Established by Nina Ricci in 1932, as a couture house. Her elegant, feminine style was always flattering to a woman's physique.
Maria Adelaide Nielli was born in Turin, Italy in 1883, she moved to Florence, Italy with her family at age 5 and then to France in 1895 at age 12 with her elder sister to seek her fortune. She was nicknamed Nina. At the age of 13, she began an apprenticeship at a dressmaker's. She continued to pursue her love of fashion throughout her teenage years.
Madame Ricci designed gowns while Robert managed the business and finances. She worked with the fabrics directly on the mannequin to ensure they had the right shape once they were finished. Nina Ricci designs soon became known for their refined, romantic, always feminine feeling that Maria imparted to all of her collections.
The House of Nina Ricci grew rapidly throughout the thirties and their one-room maison de couture became 11 floors in 3 buildings, operations developed by WWII to include leather goods and fashion accessories.
In 1945, with the war over, designers were casting about for a way to revive the infatuation women had formerly had with haute couture, while raising money for war relief. Robert Ricci had an idea which Lucien Lelong, President of the Chambre de Commerce, put into action. Over 150 mannequins from forty Paris couturiers, including Balenciaga and Grès, were dressed in the labels' best fashions and were placed in an exhibition held at the Louvre, in Paris. After a huge success in Paris it toured Europe and then the USA.
After the second World War, her son Robert Ricci, introduced perfumes. Many of these featured Berard graphics and were housed in luxurious Marc Lalique designed crystal flacons. Robert Ricci said in 1978, "I launched L'Air du Temps shortly after. Although in the United States, I have concentrated on our fragrances, in France, I also oversee the couture part of our business. Our designer, Gerard Pipart, was my choice." He confessed to feeling "not like a complete business man. I think rather that I am a creator who also does business. I am not interested in the quick buck, as you say here, but in the life of our creations."
Nina Ricci's perfumes had romantic and fanciful themes with luxurious presentations. In 1946 Robert created his first fragrance, Coeur Joie. In 1948 Robert came up with another fragrance, L’Air du Temps, means "Air of the Times", capturing the passion and elegance of an emerging generation Maria and Robert Ricci headed. Robert worked with master perfumer Francis Fabron to create a scent with as much elegance as Madame Maria Ricci's clothes. Marc Lalique created the graceful twin-dove crystal bottle.
Ricci quickly became very successful and by the early 1950s she was nearing 70 years of age and slowly withdrew from an active role in design, choosing to just keep an eye on the house. Her son chose the new head designer in 1954, the Belgian Jules-Francois Crahay.
Several Flight Attendant uniforms were designed by the Nina Ricci brand. Nina Ricci is also a pioneer of licensing their designs before the rise of Ready-to-wear. As early as 1960, they started licensing their patterns to upscale boutiques such as Chez Ninon in New York and Betty Clemo in Hong Kong for 'line-to-line' reproduction.
Crahay left Ricci in 1963 to go to Lanvin, and was immediately replaced by Gerard Pipart, who had worked at Balmain, Jacques Fath and Jean Patou prior to his new job. He continued to carry on the name of Ricci with beautiful and elegant dresses.
She married an Italian jeweler and composer Luigi Ricci in 1904, thus becoming Maria Ricci, but the marriage was not a successful one as he found it hard to compete with his dynamic wife. Luigi Ricci's early death in 1909 drew her closer to her young son Robert who had been born in 1905.
In 1908 Nina joined the highly regarded couture house of Raffin as a designer and remained there for 20 years. She became Raffin's partner, and when the house of Raffin closed in 1929 Nina more or less retired to a life of luxury until she met her second husband who ran an advertising agency. Maria was 49 years old at the time, and after working at Raffin for so many years was itching to design her own creations. She then moved on to create her own design house in 1932 in Paris, later helped by her son Robert.
Nina
The House of Nina Ricci grew rapidly throughout the thirties and their one-room maison de couture became 11 floors in 3 buildings, operations developed by WWII to include leather goods and fashion accessories.
In 1945, with the war over, designers were casting about for a way to revive the infatuation women had formerly had with haute couture, while raising money for war relief. Robert Ricci had an idea which Lucien Lelong, President of the Chambre de Commerce, put into action. Over 150 mannequins from forty Paris couturiers, including Balenciaga and Grès, were dressed in the labels' best fashions and were placed in an exhibition held at the Louvre, in Paris. After a huge success in Paris it toured Europe and then the USA.
After the second World War, her son Robert Ricci, introduced perfumes. Many of these featured Berard graphics and were housed in luxurious Marc Lalique designed crystal flacons. Robert Ricci said in 1978, "I launched L'Air du Temps shortly after. Although in the United States, I have concentrated on our fragrances, in France, I also oversee the couture part of our business. Our designer, Gerard Pipart, was my choice." He confessed to feeling "not like a complete business man. I think rather that I am a creator who also does business. I am not interested in the quick buck, as you say here, but in the life of our creations."
Nina Ricci's perfumes had romantic and fanciful themes with luxurious presentations. In 1946 Robert created his first fragrance, Coeur Joie. In 1948 Robert came up with another fragrance, L’Air du Temps, means "Air of the Times", capturing the passion and elegance of an emerging generation Maria and Robert Ricci headed. Robert worked with master perfumer Francis Fabron to create a scent with as much elegance as Madame Maria Ricci's clothes. Marc Lalique created the graceful twin-dove crystal bottle.
