Rive Gauche is a women's

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. ...

launched by Yves Saint Laurent in 1971. The fragrance was composed in 1969 by perfumers

Jacques Polge Jacques Polge (born 14 June 1943) is a French perfumer, best known for his role as Head Perfumer at Les Parfums Chanel from 1978 to 2015. Early life Jacques Polge grew up near Avignon, France, where he says he was inspired as a child by the s ...

and Michael Hy at Roure. It was reformulated by

Daniela Andrier Daniela Roche Andrier (born 1964) is a German perfumer. Biography Born in Heidelberg, Daniela Roche Andrier studied philosophy at the Sorbonne before turning to a career in the perfume industry. She studied at Roure after training at Chanel an ...

and Jacques Hy at

Givaudan Givaudan () is a Swiss multinational manufacturer of flavours, fragrances and active cosmetic ingredients. As of 2008, it is the world's largest company in the flavour and fragrance industries. Overview The company's scents and flavours are de ...

in 2003. The all-aluminium silver and cobalt blue striped bottle was designed by Pierre Dinnand. The perfume was named after Yves Saint Laurent's newly opened boutique in

Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the north ...

, the first

ready-to-wear Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à-porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothi ...

store opened by a couturier. Perfume critic

Luca Turin Luca Turin (born 20 November 1953) is a biophysicist and writer with a long-standing interest in bioelectronics, the sense of smell, perfumery, and the fragrance industry. Early life and education Turin was born in Beirut, Lebanon on 20 Novem ...

considered Rive Gauche as the "best floral aldehydic of all time". It is a classic

aldehyde In organic chemistry, an aldehyde () is an organic compound containing a functional group with the structure . The functional group itself (without the "R" side chain) can be referred to as an aldehyde but can also be classified as a formyl group ...

with a floral heart and woody base notes.

References

{{Parfums Yves Saint Laurent Perfumes Yves Saint Laurent (brand) Products introduced in 1971