The early 1940s—defined by rationing, mobilization, and heightened patriotism—were years in which glamour did not disappear but instead adapted. Women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers, yet their desire for small luxuries remained intact. Fashion embraced tailored silhouettes, practical fabrics, and an understated elegance shaped by wartime austerity. Perfumes, too, leaned toward compositions that felt comforting, wearable, and uplifting—fragrances that could brighten the spirit even when materials were restricted. In this environment, the name New Horizons carried powerful resonance. It offered emotional reassurance in an era when so much felt suspended, promising that possibility lay just ahead.
Women of the period likely responded to the fragrance on both symbolic and sensory levels. A perfume called New Horizons would have felt like a gesture toward personal resilience—a way to preserve grace, femininity, and hopefulness even as the world shifted around them. Within the bottle, that message was translated into a light floral bouquet, warm and sweet but never heavy. Described at the time as “a very flowery composition of jasmine, rose, and tuberose,” its structure rose in gentle, elongated lines, much like a horizon expanding into the distance. These flowers—traditional, feminine, and emotionally expressive—embodied continuity, while the airy, uncloying construction ensured it felt contemporary and buoyant rather than old-fashioned.
On the perfume counters of 1941, New Horizons fit neatly into prevailing trends while maintaining its own identity. The era favored soft florals and comforting bouquets, often made with streamlined, accessible formulas that delivered emotional ease. Yet Ciro’s interpretation distinguished itself through its thematic clarity: the fragrance was not simply a blend of flowers, but a carefully built emotional narrative. Its name, timing, and composition worked together to articulate a message of hope and endurance.
In a world craving reassurance, New Horizons extended a quiet promise—one softened by petals, brightened by gentle sweetness, and carried forward on the imagined breeze of a future just beginning to appear.
Fragrance Composition:
- Top notes: aldehyde C-10, bergamot, lemon, orange blossom, methyl anthranilate, hydroxycitronellol, lily of the valley, carnation, hyacinth, benzyl acetate
- Middle notes: phenylethyl alcohol, jonquil, violet, tuberose, heliotrope, heliotropin, benzyl alcohol, jasmine, benzyl formate, linalyl acetate, Bulgarian rose, rhodinol, Bourbon ylang ylang
- Base notes: oakmoss, orris, vetiver, ambergris, vanilla, vanillin, Siam benzoin, musk and sandalwood, tonka bean
Scent Profile:
New Horizons opens with a luminous shimmer, as though the very air has been washed in early morning sunlight. The first impression comes from Aldehyde C-10, also known as decanal—a bright, citrusy aldehyde that radiates a clean, airy sparkle reminiscent of freshly polished citrus peel. It lends the fragrance its initial lift, a soft effervescence that feels almost champagne-like. This gleam is quickly joined by bergamot from Calabria, prized for its balanced interplay of tartness and gentle floral sweetness. Calabrian bergamot is considered the finest because its oil holds a complex profile—green, lightly herbaceous, and never harsh. Lemon adds a sharper, more crystalline edge, like the zest released from a freshly cut rind. Orange blossom drifts in next, honeyed and softly narcotic, evoking warm Mediterranean breezes stirring blossoms on sunlit branches.
Methyl anthranilate—often associated with the natural aroma of Concord grapes—threads through this citrus bouquet with a velvety, fruity sweetness. It bridges the sparkling top into the floral heart, smoothing transitions with a gentle purple glow. Hydroxycitronellol, a soft floral synthetic closely related to the scent molecules found in lily and rose, adds a dewy greenness, as though petals are still damp with morning mist. Its role is to lengthen the life of the delicate florals while preserving their natural translucence. Lily of the valley appears next in a breath of cool, fresh sweetness—an aroma impossible to extract naturally and therefore recreated through carefully crafted molecules. Here its green, silvery freshness tempers the sweetness around it. Carnation lifts the composition with its characteristic spiced clove-like note, adding a faint peppery warmth. Hyacinth follows with its crisp, springlike coolness—watery, green, and faintly floral—while benzyl acetate contributes a fruity, jasmine-tinged nuance that enhances the radiance of the unfolding bouquet.
The heart of New Horizons unfolds like a full garden at its moment of perfect bloom. Phenylethyl alcohol, one of the principal natural molecules found in rose, gives the bouquet its gentle, rosy freshness—soft, slightly green, almost tender in character. Jonquil adds a richer, honey-saturated floral tone, warmer and more narcotic, bringing depth without heaviness. Violet introduces a powdery, airy quality, reminiscent of crushed petals and soft pastel colors. Tuberose, often lush and heady, is handled with restraint here—its creamy, tropical sensuality softened so that it enhances rather than overwhelms.
