LOULOU

Loulou in a necklace given to her by Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Berge

In a season of not to be missed books (as there always are)  this one is THAT ONE.

Over and Over, words like CHIC &STYLE become just one word- LOULOU.
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LOULOU DE LA FALAISE is a perfect creation, like LOULOU herself, full of color, beauty, and wit.

Remembrances from friends and others in the fashionable world, the book is filled with personal photographs, and professional, along with wonderful photographic comparisons between Loulou and mother Maxime. Pierre Berge, who wrote the foreword, hopes the book will be "a source of inspiration for those who never knew her," and indeed it is.

The book, edited by Ariel de Ravenel, head of the Loulou de la Falaise brand, and writer Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni opens up Loulou's world within its pages, her style, her wit, her homes, her gardens and her professional and personal loves.

"Loulou was in her own category, like no one else." friend Paloma Picasso

 photographed for W in 2000 by Steward Shining wearing a Saint Laurent sweater and her own massive jeweled cuffs

As muse to Yves Saint Laurent, de la Falaise oversaw Saint Laurent's many years of extraordinary jewelry and accessories that always accompanied his clothes down the runway. She could wear both his clothes and jewelry like no one else because she made them her own. Her signature look was mixing wildly exotic jewelry paired with a simple black turtleneck or white blouse. Berge acknowledges her force as muse, and jewelry designer in her own right in his profound foreword.

"Loulou knew what she was in the mood for. 

She needed no reference." niece Lucie de la Falaise

 

Loulou's style essentials

This book places LOULOU DE LA FALAISE in the pantheon of those Women, along with her mother, Maxime, and grandmother, Rhoda. English roses all, yet LOULOU was a cultivated hybrid- blooming all season, quixotically colorful, and growing just a little wild. She was the classically well bred Englishwoman in Paris making magical noises with her gypsy bracelets as she traversed the city like no other.

at home in Paris, 2003

photograph by Ali Mahdavi

photographs provided by Rizzoli & used with their express permission