese) family and the compositions that branch from it, as well as perfume and industry history: how Fracas, the original tuberose perfume, smelled, and what Poison added to its structure.

When you smell cognac, as when you smell wine, you talk about red berries, yellow fruit, moss, and wood, but the vocabulary is small and does not expand. In perfume, however, there are 3,000 scents, so the vocabulary is much larger and more complex.

Kilian Hennessy

The Road to a Revolution

Around 1994–1996

With this experience behind him, Kilian soon received offers from several companies to work as a fragrance director. He first spent two years at Dior, part of LVMH, in New York.

1996–2000

He then returned to Paris and spent four years at Paco Rabanne (in Japanese). Since the fragrance division belonged to Puig, he was working for Puig.

Kilian says that, because Paco Rabanne was a small brand, he learned there to be excessively creative, the only way to compete with the larger houses. During his time at Puig, he met and created perfumes with Calice Becker (in Japanese), who would later become a mainstay of his own brand.

2000–2003

I was at Gucci, the group, when LVMH was trying to persuade me not to work for its competitors. My answer at the time was, “I don’t owe you anything.”

Kilian Hennessy

From 2000, he spent three years at Alexander McQueen, which had just joined the Gucci Group. During this period, he worked with his mentor Jacques Cavallier on the perfume Kingdom.

Under the founder, Lee Alexander McQueen, he learned how to develop a collection: building a world on the studio mood board and interpreting it through the creative process of the collection. This is the method used in the development of every Kilian collection. The boards in Kilian’s studio carry collection names, structures, colors, and accords.

He, Alexander, had an aggressive, destructive personality and was emotional. If he did not like something someone around him said, he told them to get lost. I had an extraordinary experience and left after a few years. I miss his talent and creativity very much, but I wanted to go somewhere a little “quieter,” laughs, so I went to an older gentleman, Giorgio Armani.

Kilian Hennessy

2003–2006

From 2003, he worked for three years under the 75-year-old Giorgio Armani. Armani’s perfumes were licensed to L’Oréal, so this meant working for L’Oréal. At Armani, he learned the fundamentals of how to structure a business and make a profit.

When you work for a designer brand (in Japanese), you can never be 100% satisfied with what you make. Before you reach the final stage, you have to satisfy so many people: offices around the world, managers, marketing, and sales. Getting every department’s approval in time for a deadline is difficult. That is why I wanted to create a scent I could be completely proud of.

Kilian Hennessy

A Momentous Decision, and Then…

After a total of 12 years working as a fragrance director for various brands and helping create many perfumes, Kilian became disillusioned with the perfume industry. It had already changed from the industry he had admired and wanted to join. He decided to move into fashion.

But the gods of perfume would not let Kilian change professions. One evening, after dinner at Baccarat’s restaurant, he happened upon an exhibition of old perfumes in Baccarat bottles. The moment he saw them, he understood the level of luxury in perfumes of the past, the beauty of their silhouettes, and the attention paid to every detail. He felt ashamed of a perfume industry that had lost that craftsmanship.

Within hours, he had decided to create his own brand. The next day, he canceled every scheduled fashion-industry interview, including one with Tom Ford, and resigned from his position at L’Oréal.

My ambition was really to create a fragrance collection with that sense of luxury and attention to detail, but interpreted for the 21st century. After all, you do not want to smell like your grandparents, do you? I designed a distinctive bottle and placed it in a coffret with a satin bed, a key, and a tassel. Of course, for the people who had to make it, it was nothing but hard work, and it took a year and a half to convince them fully.

Kilian Hennessy

He left Armani in March 2006 and launched his namesake brand, By Kilian, in October 2007. The debut took place at the prestigious Paris department store Printemps, with six perfumes and 12 bottles of each. He appeared without using the Hennessy name, yet the stock sold out in just one week. At Bergdorf Goodman in New York, where his current wife Elisabeth helped him secure a counter, the same quantity sold out in only two hours. As a result, he reportedly had nothing to sell for a month, while still paying for the counter and staff.

After this remarkable start, By Kilian steadily expanded its boutiques and retail presence. In 2016, it was acquired by Estée Lauder (in Japanese), shocking perfume enthusiasts. The acquisition allowed Kilian to concentrate solely on creating fragrances while leaving the other aspects of the business to Estée Lauder.

