Rive Gauche by Yves Saint Laurent, the fragrance of the revolution in manners. Yves Saint Laurent was only 21 years old when he worked for the Christian Dior fashion house in 1957. It was in 1961 that he decided to found his own brand, with the help of his friend Pierre Bergé.
The couturier Yves Saint Laurent left his mark on fashion with his creative genius, never hesitating to offer cuts, colors, and perfumes that no one before him would have dared imagine. Rive Gauche would also be a bold move, finally opening the doors of his wonderful world to all women. To properly celebrate the arrival of this ready-to-wear boutique, the couturier called on the talented perfumer behind Calandre, Michel Hy, to create a perfume as feminine as it was flamboyant. Rive Gauche the perfume was released in 1971.
When perfume becomes a symbol of revolution, Rive Gauche stands out…
Yves Saint Laurent never sought to do as others did. The great couturier of many talents never stopped playing with his creativity to surprise, astonish, even shock, in order to change the world and change mentalities. The Rive Gauche collection is highly emblematic of this rebellious spirit, since with this ready-to-wear boutique, Saint Laurent finally opened the doors of haute couture to all women, without distinction of social class. He justified this small revolution with a scathing line: I was tired of making dresses for jaded billionaires!
What better, then, than to offer a perfume that would perfectly suit all these women he could now dress? He therefore asked Michel Hy, already the creator of Y and the iconic Calandre by Paco Rabanne, to compose Rive Gauche for him. The perfumer, a lover of aldehydes and very much in tune with his era, offered the couturier a Rive Gauche that was powerful, generous, very feminine but also somewhat masculine, the better to match Mr. Saint Laurent's collections.
Rive Gauche by Yves Saint Laurent is a concentrate of bourgeoisie, a perfume reminiscent of the haute couture ateliers of the time and their somewhat stiff formality. It is the perfume of independent, worldly women, the emblem of femininity according to Yves Saint Laurent. Marie Claire on Rive Gauche by Yves Saint Laurent
Rive Gauche, a perfume between tradition and modernity, crafted by Michel Hy for a free woman
A true symbol of social struggle, Rive Gauche stood out by offering a world until then reserved for the bourgeoisie, while twisting it with an aldehydic and sensual modernity that Yves Saint Laurent and Michel Hy knew so well how to deliver. This is indeed how some critics came to see Rive Gauche as the perfume of the perfect bourgeois woman in high heels and a knee-length skirt, wearing sexy lingerie underneath to indulge in a little mischief…
Rive Gauche wastes no time, opening on a floral start of Freesia and Honeysuckle. Very quickly, the citrus notes, magnified by the metallic power of the aldehydes, become opulent. In the heart, we nevertheless find the classic splendor of Rose and Jasmine, though it is punctuated by a sun-kissed, exotic note of Ylang-ylang. Finally, the high-society lady reveals her sensual side through the woody depths of Rive Gauche, wrapped in a mysterious note of Myrrh. Yet this bold Rive Gauche returns to the powdery, traditional note of Iris, to close once more on a floral touch of Gardenia.