Heliotrope adds its characteristic almond-vanilla facet, reminiscent of warm skin and powdered confections. This impression is amplified by heliotropin, the synthetic molecule that captures heliotrope’s sweet, gently nutty aroma with precision; it gives the heart a comforting softness that anchors the florals. Benzyl alcohol and benzyl formate, both naturally occurring in jasmine, add lift and floral brightness—fresh, almost sparkling floral tones that prevent the bouquet from becoming too creamy. Jasmine itself enters with its unmistakable radiance: white-petaled, warm, slightly indolic, like night air thickened with fragrance. Bulgarian rose lends richness and velvet—this variety is revered for its full-bodied, honeyed, slightly spicy profile. Rhodinol, a rosy-green alcohol present naturally in many flowers, enhances the rose’s dewy freshness and extends its longevity. Bourbon ylang-ylang contributes a soft, exotic warmth with hints of banana custard, sun-baked petals, and tropical breezes—its quality distinguished by richness, smoothness, and depth.
As the fragrance settles, its base reveals the warmth that gave New Horizons its reputation for being sweet yet never overwhelming. Oakmoss adds a velvety, forest-green richness—earthy, slightly damp, suggesting moss-covered bark after rain. Orris root contributes a refined powdery elegance, somewhere between violet, suede, and clean skin. Vetiver offers a quiet, woody dryness with grassy undertones that ground the fragrance. Ambergris adds a marine, balmy, diffusive glow—never heavy, but a soft radiance that wraps the bouquet in sophistication. Vanilla and vanillin create a creamy sweetness, but balanced to avoid thickness. Vanillin provides a sharper, more crystalline vanilla tone, while natural vanilla contributes warmth, depth, and a touch of smoky sweetness.
Siam benzoin imparts a caramelized balsamic warmth, reminiscent of polished wood and soft resins. Musk brings a gentle skin-like warmth, smoothing the edges of the composition. Sandalwood, likely from Mysore during this historical era, gives the drydown its creamy, meditative woodiness—sweet, milky, and enduring. Tonka bean adds a final whisper of coumarin, blending almond, hay, and soft tobacco nuances that fuse seamlessly into the base’s comforting glow.
In its entirety, New Horizons feels like a fragrant promise—an aromatic journey from brightness to serenity. Every material, from sparkling aldehydes to velvety woods, contributes to a sense of uplift, beauty, and forward-looking optimism. The result is a floral bouquet that breathes warmth, light, and hope, true to its name and the era in which it was born.
The Lincoln Star, 1942:
"Maybe this won't interest the readers, but the fragrance on the handkerchief is Ciro's New Horizons. Poor Ciro, he was a captain in the French army and was killed in a battle shortly before the fall of France. Some of the members of his firm succeeded in reaching New York with a large shipment of the lovely flower oils and business is being conducted from that city for awhile at least, so a lady who conducts a lovely little perfume shop in St Louis told me. She said another French firm succeeded in getting over four million dollars worth of the rare oils over to New York just in the neck of time."
L'Amour de l'art, 1950:
"New Horizons by Ciro: Very flowery composition of jasmine, rose and tuberose with very extended lines whose perspective rises to the confines of dreams and unknown scents."
Bottles:
The presentation of New Horizons was conceived with a clarity of purpose—its design rooted in symbolism, elegance, and the optimism the perfume sought to embody. The parfum was housed in a clear glass flacon shaped like a curved trapezoid, its silhouette subtly bending forward in a gesture that recalls the sweep of a horizon line. This gentle curve was more than a decorative device; it mirrored the name of the fragrance itself, suggesting the promise of new vistas and a world just beginning to open again after years of global uncertainty.
Crowning the bottle was its most distinctive feature: a stylized eagle stopper with wings spread in a proud, upward sweep. The eagle—long a symbol of American patriotism—was intentionally chosen to resonate with women living through World War II. It spoke to national resilience, courage, and hope, embodying the spirit of the era in a way that was both quietly reassuring and visually striking. The bird’s outstretched wings also reinforced the idea of striving toward “new horizons,” turning the bottle into both a sculptural object and a message of encouragement. Because New Horizons marked Ciro’s first major perfume introduction in several years, the presentation needed to feel both modern and meaningful, and this combination of gentle curvature and symbolic strength achieved precisely that.
Collectors and perfume enthusiasts quickly took notice of what became known as the “eagle flacon.” It was produced in five parfum sizes, each one architecturally faithful to the largest edition and proportioned to maintain its elegant sweep. The range included: 1 3/4" (1/4 oz), 2 1/4" (1/2 oz), 2 3/4" (1 oz), 3" (2 oz), and 3 3/4" (3 oz). These sizes allowed women to experience the fragrance in a bottle that fit both their budgets and their vanities, each housing the eagle stopper as its defining feature.
For broader accessibility, Ciro released additional versions in a simplified form. These retained the curved trapezoidal silhouette but replaced the elaborate eagle stopper with a practical screw cap. These functional editions came in 1 1/2" (1 1/4 dram), 4 1/2" (2 oz), and 5" (6 oz) sizes, making the fragrance available in a variety of price points and formats. While more modest in detail, they preserved the clean lines and horizon-evoking shape that made the design instantly recognizable.
