Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Perfume, 1976

This is a vintage 1976 oh-so-French ad for Yves Saint Laurent’s Rive Gauche perfume. I love how it captures Paris’ Left Bank (Rive Gauche) skyline, with a bottle of perfume floating away on a blue balloon.

I didn’t get into the more sophisticated YSL fragrances until the 1980s, when I was working in corporate banking. My absolute favorite fragrance was (and remains) YSL’s Opium. I dabbled with Rive Gauche, and liked it, but Opium will forever remain true to my heart.

~Marilyn