A French Fashion Muse Gets Her Due

Back before fashion houses had “brand ambassadors,” there were the legitimate muses. Legends like the offbeat, aristocratic Loulou de la Falaise, who led an incredibly textured life as the inspiration to Yves Saint Laurent.

The famously feisty de la Falaise, who passed away in 2011, is now celebrated in just-released Rizzoli book Loulou de la Falaise, edited by Ariel de Ravenel and written by Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni.

The book, a collection of some 400 striking photographs of de la Falaise and her quirky, ahead-of-its-time style, features a forward by Pierre Bergé as well as essays penned by fashion greats like Christian Louboutin plus icons like Betty Catroux and Inès de la Fressange.

An It Girl before she became a fashion muse, de la Falaise was the daughter of a French Count; her mother, Maxime Birley, was an English model who had posed for Cecil Beaton in the pages of Vogue. Style came naturally to de la Falaise (she honed her eye attending fashion shows with her aunt Gloria Swanson) and she learned a great deal about the power of aesthetics while assisting the photographer Helmut Newton.

In the 1960s, de la Falaise settled in New York, landing a role designing prints for Halston. A decade later she would head to Paris and begin her life-long rapport with Saint Laurent, designing jewelry and accessories for his label. Their relationship was more than a creative one: Yves was the godfather to Loulou’s daughter Anna.

She was also beloved by Richard Avedon, who photographed her countless times. The tome features pictures by Avedon, Steven Meisel, Michael Roberts, and more, as well as images of de la Falaise’s other passion, for the lush, rambling gardens at her house in Boury-en-Vexin.

By detailing de la Falaise’s colorful life, the book brings to life a rich era in fashion history, particularly the heady hey days of 1970s Paris, long before the dawn of TV design competitions and weekly “Don’ts” columns.


LouLou de La Falasise, $65, rizzoliusa.com