The name By Kilian has since changed, and everything is now presented under Kilian Paris.

My grandfather was always very interested. He liked to ask, “How many bottles did you sell today?”

Kilian Hennessy

Uncompromising Convictions

I am very passionate and very committed. I like to be precise about how things are perceived, down to the smallest detail; I do not like approximations. But what I believe matters most is working hard to create beautiful products for customers. That is truly at the center of everything I try to do.

Kilian Hennessy

In creating his brand, Kilian adopted an approach that returned to the perfume culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while adding modernity. Perfumes of that era were named in relation to the wearer’s romances and dreams, with bottles designed to express the scent. Bottle, fragrance, and story were always linked. He wanted to revive that relationship in a modern form.

A Commitment to the Bottle

He has also developed perfume into a truly luxurious accessory, not something disposable. Every bottle can therefore be refilled, and the boxes reused. His idea of luxury is eco-luxury.
Kilian items can be passed down from mother to daughter. He spent two years considering how to make fragrance into a piece of jewelry.

The perfume bottles are all engraved by hand, as are the names on their metal labels. The enamel is also applied by hand, and the pipette for dispensing the perfume is inserted by hand. The shield of Achilles is engraved on the sides of the bottles.

I have always believed that perfume is both a means of seduction and a form of protection. When you put it on in the morning, you are not necessarily in a seductive mood unless you have your eye on someone at work. For me, it actually works like a shield, something that covers me. In that sense, when you find the right perfume, it can make you feel stronger. That is why I think perfume is actually very close to clothing.

Kilian Hennessy

A Commitment to Story

I believe that a great perfume begins with a great story, long before it becomes a beautiful harmony of scents. I am a storyteller of universal emotions, love, pleasure, seduction, addiction. My aim is to tell olfactory stories that appeal to the senses of men and women.

Kilian Hennessy

Kilian’s perfume-creation process always begins with a story and uses a mood board. This differs from Frédéric Malle (in Japanese), who does not use mood boards but begins with a dialogue with the perfumer.

1. He imagines a scene, writes a story from it, then thinks of the collection’s name and the names of every fragrance it will contain. He calls it an “olfactory book,” with each perfume representing a chapter. Only after precisely establishing the scene and story does he choose the perfumer best able to express the emotion he wants to convey.
2. He designs the bottle and coffret to express the story and the collection’s world.
3. Finally, he creates a scent to express each name.

What interests me is imagining a scent that expresses the emotion evoked by the name or collection I am trying to convey.

Kilian Hennessy

Kilian compares his creative process to filmmaking. Kilian is the director: he writes the script, chooses its characters, the ingredients, and finally selects the director, the perfumer.

I am a film director. I work with actors and actresses who express the emotions written into the script.

Kilian Hennessy

The Olfactory Books: An Overview

Several years ago, the brand changed direction and now organizes and presents its perfumes by olfactory family (in Japanese). Nevertheless, I believe the original collection concepts are essential to appreciating Kilian’s perfumes even more deeply. They are where he poured his heart and soul into giving the scents life.
Note: Links to each collection, or book, and perfume lead to articles on Cahiers de Mode supervised by this site’s editor.

Book One: L’Œuvre Noir

L’Œuvre Noir is a story about life. I think we all surrender to love, passion, the forbidden, and sadness; we are tempted by dangerous liaisons, sometimes harbor cruel intentions, and try to create paradise with our own hands. Much of it consists of fragments of my own life, but we all feel the same emotions, so I think everyone can find something of their own experience.

