In 1927, at the height of the Roaring Twenties in all their creative effervescence, the Maison Louis Vuitton launched its first perfume, Heures d’Absence, named after the country home the Vuitton family acquired in the Seine-et-Marne region in the 1920s.

The fragrance captured the spirit of the day and its design celebrated the new modes of transport that were then emerging: a triumphant airplane was engraved on the bottle, whose box was shaped like a kilometer marker. Behind this singular, memorable name, one divines a resolutely optimistic message, an invitation to travel that’s at once introspective and emotional. The chance to break free and let go, shake off the blues and seize the day. Heures d’Absence evokes great escapes, suspended moments of grace in which one plunges into daydreams and the body surrenders to a frisson of eternity. The name could hardly fall into oblivion: it was destined to be reborn, nearly a century later, to take on new life and prolong the dream. On the other hand, no one knows what the original perfume smelled like – the formula has long since been lost. This presented the Maison Louis Vuitton’s Master Perfumer with an ideal occasion to reinvent it according to a very personal vision, with complete freedom.