NINA RICCI

Nina Ricci's story reflects the changes in the fashion world over the years, and her scents have a permanent place in perfume history. The designer was born Maria Adélaide Nielli in Turin on January 14, 1883 and died in Paris on November 29, 1970. Her impressive career as an Italian-French couturier began when she immigrated to France in 1895 at the age of 12. In Paris she completed an apprenticeship as a tailor and in 1904 married the jeweler Luigi Ricci, with whom she had a son named Robert. Maria, affectionately known as Nina by those around her, shaped the fashion world for over two decades as a designer at the Raffin fashion house before founding her own company in 1932 - Nina Ricci Sàrl. On Rue des Capucines in Paris, not far from Place Vendôme, she established her own fashion label and created luxurious haute couture clothing with a romantic and emphatically feminine style.

Exclusive prices – and customers!

Her high-priced fashion, which was preferably draped on the model, enjoyed great popularity in wealthy circles in France, even in the years after the Great Depression. By the end of the 1930s, Nina Ricci already employed around 500 people, and operations continued during the war years. After the Second World War, her son Robert Ricci took over the management and from 1946 successfully opened up the US market in the ready-to-wear sector. The company gained international fame by participating in fashion shows by Parisian couturiers, including Balenciaga, at the Louvre Museum. At the end of the 1950s, Nina Ricci retired from active work and died in 1970 at the age of 87.

The successor

Robert Ricci continued to run the company, creating the first perfume "Coeur Joie" in 1946 and two years later the modern fragrance "L'Air du Temps" in collaboration with the perfumer Francis Fabron. This fragrance, in Marc Lalique bottles, became the company's best-known and best-selling perfume. Numerous other fragrances followed in the 1960s and 1970s, including "Capricci", "Mademoiselle Ricci", "Bigarade" and many more.

The Nina Ricci brand flourished under the leadership of Robert Ricci and his son. In 1959, Robert Ricci appointed the Belgian Jules-Francois Crahay as chief designer, who made the house internationally successful. The first ready-to-wear line "Mademoiselle Ricci" was launched in 1962 for the US market and was renamed "Nina Ricci" in 1966.

Perfume and ready-to-wear

After Robert Ricci's death in 1988, Puig took over Beauty & Fashion Group the company. The haute couture division was closed and the company focused on perfumes and ready-to-wear fashion. Designers such as Nathalie Gervais, Massimo Giussani, Peter Copping, Guillaume Henry and others shaped the brand in the following years. Ownership changed several times and Puig Beauty & Fashion Group eventually became the sole owner of Nina Ricci. The brand has successfully launched many perfumes and fashion fragrances over the years. Women's fashion is presented twice a year at Paris Fashion Week.

Creative craftsmanship

The Nina Ricci brand continues to encourage women to blossom and feel good. Since its inception, Nina Ricci has maintained a constant contemporary craftsmanship that supports women. This unique artistic sensibility combines simplicity and purity with an abundance of creativity. Independent, powerful and elevated by true beauty, the woman of Nina Ricci is motivated to reveal the charm of her emotions and fulfill her deepest desires. As Robert Ricci once said, "I work for people whose sensibilities match my own."

In keeping with the times

Since the company was founded, the house, which was founded in Paris by Nina herself and her son, has retained the freedom to invite talent to create "l'air du temps" together. Possibly bold, daring, explosive, Nina Ricci Harris appoints Reed as the first genderfluid creative director of a traditional Parisian fashion house in 2022. The 26-year-old British-American designer is particularly known for his gender-neutral creations and is said to bring new perspectives to the house's heritage and lifelong craftsmanship. His first collection for the fashion and perfumery house, owned by Puig, was presented in early 2023.