Kilian Hennessy

On Love
• Prelude to Love, Invitation (Prelude to Love, invitation; Japanese gloss: A Premonition of Love—Seduction)
• Love, Don’t Be Shy (Love, don’t be shy; Japanese gloss: Love—Don’t Be Shy)
• Beyond Love, Prohibited (Beyond Love, prohibited; Japanese gloss: Beyond Love—Forbidden Love)
• Love & Tears, Surrender (Love & Tears, surrender; Japanese gloss: Love and Tears—Surrender Yourself)

On Seduction
• Cruel Intentions, Tempt Me (Cruel Intentions, tempt me; Japanese gloss: Cruel Intentions—Tempt Me)
• Liaisons Dangereuses, Typical Me (Liaisons Dangereuses, typical me; Japanese gloss: Dangerous Liaisons—Just Like Me)
• Sweet Redemption, The End (Sweet Redemption, the end; Japanese gloss: Sweet Salvation—The Final Chapter)

On Paradise
• A Taste of Heaven, Absinthe Verte (A Taste of Heaven, absinthe verte; Japanese gloss: A Taste of Paradise—Green Absinthe)
• Straight to Heaven, White Crystal (Straight to Heaven, white crystal; Japanese gloss: Straight to Paradise—White Crystal)
• Back to Black, Aphrodisiac (Back to Black, aphrodisiac; Japanese gloss: Back into Darkness—Aphrodisiac)

Book Two: Arabian Nights

• Amber Oud
• Black Oud
• Eternal Oud
• Extreme Oud
• Gold Oud
• Incense Oud
• Musk Oud
• Pure Oud
• Rose Oud

Book Three: Asian Tales

I wanted to create a collection of scents that would celebrate Asian culture.

Kilian Hennessy

• Bamboo Harmony (Japanese gloss: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter—The Melody of Bamboo)
• Water Calligraphy (Japanese gloss: Water Calligraphy—Calligraphy Written with Water)
• Flower of Immortality (Japanese gloss: The Peach Blossom Paradise—The Flower That Grants Immortality)
• Imperial Tea (Japanese gloss: The Legend of Da Hong Pao—The Emperor’s Tea)
• Sacred Wood (Japanese gloss: The Story of Savitri—The Sacred Tree)

★ Fragrances planned for release but never launched
• The Lotus Flower and the King Dragon (Japanese gloss: The Lotus and the Dragon King)
• The Peony Pavilion (Japanese gloss: The Peony Pavilion: The Return of the Soul)
• The Peach Flowers Water Source (Japanese gloss: The Source of the Peach Blossom Waters)

Book Four: In the Garden of Good and Evil

I really wanted to create works on the theme of temptation, but I also wanted a solid artistic foundation. I became very interested in its origins: biblical temptation and original sin. What I especially liked about the theme was that everyone shares exactly the same images and reference points. Everyone imagines the snake, the forbidden fruit, and grape leaves. I wanted to play with these symbols in the world of perfume.

Kilian Hennessy

• In the City of Sin (In the city of Sin; Japanese gloss: In the City of Sin—the place where temptation arises)
• Forbidden Games (Forbidden Games; Japanese gloss: Forbidden Games—playing with the devil over the forbidden fruit)
• Playing with the Devil (Playing with the Devil; Japanese gloss: Playing with the Devil—the moment the devil tempts one with the forbidden fruit)
• Good Girl Gone Bad (Good Girl Gone Bad; Japanese gloss: A Good Girl Turns Bad—Eve after biting the apple and becoming a bad girl)
• Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (Voulez-vous coucher avec moi; Japanese gloss: Will You Sleep with Me?—the sin of lust)

Book Five: Addictive State of Mind

It was interesting to make this collection because the creative process involved thinking about addictions I could translate into the world of scent. I do not know how to make a smell out of an addiction to games or gambling, for example, but for coffee addiction I can use a coffee accord (in Japanese), for tobacco a cigar accord, and for cannabis an accord that smells a little like cannabis.

Kilian Hennessy

• Intoxicated: addiction to Turkish coffee
• Light My Fire: addiction to Montecristo cigars
• Smoke for the Soul: drug addiction

Book Six: From Dusk Till Dawn

I am not interested in provoking simply for the sake of provocation. There has to be an artistic reason. My idea was to play with the contrast between shadow and light and express the fact that we are all made of good and evil. Yet within light and darkness there are countless facets. I wanted to achieve that duality through perfume.

Kilian Hennessy

• Woman in Gold (Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I)
• Gold Knight (Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze)

Book Seven: Carpe Noctem

If a scent is indecent, abnormal, risqué, tainted, or simply bad, I want it.

Kilian Hennessy

• Black Phantom ’Memento Mori’
• Dark Lord ‘Ex Tenebris Lux’

Side Story One: Moonlight in Heaven

We are all moons. We all have a hidden side.

