Which French luxury perfume house launched L'Air du Temps in 1948?

L’Air du Temps was launched in 1948 by the French luxury perfume house Nina Ricci.

The fragrance was created by perfumer Francis Fabron with Robert Ricci, Nina Ricci’s son, who had established a perfume division within his mother’s fashion business in 1946. Its floral-spicy composition includes jasmine, gardenia, iris, carnation, rose, clove and Mysore sandalwood.

The bottle is almost as famous as the scent. René Lalique designed the well-known crystal presentation, whose two doves became a visual symbol of peace and romance in the postwar era. The perfume’s name means “the air of the time” in French.

A common mix-up is to treat Nina Ricci as only a fashion label or to confuse the fragrance with a perfume from Chanel, Guerlain or Yves Saint Laurent. L’Air du Temps is specifically associated with Nina Ricci, although the house itself was founded as a couture brand before expanding into fragrance.