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Loulou de la Falaise

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Loulou de La Falaise (French pronunciation: [lu.lu də la fa.lɛz]; 4 May 1948 – 5 November 2011)[1] was a fashion muse and designer of fashion, accessories and jewelry associated with Yves Saint Laurent.[2][3] Author Judith Thurman, writing in The New Yorker magazine, called La Falaise "the quintessential Rive Gauche haute bohémienne".[4]

Daughter of an Anglo-Irish fashion model and a French marquis, La Falaise was a close friend and creative partner of Yves Saint Laurent (YSL). According to The Independent, she helped inspire his 1966 women's tuxedo Le Smoking and his see-through blouses.[5]

After more than three decades designing jewelry and accessories for Saint Laurent, La Falaise launched her own fashion business, designing ready-to-wear, costume jewelry, and accessories, which were retailed in the U.S. as well as two Loulou de La Falaise shops in Paris.[6][7]

The family's actual surname is Le Bailly, though members have used Le Bailly de La Falaise, referring to an ancestral estate, since the mid 19th century; it is typically abbreviated to de La Falaise.[8]

The title held by the head of the family, Marquis de La Coudraye, was granted, by an 1876 act of succession, to the younger son of Pacôme-François Le Bailly, Seigneur de La Falaise, and his wife, Pauline-Louise-Victoire de Loynes, daughter of Denis, Marquis de La Coudraye.

Family

Christened Louise Vava Lucia Henriette Le Bailly de La Falaise and born in England, she was the eldest child and only daughter of Alain, Count de La Falaise (1903–1977), a French writer, translator and publisher, and his second wife, the former Maxime Birley, an Anglo-Irish fashion model, whom photographer Cecil Beaton once told, "You are the only English woman I know who manages to be really chic in really hideous clothes".[9][10][11][12][13][14]

Three of her christening names honored relations: Louise (her father's elder sister, who died as a teenager); Vava (one of the names of her maternal grandmother, Lady Birley); and Henriette (the name of her paternal grandmother, Henriette Hennessy, Comtesse Alain Hocquart de Turtot). La Falaise was allegedly baptised not with holy water but with Shocking, the scent by fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, her mother's employer.[15]

La Falaise's maternal grandfather was portrait painter Sir Oswald Birley, and an uncle was Mark Birley (1930–2007), restaurateur and founder of the London nightclub, "Annabel's". Another uncle, her father's elder brother, was Henri de La Falaise, (1898–1972), film director and third husband of American actress Gloria Swanson. Her paternal grandfather was a three-time French Olympic gold medallist in fencing, Louis Gabriel de La Falaise.[16]

Loulou de La Falaise had one sibling, Alexis Richard Dion Oswald Le Bailly de La Falaise,(1948-2004), a furniture designer, who appeared in the Andy Warhol film Tub Girls.[13][17] Upon their parents' divorce in 1950—following Maxime de La Falaise's infidelities and a French court's declaration of her as an unfit mother—Loulou and her brother went to live with foster families until she was seven.[17][18] After that, La Falaise was enrolled in English boarding schools, and "her school holidays were shared between mother, father, and the second foster family".[18] She attended a boarding school in Switzerland as well as the Lycée Français de New York, though was expelled from each due to her rebellious nature.[19]

Her niece, Lucie Le Bailly de La Falaise (born 19 February 1973), a model, is the wife of Marlon Richards, son of Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg. Her nephew, Daniel Le Bailly de La Falaise (born 6 September 1970), is a professional chef and food writer.[20][21][22]

Career

La Falaise moved to New York City in the late 1960s, where she briefly modeled for American Vogue before turning to designing printed fabrics for Halston. Late in the decade she worked as a junior editor at the British society magazine Queen, during which time she met Saint Laurent.[19] Eventually, she moved to Paris, where she joined his haute-couture firm in 1972. Responding to a description of her as a Saint Laurent muse in 2010, La Falaise responded, “For me, a muse is someone who looks glamorous but is quite passive, whereas I was very hard-working. I worked from 9am to sometimes 9pm, or even 2am. I certainly wasn't passive.”[15]

"Her official task was to bring her eccentric style to accessories and jewellery, and she duly came up with often-chunky designs incorporating large colourful stones, enamel work or rock crystal".[19] La Falaise also inspired Saint Laurent with her inventive wardrobe: "one week she was Desdemona in purple velvet flares and a crown of flowers, the next Marlene [Dietrich] with plucked crescent-shaped eyebrows".[14][18] In 2002, when Saint Laurent retired, La Falaise began producing her own clothing and jewelry designs.[6] As reported in The New York Times by fashion writer Cathy Horyn, "The clothing line captured much of her rare taste—well-cut blazers in the best English tweeds, French sailor pants in linen, striped silk blouses with cheeky black lace edging, masculine walking coats with fur linings, and gorgeous knits in perfectly chosen colors".[7]

