L'Heure Romantique by Corday, introduced in 1928, arrived at a moment of immense social, cultural, and aesthetic transformation. The name itself, L’Heure Romantique, is French for “The Romantic Hour,” pronounced "lur roh-mahn-teek". The phrase conjures the fleeting beauty of twilight, the hush before evening deepens, or the golden pause before a stolen kiss—moments saturated with feeling, poised between longing and fulfillment. In naming the perfume thus, Corday captured not just a mood, but an entire sensibility: one of elegance, intimacy, and heightened emotion. It evokes candlelight casting shadows on silk, the rustle of a gown in a quiet salon, the rustling pages of a love letter.
The year 1928 fell squarely within the exuberant spirit of the Roaring Twenties, an era known in France as les années folles—“the crazy years.” It was a time when women were pushing against old restrictions, claiming new freedoms in fashion, work, and personal identity. Hemlines had risen, corsets had loosened, and the garçonne—or flapper—was the emblem of modern femininity. Cinema was blossoming, with silent film stars like Greta Garbo and Clara Bow defining beauty for a global audience. Yet despite the modernity, a yearning for romance, mystery, and femininity still lingered. L’Heure Romantique embodied this duality—a woman could be liberated and still deeply romantic. In this sense, the fragrance offered a counterpoint to the sharp, androgynous styles of the day: a retreat into softness, sensuality, and poetic introspection.
Corday’s choice to center the composition around orange blossom was a deliberate one. Orange blossom had long been associated with bridal traditions, purity, and feminine allure, and by the 1920s, it had become a fixture in perfumery for its ability to express both innocence and seduction. In L’Heure Romantique, the orange blossom note is enveloped in aldehydes, those sparkling, soapy molecules that give lift and radiance to the composition. Aldehydes—popularized by Chanel No. 5 just seven years earlier—were still relatively novel, and their inclusion signaled that Corday was attuned to cutting-edge perfumery, even while evoking timeless emotion. Here, the aldehydes do not overpower but instead illuminate the floral heart, casting a diffused, luminous glow over the composition.