Kilian Hennessy

Side Story Two: Boutique Exclusive

2013
Apple Brandy (Apple Brandy, New York; exclusive to New York, United States)

2014
On the Rocks (On the Rocks, Moscow; now Vodka on the Rocks, formerly exclusive to Moscow, Russia)
Single Malt (Single Malt, London; exclusive to Harrods in London, United Kingdom)

2015
Lemon in Zest (Lemon in zest, Lugano; exclusive to Lugano, Switzerland)
Pearl Oud (Pearl Oud, Doha; exclusive to Doha, Qatar)
Royal Leather (Royal Leather, Mayfair; exclusive to Burlington Arcade, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom)

2016
Noir Aphrodisiaque (Noir Aphrodisiaque, Paris; exclusive to Paris, France)

A Turning Point

In fact, Dark Lord, released in 2018, was the last perfume Kilian created together with an overarching collection story. Seeing Picasso’s paintings in a museum in Barcelona made him feel that, like Picasso, he had to keep evolving. The perfume that emerged from this realization was Rolling in Love.

Kilian thus brought his journey of creating “olfactory books” to a temporary close and went on to make The Liquors, a collection rooted in his family’s world of spirits, bringing us to the present.

A Few Things to Know About Kilian

• There are very few citrus fragrances in the Kilian range. That is because Kilian’s customers are neither interested in nor expecting citrus perfumes, and Kilian himself does not particularly enjoy wearing them.

• He also creates bespoke perfumes for up to two people each year: clients meet Kilian in person, talk with him about all sorts of things, and have a fragrance made especially for them. Apparently, some have a perfume made every year. This service is offered at the London boutique and is said to cost around ¥6 million.

• For home products, he places particular emphasis on design. Products already on the market tend to have simple designs and sometimes no longer look attractive after a few uses. Kilian therefore considered how to scent a home beautifully. To convey warmth and luxury to everyone, he used black lacquer and set real pearls into the wood, giving it a lustrous finish.

• Kilian’s standalone boutiques are divided into five areas.

1. Body Pleasures: lotions, shower gels and body oils.
2. Art of Gifting: customers can customize the wrapping, ribbon and clutch to their taste.
3. Home: home fragrance products.
4. Boutique Exclusive: exclusive products.
5. The Bar: consultations based on a service menu, with tasting, mixology, gifting and refills.

Getting to Know Kilian Hennessy

• A brand he admires other than his own: Serge Lutens

• Favorite film: An Affair to Remember, starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Apparently, he cries every time he sees it.

• Skincare: Crème de la Mer and The Intensive Revitalizing Mask, both by La Mer

• Fashion: Saint Laurent boots; black jeans and a tuxedo from Tom Ford or Saint Laurent, rather than suits; and bespoke shirts from JLR Paris

• Weekend fragrance: Bamboo Harmony

• A fragrance he loved in the past: Obsession (1985, Calvin Klein, Jean Guichard)

• A perfumer he would like to work with: Pierre Bourdon (in Japanese). Incidentally, Benoist Lapouza was Bourdon’s pupil.

Words from Kilian Himself

I have no hobbies. My life is my company and my family. They take up 200 percent of my time.

Kilian Hennessy

If I were interested in making copies of things that already exist, I would have stayed at a big brand.

Kilian Hennessy

For me, the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s were the perfume industry’s three most glorious decades.

Kilian Hennessy

I do not think my perfumes are expensive at all. For the past 80 years, luxury brands have told customers that a luxury perfume costs £50, or about ¥7,000. So when they hear £145, or about ¥20,000, they think it is very expensive. But the question is what you can offer a customer for £145. Creed (in Japanese)’s business model is trying to change things by offering perfume at a higher level. In another field, there is Steve Jobs. Apple has no product that costs less than a few hundred dollars. Steve Jobs says that Apple has not become mass market; rather, the market has now reached Apple’s level. I hope the same will happen with perfume, and people will say, “£145? That is not expensive.”

Kilian Hennessy

I have decided to be transparent with the public about my perfume formulas. I am not at all afraid to show them, because what is most protected is the quality of the ingredients I use. Considering their cost alone, copying them would be almost impossible. (When the brand was founded in 2007, he disclosed all the formulas and quantities.)