Contemporary publications reflected the industry’s admiration for the presentation. In 1942, the Drug and Cosmetic Review noted that New Horizons arrived in “a simple bottle with graceful curve,” succinctly capturing its understated beauty. By 1949, Vogue highlighted the enduring appeal of the design with the introduction of a new, more affordable size—described as “a charming scaled-down replica of the curved crystal bottle”—priced at $4.50, while the larger editions stood at $7.50, $12.50, and $35.
Together, these presentations formed a cohesive aesthetic narrative: a modern, hopeful design grounded in patriotic symbolism and shaped to echo the name of the fragrance itself. Even today, the “eagle” flacon remains one of Ciro’s most recognizable and evocative bottles—a small sculptural emblem of the era’s aspirations and the brand’s thoughtful approach to design.
The "eagle" flacon, this bottle came in five sizes:
- 1.75" tall = 0.25 oz Parfum
- 2.25" tall = 0.5 oz Parfum
- 2.75" tall = 1 oz Parfum
- 3" tall = 2 oz Parfum
- 3.75" tall = 3 oz Parfum
Other "eagle" bottles came in a simplified form with a screw cap instead of the eagle stopper, this was used for the Esscent.
The packages with four Ciro minis were launched around 1954 and were sold until the 1960s.
A tall, fluted bottle holding 4 ounces of eau de toilette was introduced in 1955. This flacon, in frosted finish, was also used to hold the Velvet Bath.
- 1.5" tall = 1.25 dram
- 4.5" tall = 2 oz
- 5" tall = 6 oz
Introduced in 1953, Esscent – Image de Parfum represented Ciro’s attempt to reinterpret its classic fragrances for a postwar generation that favored convenience, modernity, and intensity of expression. Esscent was formulated as a concentrated perfume—essentially the equivalent of a modern eau de parfum—strong enough to linger beautifully on the skin yet fluid enough to be worn more generously than a traditional extrait. Ciro emphasized that Esscent offered the “image” of their perfumes: faithful to the originals in character, but reborn in a form that suited contemporary lifestyles.
All Esscent fragrances were presented in bottles deliberately modeled after Ciro’s earlier luxury designs. These replicas retained the familiar silhouette of the parfum flacons, with their elegant vertical lines and distinctive shoulders, but were crafted in pressed glass rather than hand-cut crystal. Instead of a ground-glass stopper, each bottle carried a gleaming gold-plated screw cap, making the perfume easier to use and better suited for repeated, liberal application. The caps themselves were a small marvel of mid-century industrial design—made of Durez phenolic plastic manufactured by the Plastics Division of the Terkelsen Machine Company, then gold-plated to echo the warmth of the amber liquid inside. The overall effect was glamorous yet practical, with a touch of the Space Age optimism of the 1950s.
The packages with four Ciro minis were launched around 1954 and were sold until the 1960s.
A tall, fluted bottle holding 4 ounces of eau de toilette was introduced in 1955. This flacon, in frosted finish, was also used to hold the Velvet Bath.
Fate of the Fragrance:
Introduced in 1941, New Horizons entered the market at a moment when American perfumery was shifting in tone and purpose. Created during the early years of World War II, the fragrance was designed to uplift, reassure, and evoke a sense of forward-looking optimism—an emotional thread that resonated deeply with the women who wore it. During its early decades, New Horizons occupied a distinct place within Ciro’s lineup, balancing a light, sweet floral character with a symbolic message stitched directly into its name and presentation.
The perfume enjoyed a notably long life on the market. Though it was created in the early 1940s, New Horizons remained part of the Ciro portfolio well into the postwar era, its appeal sustained by evolving presentations—from its patriotic eagle-topped flacon to later, simplified bottles and eventually to more modern packaging styles introduced during the 1950s. As tastes shifted through the mid-20th century and the fragrance industry embraced increasingly abstract, aldehydic, and contemporary compositions, New Horizons continued to maintain a loyal following. Its approachable floral bouquet and comforting warmth made it a reliable, beloved choice for women who preferred a classic scent that felt feminine without being overpowering.
By the mid-1960s, however, the perfume landscape had transformed dramatically. Bold chypres, green florals, and novel synthetics had taken center stage, and the older Ciro fragrances gradually receded from department store counters. New Horizons was discontinued sometime around 1965, closing a chapter on a fragrance that had spanned nearly a quarter-century of cultural and aesthetic change.
Yet, its story did not end abruptly. As with many mid-century perfumes, remaining stock lingered in storerooms and on the shelves of smaller retailers. Reports and advertisements indicate that old inventory of New Horizons was still being sold as late as 1970, offering a final opportunity for devotees—and the newly curious—to experience a perfume that had once symbolized hope, resilience, and the promise of better days ahead.