Ruminations: Viviane Woodard

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Viviane Woodard

Does the name of Viviane Woodard conjure up images of the deep smoky sophistication of the mid-20th century for you? A friend of mine recently asked me if I remembered this line. Until she spoke the name, it was completely gone from memory. All I could remember of Viviane Woodard was a bottle of perfume that belonged to my mother--it may have been Apertif. Somewhere along the line from then until now I may well have confused Viviane Woodard with Vivienne Westwood---whoa, not even close!

I really had to do some searching to find much on this company. However, Viviane Woodard still exists! Now known as 'Viviane' offering a small line of skincare and a limited makeup selection, there is a Facebook page, Twitter and an inactive YouTube channel with about a dozen videos, the most recent of which is a year old. There are some Facebook posts, one as recent as December of '15 and this month. The company was originally started in 1958 by Viviane and Gordon Woodard and is currently based in Redmond, WA. Apparently you can purchase the products on the website, but it appears that Viviane is primarily a work-from-home type business like Avon, Mary Kay, and other direct sales organizations utilizing 'consultants'. It's annual revenue is extremely small comparative to the direct sales giants, averaging only around $100,000. Apparently, they are happy being small and little to nothing is put into marketing or growing the brand, except whatever the consultants do on their own, is my guess.

I remember Viviane Woodard only for fragrance, like the Apertif my mother had or La Belle Epoch. There's a lot of vintage Viviane Woodward things on Ebay and Etsy, including advertisements and catalogs. This old stuff is so fascinating to me!

For a quick peek at some other old Viviane Woodard memorabilia, check it out on Pinterest by clicking the image below:

Viviane Woodard