Kilian Hennessy

Women are one hell of a drug.
Japanese gloss: Women are an incredible drug.

From the wording on a limited-edition clutch

I don’t try to be sexy. Sexy tries to be me.
Japanese gloss: I am not trying to be sexy. Sexy is trying to be me.

From the wording on a limited-edition clutch

I am so ready to be famous.
Japanese gloss: I could easily become famous whenever I want.

From the wording on a limited-edition clutch

I am too glam to give a damn.
Japanese gloss: I am far too attractive to have any interest in you.

From the wording on a limited-edition clutch

I am hopeless romantic with a dirty mind!
Japanese gloss: I am a hopeless romantic with a naughty mind!

From the wording on a limited-edition clutch

Take my advice get yourself another lover.
Japanese gloss: Take my advice and find another lover.

From the wording on a limited-edition clutch

Born to avenge my sex and dominate yours.
Japanese gloss: Born to avenge my own sex, women, and dominate men.

From the wording on a limited-edition clutch

Old enough to know better. Young enough to do it anyway.
Japanese gloss: I am old enough to know better, but still young enough to do it anyway.

From the wording on a limited-edition clutch

I see no good reason to act my age.
Japanese gloss: There is no good reason why I have to act my age.

From the wording on a limited-edition clutch

I will be 29 until further notice.
Japanese gloss: Unless I receive notice otherwise, I will be forever 29.

From the wording on a limited-edition clutch

Don’t study me you won’t graduate (Japanese gloss: You will never understand me.

From the wording on a limited-edition clutch

Kilian’s Family

Grandfather: Kilian Hennessy (February 19, 1907–October 1, 2010)

A sixth-generation member of the Hennessy family, he formed a partnership with Moët & Chandon in 1971 and then served as CEO of Moët Hennessy from 1972 to 1976.

He married three times, in 1930, 1948 and 1963. Gilles was his son by his second wife.

Father: Gilles Hennessy (b. May 14, 1949)

Gilles began his career in 1971. He spent two years training in Hennessy’s eaux-de-vie, or distilled spirits, division with master blender Yann Fillioux, who became master blender in 1991. He worked his way up by proving his own worth rather than relying on the family name. Incidentally, Yann’s family has served the Hennessy family for generations, going back to 1800.

He has served as a vice president at Moët Hennessy since 2002.

He has four children, but none works at Moët Hennessy. Apart from Kilian, who went into perfume, they work in real estate or as a professor.

Mother: Barbara de Posch Pastor (b. May 2, 1952)

She was born into the aristocracy in Madrid, Spain. Her grandfather was Ludwig Pastor, a German historian specializing particularly in Roman Catholicism, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature six times. In 1916, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria conferred a title of nobility on him.

Barbara’s first husband was Gilles. They divorced, and she subsequently married three other men. Her third husband was an Olympic equestrian champion named Michel Roche. The man she married in 2017 was Prince Michel (b. June 25, 1941), a son of King Henri VI of France, of the House of Orléans.

Younger Siblings

Richard Hennessy (1974)
Angelique Hennessy (1976)
Gerald Hennessy (1981)

First Wife: Melonie Foster Hennessy (b. 1971)

She was born in Tennessee, United States, in 1971. She majored in art history and studied photography that combined light, reflection and movement in a way reminiscent of chiaroscuro, the Italian Renaissance technique of light and shade. Her photographs therefore resemble realist paintings that tell fairy tales of a childhood long past. Her art captures our inner child in three-dimensional images. She established her own company in France in the 1990s.

She married Kilian, and they had a son, Dorian, born on June 15, 2002, and a daughter, Savannah, born on January 7, 2004. They later divorced.

Their daughter Savannah is now active as a model.

Second Wife: Elisabeth Jones Hennessy

She was born on December 11, 1975, in Westchester County, New York.

As a teenager, the first beauty product her mother bought her was Estée Lauder’s Beautiful perfume (1985, Sophia Grojsman).

She had dreamed of becoming a buyer since high school. She first worked at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, from September 1999 to May 2005, and was then hired by Bergdorf Goodman, where she worked from August 2005 to April 2008, spending a total of ten years as a buyer.

