Fashion savant and muse Louise Vava Lucia Henriette Le Bailly de La Falaise was reported to have passed away this morning at the age of 63.
Though British-born, she most identified with a Parisienne Left Bank bohemian world of designer Yves Saint Laurent. She was his muse alongside Betty Catroux and brought with her a vibrant blend of old world royalty (her father was a French marquis), British staunch (her mother was a model of Anglo-Irish birth) and her own sense of creativity with which she formed her own substantial ouevre.
I looked at many photos of a young Loulou during the 70s in my mom's Vogue, Bazaar and WWD magazines . Instead of aloof and untouchable, she always exuded radiance with a gorgeous smile.
I rediscovered her in the '80's with a perfume inspired by her for the house of Cacharel, Loulou. The nose behind the perfume was Jean Guichard. A lovely art deco bottle in a light blue color accented by a deep red caught my eye and after catching a whiff, I bought a bottle. A vanilla based Asian floral with a top note of Tahitian Tiare, it was a nice reprieve from my nights wearing Poison.
With a lineage including a mother who was the favourite model of Schiaparelli and her maternal grandfather, Sir Oswald Birley, the favorite painter of Queen Mary, it would be easy to write Loulou off as a dilettante. The uncle of Loulou de la Falaise, Mark Birley, was the owner of the famous nightclub Annabel's in Berkeley Square, London.
One of foremost fashion marks made by Loulou was the marginally feminized tuxedo she wore. Virtually anything she wore on her androgyous form looked amazing
She married twice - first to Irish aristocrat Desmond Fitzgerald in 1966. They lived in a gothic Irish castle whose nature did not fit the sunny diposition of Loulou.
In 1977 Louie married for a second time to Thaddeus Klossowski de Rola, son of the artist Balthus. According to Madison Cox, they were the most exclusive couple in Paris: "These are people who are naturally and incredibly glamorous."
Alicia Drake wrote, "They embody the Paris fantasy of the 70s, the artistic, aristocratic fashion, elegance, beauty, youth and excess. The whole was distilled in a single pair."
The marriage of Loulou and Thaddeus was celebrated on a small island in the Bois de Boulogne. The festival was organized by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. The 500 guests symbolized "the life of Loulou English, New York, and the life of Thaddeus in Rome and Paris life to both."
Though British-born, she most identified with a Parisienne Left Bank bohemian world of designer Yves Saint Laurent. She was his muse alongside Betty Catroux and brought with her a vibrant blend of old world royalty (her father was a French marquis), British staunch (her mother was a model of Anglo-Irish birth) and her own sense of creativity with which she formed her own substantial ouevre.
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| Loulou de la Falaise, right, with Yves Saint Laurent, center, and Betty Catroux outside YSL's Rive Gauche boutique in London, England, on Sept. 10, 1969 |
I looked at many photos of a young Loulou during the 70s in my mom's Vogue, Bazaar and WWD magazines . Instead of aloof and untouchable, she always exuded radiance with a gorgeous smile.
 |
| Paloma Picasso, Marissa Berenson and Loulou de la Faliase |
I rediscovered her in the '80's with a perfume inspired by her for the house of Cacharel, Loulou. The nose behind the perfume was Jean Guichard. A lovely art deco bottle in a light blue color accented by a deep red caught my eye and after catching a whiff, I bought a bottle. A vanilla based Asian floral with a top note of Tahitian Tiare, it was a nice reprieve from my nights wearing Poison.
With a lineage including a mother who was the favourite model of Schiaparelli and her maternal grandfather, Sir Oswald Birley, the favorite painter of Queen Mary, it would be easy to write Loulou off as a dilettante. The uncle of Loulou de la Falaise, Mark Birley, was the owner of the famous nightclub Annabel's in Berkeley Square, London.
One of foremost fashion marks made by Loulou was the marginally feminized tuxedo she wore. Virtually anything she wore on her androgyous form looked amazing
She married twice - first to Irish aristocrat Desmond Fitzgerald in 1966. They lived in a gothic Irish castle whose nature did not fit the sunny diposition of Loulou.
In 1977 Louie married for a second time to Thaddeus Klossowski de Rola, son of the artist Balthus. According to Madison Cox, they were the most exclusive couple in Paris: "These are people who are naturally and incredibly glamorous."
Alicia Drake wrote, "They embody the Paris fantasy of the 70s, the artistic, aristocratic fashion, elegance, beauty, youth and excess. The whole was distilled in a single pair."
The marriage of Loulou and Thaddeus was celebrated on a small island in the Bois de Boulogne. The festival was organized by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. The 500 guests symbolized "the life of Loulou English, New York, and the life of Thaddeus in Rome and Paris life to both."
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