Monday
02Oct
Going Gauche
Monday, October 2, 2006 at 04:11PM 
A very important milestone passed last week in fashion history. No, nothing, nothing at all coming to mind? Here’s a hint: September 26, 1966, Paris, France. Nothing? I know, it was a surprise to me too. Just about forty years ago, on September 26, 1966, Yves Saint Laurent opened his first Rive Gauche boutique in Paris, thus changing the way we all shop forever. Rive Gauche was YSL’s “designer” brand of prêt-a-porter – a first for an Haute Couture designer – offering less-expensive pieces of clothing in standard sizes, but with the same luxurious chic of the first line.
“Rive Gauche,” or “Left Bank” still carries the connotations of student chic, breezy afternoons at Café Flore, and strolling the Boul’ Mich in the rain. In other words, totally anti-high fashion for 1966. The very word “gauche” means “left” – or “not right” – but it also may mean something along the lines of “in bad taste,” at least to the old matrons of the elitist Haute Couture world. The day the boutique opened, it reportedly had over $24,000.00 in sales – no small feat, even by today’s standards – and among the first shoppers was the lovely Catherine Deneuve, who ordered her three new suede mini skirts to be altered even shorter.
The first of many Rive Gauche boutiques, it is the grande dame of contemporary & designer lines today – and really, does anyone buy anything else? Think about it: without Rive Gauche, there would be no Barney’s artistically-merchandised floors, no fourth floor at Neiman Marcus, and the entire SoHo neighborhood would still be warehouses. The rich girls would be able to buy nice clothes, but the rest of us would still be shopping through a Sears catalogue. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course.) Rive Gauche shocked the bastion of Parisian fashion by making designer items more democratic by making them available for everyone. Isn’t it a wonderful thing? No wonder my mother always loved Yves so much.
Thus, I arrive at the impetus for this post, my mother, who has taught me oh so many things, not the least of which was how to properly pronounce “Eves-San-Lo-rahnt” at a very young age. As I visited my parents this weekend, my mom and I had a discussion over perfume. Lately, we’ve both been wearing Hermès: Un Jardin Sur Nile pour moi, et 24 Rue Saint Honoré pour elle. (I’m about to switch to my winter-time fragrance of CoCo by Chanel, which is a little more warm for the crisp air.) On my mom’s perfume tray, I noticed the standout figure of Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche. The perfume was launched in 1971, after the boutiques had established themselves; my mother was an early adopter. The light, lemony-powdery fragrance takes me back to shopping days at I.Magnin, and early evenings of sitting on my parent’s bed, watching my mom get ready to go out. My mom stopped wearing Rive Gauche, mostly because it was hard to find for many years, but I had spotted it again not long ago, and almost immediately gave it to her.
The bottle is hard to miss, as was YSL’s intention with the design and communication, as noted in Alice Rawsthorn’s biography “Yves Saint Laurent”:
“Yves designed a blue, black and silver box for the perfume, which struck a deliberate contrast to the daintily packaged crystal bottles of classic French scents. The advertising campaigns featured a Rive Gauche-clad woman photographed on the bustling square outside les Deux Magots, one of the most famous Left Bank cafes, with the Eglise Saint-Germain des Pres in the background. The advertising slogan was "pas un parfum pour les femmes effacees"; 'not for unassuming women'.”
It is so like the French to put a double-negative in an advertising campaign.
But back to my mom. As I reached for the sleek, striped bottle, my mom told me that she doesn’t wear Rive Gauche any longer… “Do you want it?” Now here is any interesting moment. I may change my look ten times a day, but I’m very brand-loyal when it comes to certain things. I am steadfast in my choices of jeans, face creams, spas, and especially fragrances. Once you know what smells nice to you and others, what works with your body chemistry, and what doesn’t overwhelm you or anyone in your immediate area, it’s hard to switch. But, who’s going to pass up Rive Gauche?
When I arrived home with my new perfume, I did some reasearch in Alice Rawsthorn's book which gave me the date of September 26, 1966. Who knew we were celebrating the 40th anniversary of a retail revolution?
I put the scent on yesterday, and again today - perhaps as an homage to Monsieur Saint Laurent, perhaps just to see what it's like to wear a fragrance & fashion icon. It’s a little bit classic for me, very French indeed, but also very nice. I can’t really explain. Does this mean I’m “not unassuming”? I don’t know. But I could be going gauche for a while.
Happy 40th Anniversary Rive Gauche!
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