While at Bergdorf Goodman, she was involved in the launch of By Kilian. When Kilian came to her office, Elisabeth told him, “I hear you have made a tuberose perfume. That is wonderful, because tuberose is all I wear!” Kilian thought, “Oh, my …” and felt that it was fate.

After By Kilian launched, Elisabeth watched its sales rise with excitement. Other retailers soon approached Kilian, and at that point he asked Elisabeth whether she would become CEO of the brand’s American operation. She decided then that she would spend the next ten years helping Kilian expand around the world. In practice, she was CEO of By Kilian North America for about six years, from May 2008 to January 2014.

During this time, both divorced their spouses and fell in love. Elisabeth had one son and Kilian had two children, so they lived together while traveling back and forth between New York and Paris. For their wedding in 2014, on June 22, Kilian created a special wedding perfume for Elisabeth. Made with her beloved tuberose and jasmine, it was called Scarlett, after Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, a favorite film of both of them.

When Estée Lauder acquired By Kilian in February 2016, she took the opportunity to start something new, launching a blog and making her debut as a blogger. She now also runs an e-commerce website.

Hennessy and Cognac

The History of Hennessy

The company was founded in 1765 by Richard Hennessy, an Irish officer who served in Louis XV’s army.

In 1813, Richard’s son James Hennessy named the company Jas Hennessy & Co. Incidentally, its logo, the Bras Armee, is the Hennessy family’s coat of arms: an arm grasping an axe, symbolizing Richard’s twelve years of military service. It became the brand’s logo in 1856.

In 1817, the Prince of Wales, later King George IV of the United Kingdom, was a great lover of cognac and ordered a “Very Superior Old Pale” cognac from Hennessy, meaning very fine, aged and clear (around ¥7,000). Since then, the initials V.S.O.P have been used to indicate a cognac grade.

In 1865, Richard’s great-grandson Maurice Hennessy used a number of stars to indicate the quality of cognac. This was the world’s first such grading system, and it gave rise to Hennessy’s three-star cognac, known as V.S., or Very Special, priced at ¥3,000–4,000. In 1870, he introduced a new grade, X.O, or eXtra Old, also called Napoleon, priced at around ¥17,000.

In 1971, it merged with the champagne company Moet et Chandon to become Moët Hennessy, a move led by Kilian Hennessy. The company was acquired by LVMH in 1987.

In 1979, master blender Yann Fillioux blended more than 100 precious eaux-de-vie to create Hennessy Paradis, a cognac unlike anything that had come before, with a list price of ¥124,800. In 1996, Yann created the masterpiece Richard Hennessy for cognac connoisseurs who could truly appreciate the difference.

What Is Cognac?

Cognac is a type of brandy named after the town of Cognac. Brandy is a spirit made by fermenting fruit, distilling it and then aging it in barrels or other vessels. Brandy made specifically from grapes is called grape brandy. Among grape brandies, those made in the Cognac region in the northern part of France’s Bordeaux area and meeting strict rules are called cognac.

First, the grapes must be white grapes grown in one of the designated growing areas known as crus. At least 95 percent are said to be Ugni Blanc, a variety from Tuscany, Italy; other varieties include Colombard and Folle Blanche. The grapes are characterized by high acidity and low sugar content, which also helps prevent the alcohol level from becoming too high. White wine made from these grapes is distilled twice. Distillation increases its alcohol content.

The spirit is then aged, mainly in oak barrels from Limousin, although Tronçais oak is also used. Immediately after distillation, it has an alcohol content of nearly 70 percent, which falls toward 40 percent through aging. Around 3 percent of its alcohol and water is said to evaporate each year during this process. This is called la part des anges, or the angels’ share.

Each cognac house has its own master tasters. By blending spirits of different ages, they can achieve complex aromas. The grade is determined by the age of the youngest spirit in the blend. A year runs from April 1 through the end of March the following year, and the cognac cannot be sold until two full years of aging have been completed.

• At least 2 years: V.S.

• At least 4 years: V.S.O.P

• At least 6 years: Napoleon

• At least 10 years: X.O

Four major brands account for 80 percent of the cognac industry’s sales volume: Hennessy, Martell, Rémy Martin and Courvoisier.