À Travers la Voilette by Isabey, launched in 1925, is a perfume that carries its meaning in both name and mood. In French, À Travers la Voilette translates to "Through the Veil" and is pronounced roughly as "ah trah-VEHR lah vwah-LET." The name is sometimes mistakenly rendered as À Travers la Violette, confusing "veil" (voilette) with "violet" (violette), a plausible error given the popularity of violet-based fragrances in the early 20th century. However, the true name conjures something far more poetic and evocative—a moment of intimacy glimpsed through fine netting, the hazy mystery of a woman behind her veil, inviting intrigue yet guarding secrets.
Isabey likely drew inspiration from Guerlain’s La Voilette de Madame "Madam's Veil" (1901), another perfume that explored femininity as seen through delicate barriers. Veils in the 1920s were deeply symbolic—part fashion, part modesty, part mystique. A woman behind a veil was both protected and alluring, observed but not fully revealed. Naming a perfume À Travers la Voilette was an invitation to explore softness, secrecy, and refined sensuality, all translated into scent.
The perfume was introduced during the height of the Art Deco era, a period defined by elegance, modernity, and a fascination with both ornament and restraint. The mid-1920s were marked by postwar optimism and the rise of a new kind of woman—independent, fashionable, and unafraid to express herself. Fashions had shifted from the corseted silhouettes of the past to dropped waists and straight lines, with bold accessories and bobbed hair. Powdery makeup was fashionable, and a pale face framed in dark kohl and crimson lips became a visual ideal. In this cultural context, À Travers la Voilette would have resonated with the modern woman who embraced sophistication with a trace of nostalgic femininity.
