Saint Laurent came from a privileged background; Slimane was raised in the Nineteenth Arrondissement, on the Rive Droite, both were fascinated by the Left Bank, historically home to artists, rebels, and intellectuals—Picasso to Piaf. By 1957 the Left Bank’s “Beat” was so pandemic that it was co-opted by Hollywood (cue Funny Face). In 1966, the year Saint Laurent launched Rive Gauche, the wire services were reporting on the “jazzy fashion boutiques that have suddenly made Boulevard St. Germain and its environs the heart of young Paris style.” The power and allure of this bohemian style was, of course, only heightened by the proximity of its polar opposite, the Right Bank, where power and propriety hold sway. Here, a look back at French icons from both sides of the Seine.