Ricci quickly became very successful and by the early 1950s she was nearing 70 years of age and slowly withdrew from an active role in design, choosing to just keep an eye on the house. Her son chose the new head designer in 1954, the Belgian Jules-Francois Crahay.
Several Flight Attendant uniforms were designed by the Nina Ricci brand. Nina Ricci is also a pioneer of licensing their designs before the rise of Ready-to-wear. As early as 1960, they started licensing their patterns to upscale boutiques such as Chez Ninon in New York and Betty Clemo in Hong Kong for 'line-to-line' reproduction.
Crahay left Ricci in 1963 to go to Lanvin, and was immediately replaced by Gerard Pipart, who had worked at Balmain, Jacques Fath and Jean Patou prior to his new job. He continued to carry on the name of Ricci with beautiful and elegant dresses.
In 1949 Jacqueline Cochran, Inc., was named the sole distributor in the United States for the Nina Ricci line of French fragrances. The Jacqueline Cochran company was sold to Shulton in 1965 and a few years later, Shulton was bought by American Cyanamid in 1971. Jacqueline Cochran was owned by Shulton, in turn a subsidiary of American Cyanamid.
So from about 1968 until 1987, Nina Ricci boxes and bottles will have the name Jacqueline Cochran on them.
Nina Ricci passed away on 30 November 1970 (according to her headstone she died 29 November) at the age of 87.
Nina Ricci passed away on 30 November 1970 (according to her headstone she died 29 November) at the age of 87.
Sanofi, Inc. bought Jacqueline Cochran from American Cyanamid in 1987.
Robert continued to excel in perfumery and business until his death in 1988. Other classic Nina Ricci perfumes have included "Farouche", "Capricci", "Fleur de Fleurs" and "Eau de Fleurs"; each has had its own unique Lalique crystal parfum bottle. Men's fragrances have included "Signoricci", "Signoricci II" and "Phileas".
Robert continued to excel in perfumery and business until his death in 1988. Other classic Nina Ricci perfumes have included "Farouche", "Capricci", "Fleur de Fleurs" and "Eau de Fleurs"; each has had its own unique Lalique crystal parfum bottle. Men's fragrances have included "Signoricci", "Signoricci II" and "Phileas".
"Many new perfumes are just chemical mixtures," said Robert Ricci in 1978. "They are 'dead' fragrances that grow boring because they don't have the warm life of natural essences. We use some laboratory-made elements, but a great perfume must be made of mostly natural ingredients."
Orange Coast Magazine Feb 1989:
"Parfums Nina Ricci uses an entirely different approach with its perfumes. Since 1946, Parfums Nina Ricci has been creating fragrances with no formal marketing plan. The late Robert Ricci believed a good fragrance would find its own market.
“Robert Ricci was always thinking about fragrance,” says Lina Vitali, vice president of Parfums Nina Ricci, USA. “He never worked under a time frame. It was an ongoing process. When he found the right perfume, he started to develop an image...it was more a creative endeavor than a marketing plan.”
Ricci was solely responsible for the fragrance selection but would meet with his creative staff and describe his feelings about the fragrance to establish a name, an elegant bottle design and a package design. After the image was created, the perfume would be introduced in Paris and then to the European and United States markets.
Despite the high quality of Ricci perfumes, four fragrances were unsuccessful in the American market (Coeur Joie, Capricci, Farouche and Fleurs de Fleurs), yet, they are successful in Europe. Why? Vitali says most American women prefer stronger fragrances than the light, flowery scents enjoyed by European women. Furthermore, European women believe femininity is enhanced by a perfume, and they place more importance on the decorative crystal bottles and packaging than American women do. “ The French image of perfume is very romantic, feminine and sophisticated,” says Vitali. “The American perfume’s image is more aggressive, sexual and overpowering.”
If Robert Ricci’s philosophy holds true that “Perfumes are works of art,” many creations will be overlooked or go unnoticed. However, with a meticulous marketing strategy, a fragrance will survive the battle with its competitors and will prosper."
More recent perfumes have included two different fragrances, both with the name "Nina", and a series of three perfumes under the name "Les Belles de Ricci". Furthermore, there have been additional fragrances with the name "Ricci Ricci", "Love in Paris" and "Premier Jour" which means "first day".
Robert Ricci passed in 1988 and the company was taken over by Nina Ricci's son-in-law, Gilles Fuchs and in 1992 the company was partially owned by Sanofi Beaute. In 1995 it was 56.8%. In 1998 it became part of the Antonio Puig Group.
Massimo Guissain's family purchased the house of Nina Ricci in 1998 from Crahay. Massimo Guissain worked as a designer, but Nathalie Gervais had been the chief designer for the house for several years. She presented her last collection in Fall 2001. In May 2002 American designer James Aguiar took over as chief designer and designed for the House of Ricci for two seasons.
In 2003 Lars Nilsson took over the house of Ricci with shaky reviews from critics. He made a sudden redesign in early 2006, and then in September announced that Brussels-born designer Olivier Theyskens of Rochas would take over the role as head of the label. In 2009, Theyskens was replaced by designer Peter Copping, who had worked for Louis Vuitton.
some info from wikipedia.
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