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Born in Oran, Algeria, in 1936, Yves Saint Laurent took an interest in couture fairly quickly. At 18, he arrived in Paris to take drawing courses at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, where his talent made him famous in only 3 months. Christian Dior noticed him and appointed him a pattern designer. After the latter’s death, Saint Laurent continued the work of his mentor, thus taking over the direction of the House of Dior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An undisputed genius, Yves Saint Laurent opened his own fashion house in 1962 with the help of his friend Pierre Berg\u00e9. Determined, the couturier then lived the apogee of his early hours, and the name Yves Saint Laurent became an essential of fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A provocateur at heart, he broke the codes and made his know-how an artistic expression of feminism by launching a collection drawn from the men’s clothing world. The trouser suit now gave women the opportunity to wear trousers to work. The Saharienne jacket was diverted from the hunting wardrobe to make it an essential of his collection. Avant-garde, he dared to make the tuxedo a garment for women, cementing his aura in the world of fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, as early as the end of 1976, the press spoke of his excessive disappearance from the media, and magazines were already preparing retrospectives about him, as if he were soon going to die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Mr Saint Laurent was only writing his legend, and in response to this relentlessness, he launched with unprecedented success this narcotic juice with a transgressive name: Opium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opium by Yves Saint Laurent<\/h2>\n\n\n\nContext of Its Release<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In 1977, under the artistic direction of Chantal Roos, Yves Saint Laurent offered a modernised version of the oriental perfumes neglected since the 1940s. Opium was an olfactory and marketing coup advocating the emancipation of women, increasingly asserting their femininity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The couturier wished to create a luxurious fragrance and imagined a bottle that went against the grain of what had been done until then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the bottle, Pierre Dinand innovated by slipping a glass flask into a sheath of amber plastic, inspired by the inr\u014d cases that samurai used to store spices, medicinal herbs and opium.\u00b9 He adorned it with a black silk tassel of Napol\u00e9on III inspiration, showcased in Yves Saint Laurent’s collection of the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n
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“It was a completely revolutionary object, a thousand miles from traditional glass bottles,” “It’s a period when Yves Saint Laurent is truly in the richest, most complete, most intense expression of his art,” notes Yann Andrea (International Marketing Director YSL Fragrances 2010\u20132014)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opium concretised the fascination Yves Saint Laurent had with the Orient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sold on average 30% more expensively than its competitors, the perfume was such a success that French retailers quickly found themselves out of stock. It was the marketing tour de force aimed at reinforcing its prestige and its attractiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1978, the advertising slogan was reworked for the American market. “Opium, pour celles qui s’adonnent \u00e0 Yves Saint Laurent” (“Opium, for those who give themselves over to Yves Saint Laurent”) became tamer\u2014some would say too prudish\u2014”Opium, for those to whom Saint Laurent is a habit.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opium was immediately noticed, making the perfume the beginning of a myth. Indeed, the launch party took place on a boat moored in South Street harbour in Manhattan. Precisely where the ships coming from Asia loaded with opium arrived. The message was provocative, just like the couturier.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOpium, the Modernised Oriental<\/h3>\n\n\n\n