• October 09, 1978
• Vol. 10
• No. 15

Yves Saint Laurent Sails into Manhattan with a Hot Cargo—Opium at $100 An Ounce

Rarely has the rag trade royalty showed up in such profusion. All about them was the opulence of the East. Cattleya orchids were cast at their stylish pumps. A half-ton Buddha smiled down upon them.

So did Yves Saint Laurent, who had shanghaied these mavens of Seventh Avenue to the $250,000 launching of his new perfume, Opium. For two months workers had been measuring and fitting out the four-masted bark Peking berthed at Manhattan's South Street Seaport Museum. There was advance talk of gold Iamé sails (YSL opted for purple, gold and red banners instead) and celebs packed stem to stern (despite a long list of invitees, only Cher embarked on the evening). Six open bars greeted the 800 guests with 30 cases of Bollinger champagne, 13,000 mussels, oysters and clams, mounds of steak and veal tartare and an on-deck disco stocked with Studio 54 tapes. Late in the evening $30,000 worth of Zambelli fireworks inflamed the East River sky.

The host, trailed by geisha-like models, trod the wooden decks acknowledging his peers with shy pecks. Many had already whiffed the scent, released in Paris last fall, but predicted it would be too exotic for domestic nostrils. "I like American designers' perfumes," explained patriotic Mary McFadden. "But it is too bad we didn't seize on the name." Actually, the name has caused the perfume to be denounced in Australia and made YSL's parent company, Squibb, a little squeamish.

Yves described his new scent as "lush, heavy and indolent." Estée Lauder acidly noted, "It's only my Youth Dew with tassels." Opium is packaged in elegant cords.

But, with all the sniping, there was no mutiny at the bounty.