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Fabulous Dead People: Pauline Trigère & Rolex..."I Hate Time"
If Pauline Trigère’s only legacy were her grooming — the thin, perfectly drawn mouth; the magnificently shaped brows; the sculptured hair whooshed behind one ear — it would be quite enough. For brittle, Gallic chic she will always be the gold standard. You can still encounter the look in Paris if you know where to look (side streets in the far reaches of the 17th Arrondissement), but in New York the rigor, the discipline and the polish died when Pauline did, at age 93 in 2002.
French-American couturiere Pauline Trigère (1908–2002) is featured in three Rolex advertisements (New Yorker Magazine: November: 1962, 1959 & 1977) and mentioned in a November, 1965 New Yorker Magazine Rolex GMT advertisement (“If you want to know more about Rolex watches…ask Pauline Tigère, Rudi Gernreich…or Pan American Airways ”) and in a circa 1960s Mollie Parnis (American fashion designer) advertisement: “What to wear with a [Rolex]? Nothing less than a Mollie Parnis. or a Pauline Trigère… ”
In the 1963 advertisement the text says “MY NAME IS PAULINE TRIGÈRE. I HATE TIME…I seldom wear a watch because I hate to be reminded how late I always am. But I assure you, when I have time on my hands…it's a Rolex”. Looking at many photographs of Pauline Trigère I take her at her word regarding “seldom wearing a watch” as I cannot find any picture of her wearing a watch.
The November 1977 New Yorker Magazine featuring the “The hands, Pauline Trigère, The watch, Rolex ” advertisement also includes an advertisement for Pauline Trigère’s turtle scented candle-holder; the turtle was Pauline Trigère’s talisman; it’s rumored Rolex created a diamond, turtle-shaped watch for Pauline Trigère similar to the unique diamond Rolex model 9870 appearing in the Rolex 1962 Lady’s catalog.
Fabulous Dead People: Pauline Trigère & Rolex..."I Hate Time"
