Loulou De La Falaise: A True Saint Laurent Woman

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Clik here to view.Louise de la Falaise, better known as Loulou, was born in Great Britain to an Irish mother, Maxime, and French father, the Count Alain de la Falaise.

She was born into an aristocratic family that predisposed her to a life directed by fashion and art: her mother was a model for Schiaparelli, and her maternal grandfather, Sir Oswald Birley, was the favourite portrait painter of Queen Mary. Maxime’s brother is Mark Birley, who would later open Annabel’s nightclub in Berkeley Square.

From the age of seven, Loulou attended an English boarding school, where she learnt to cut herself off from reality and lose herself in imagination. Loulou spent her teenage years in London, which was a bohemian period for her. She worked as a fashion editor for Queen – now Harper’s Bazaar – magazine. As the Sixties were coming to a close, Loulou followed her mother to New York, where Maxime remarried to John MacKendry, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum.

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In New York, Loulou soon found friends; amongst them, Robert Mapplethorpe and Andy Warhol. Her long career in fashion was about to take off. She modelled for Vogue; and like her mother, who had posed for Cecil Beaton, Loulou would model for fashion’s favourite photographers: Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, amongst others. She also designed prints for Halston.

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In 1966 she got married to Desmond Fitzgerald, the Knight of Glin, but living in a cold Irish castle didn’t inspire her, and the union lasted less than a year.

Passing through Paris in 1968, Loulou was introduced to Yves Saint Laurent at a tea party given by Fernando Sanchez. Two years later he would ask her to join his team, and in 1972 she entered the house of Yves Saint Laurent. No one was closer to Yves than Loulou, and he gave her the responsibility of the accessories department.

To the house of Yves Saint Laurent, Loulou brought her fantasy, colour, attitude and daring style ; she was truly original. As her mother Maxime says, « All we had were rags and Loulou could turn them into riches and create a new look. She was the best-dressed woman with a safety pin. »

Loulou de la Falaise arrived in the fashion house in 1972. She designed over 300 articles of jewelry every year and was in charge of the maille line. Loulou de la Falaise’s true talent, apart from her evident professional qualities, is charm. Particular. Moving. The strange power of her gift for lightness, melded with the impeccable acuity of her eye for fashion. Intuitive, innate, particular. Her presence at my side is a dream.

Loulou de la Falaise was a close friend, muse and designer of Yves Saint Laurent for nearly 30 years. She began as a model for Vogue, designed prints for Halston, and worked on Saint Laurent’s couture and RTW collections building her reputation as a designer. She was born into a highly aristocratic family that would predispose her to a life directed by fashion and art. She was considered one of the best-dressed women in the world. After a thirty-year partnership, Yves Saint Laurent retired and she began her own label in February 2003. Her boutique at 21 rue Cambon was a fanfare of color and rich materials, reflecting her passion for her flower-filled country garden and her travels to far-flung destinations. She created collections of jewelry, ready-to-wear, accessories and decorative objects for the home. Her collections were carried in boutiques and department stores in Tokyo, New York, Casablanca, Toronto, Hong Kong, Brussels, London, Berlin, Geneva, and Zurich. In California, her jewelry retailed at the home store of ‘At Home at Sweet Things’ in Tiburon.

“Her true talent is her charm (as well as) her light but intuitive approach toward fashion”. Yves Saint Laurent