In a world where luxury increasingly hinges on individuality, Le Labo offers a particularly effective proposition with its Cities Collection: What if your signature fragrance isn’t about who you are, but where you’re from?

The luxury perfumer has built an entire collection around the idea, dedicating individual fragrances to global metropolises in a tribute to the places that shape us.

Each scent offers a different entry point into something more collective than a signature smell — a way to wave your region’s flag without a flag at all. Highsnobiety can exclusively report that the latest city in the collection is Vienna, Austria, where the brand is celebrating its newest city-specific offering alongside the opening of its first Austrian boutique. 

So…what does Vienna smell like? Perhaps we can extrapolate. Le Labo’s scent for New York City is TUBEROSE 40, which starts with “a wave of bergamot, tangerine, and orange flower” and devolves into something woodier, finishes with “oak moss, musks, and ambrette,” according to the company’s website. Berlin’s CEDRAT 37 is “a delicate balance of cedrat and ginger — fresh, acidic, and with an addictive candied sweetness.” For Vienna, we’re likewise predicting something floral, with a hint of coziness to hit at the city’s traditions. 

Le Labo

The series takes a clever approach to exclusivity. Le Labo’s City Exclusives are generally available year-round only in their respective hometowns, with the entire collection traveling beyond its borders into global retail for a limited period each year. This business model turns geography into a luxury commodity, rewarding the well-traveled while giving locals a particularly intimate claim to their city’s scent. 

It’s a really perfect embodiment of the Le Labo philosophy of “slow perfumery,” or the practice of fragrances blended by hand and made to order. Customers get an experience in their city, with Le Labo meeting them halfway. Souvenirs you can smell — and bespoke ones at that.

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