Nina Ricci
The Haute Couture House of Nina Ricci
Nina Ricci was 49 years old when her only son Robert convinced her to set up her own Haute Couture House in 1932.
By the outbreak of the war she had 450 seamstresses working in a building at 20 rue des Capucines.
After the war in 1946 and wishing to diversify the Ricci Haute Couture House's operations, Robert Ricci launched his first perfume "Coeur-Joie". It was contained in a frosted bottle made by Marc Lalique and illustrated by Christian Bérard.
Two years later Robert Ricci created a second fragrance called L'Air du Temps.
In 1959 Nina Ricci gained international acclaim with the success of the young designer Jules-François Crahay's fashion collection. Another young designer called Gérard Pipart consolidated this reputation when he took over the Haute Couture studio of Nina Ricci in 1964. Nina Riccis growing international reputation was used to launch her fragrances particularly in Japan and the United States .
In 1970 with nearly 40 years of fashion industry experience to her name Madame Nina Ricci passed away aged 87. The perfume division of Nina Ricci developed rapidly during the 1970's went on to become one of France 's leading exporters. In 1974 yet another fragrance called Farouche was launched. At the end of the decade Nina Ricci moved from the Rue des Capucines to the Avenue Montaigne, in one of Paris 's most prestigious quarters.
It was in 1986 that Nina Ricci opened of the "Ricci-Club" men's boutique followed by the launch of the men's eau de toilette "Ricci-Club" in 1989.
A diversification into cosmetics occurred in 1992 called "Le Teint Ricci" In 1994 a new fragrance called "Deci Delà" was launched followed by "Les Belles de Ricci" in 1996 for 15 - 20 year olds. L'Air du Temps which celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 1998 it was accompanied new bottles, new advertising campaign and accessories.
The opening of this decade saw the arrival of a new female fragrance front called "Premier Jour". A tremendous success it was followed by in 2002 by a fragrance for men called "Memoire d'Homme".
In 2003 Lars Nilsson was appointed as its Nina Ricci's Creative Director with the brief of injecting further youth and femininity.
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At the time of writing, the practicing Haute Couture houses are as follows:
Balmain, Pierre : Cardin, Pierre : Carven : Chanel : Dior, Christian : Feraud :
Givenchy : Lacroix, Christian : Lapidus, Ted : Laroche, Guy : Rabanne, Paco :
Ricci, Nina : Yves Saint Laurent : Scherrer, Jean Louis : Ungaro, Emanuel