She also designed cloisonné boxes and porcelain vases for Asiatides,[23] as well as jewelry for the boutique of the Majorelle Gardens in Marrakech, Morocco.[14][24]

She sold simplified versions of her jewelry designs in a line created for the Home Shopping Network and created costume jewelry for Oscar de la Renta.[25][26] She operated two of her own shops in Paris, one of which was designed by her brother, Alexis.[6][27][28]

Marriages

Loulou de La Falaise was married twice:

  • Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin, an Irish nobleman, who died on 14 September 2011. They married on 6 October 1966, separated the following year, and divorced in 1970. Her title upon marrying the knight was Madam FitzGerald.[29]
  • Thadée Klossowski de Rola, a French writer, who is the younger son of the painter Balthus. They married in Paris, France, on 11 June 1977; the bride wore a harem-and-turban ensemble from Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche. They had one child, a daughter, Anna.[30]

Death

La Falaise died at Gisors' hospital, France, on 5 November 2011.[1] The cause of death was not specified, other than as the result of a "long illness".[31] An obituary published in Women's Wear Daily stated, "According to sources, de la Falaise was diagnosed with lung cancer last June, but implored intimates to keep her health a private matter".[26]

Ancestry

Family of Loulou de la Falaise
16. Philippe Louis Venant Le Bailly de La Falaise
8. Gabriel César Henri Le Bailly de La Falaise, Marquis de La Coudraye
17. Antoinette Le Veneur de Beauvais
4. Louis Venant Gabriel Le Bailly de La Falaise
18. Charles Joseph August de Maynard de La Claye
9. Augustine Marie Armande de Maynard de La Claye
19. Louise Marie Adélaïde de Chantreau
2. Alain Le Bailly de La Falaise, Marquis de La Coudraye
20. Auguste Hennessy
10. Richard Hennessy
21. Irène d'Anthès
5. Henriette Hennessy
22. Frédèrick Hennessy
11. Martha Lucy Hennessy
23. Julia Perkins
1. Louise Vava Lucia Henriette Le Bailly de La Falaise
24. Joseph Hornby Birley
12. Hugh Francis Birley
25. Frances Dix
6. Sir Oswald Birley
13. Elizabeth McQorquodale
3. Maxime Birley
28. Ebenezer Pike
14. Robert Pike
29. Lydia Clibborn Pike
7. Rhoda Pike
30. Stanley Howard
15. Catherina Henrietta Howard

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Le Courrier picard - Loulou de la Falaise meurt chez elle - Picardie Express - Votre actualité quotidienne locale, régionale et nationale" (in French). Courrier-picard.fr. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  2. ^ Dècès de Loulou de la Falaise
  3. ^ Coleman, Claire (31 March 2008). "Designer Loulou de la Falaise's Parisian home oozes bohemian style". London: Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  4. ^ Thurman, Judith (1 August 2011). "In Fashion: Swann Song". The New Yorker. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  5. ^ Eyre, Hermione. "The chic parade". The Independent (London). 14 April 2007. FindArticles.com. Retrieved 21 November 2007. [1]
  6. ^ a b c "Les fantaisies de Loulou". Madame.lefigaro.fr. 8 January 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  7. ^ a b Horyn, Cathy (5 November 2011). "Loulou de la Falaise, a Muse to Yves Saint Laurent, Dies at 63". Runway.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  8. ^ As Loulou de La Falaise's father's elder brother, the Marquis de Coudraye, told The New York Times (7 October 1925), "My patronymic name is Le Bailly, but... I use the name de La Falaise because it is one of the great-grandfather branches of the Le Bailly family. De La Falaise is the only existing branch of that family today. So this should be my entire name: James Henry Le Bailly de La Falaise, Marquis de La Coudraye".
  9. ^ Father as marquis noted in his obituary, published in The New York Times on 11 October 1977, accessed on 5 November 2011
  10. ^ Father's full name, Alain R. Le Bailly de La Falaise, is cited on his September 1946 marriage license, accessed on ancestry.com on 7 November 2011
  11. ^ Her father's first wife, married in 1931 and later divorced, was Margaret Webb, an American.
  12. ^ Alicia Drake, The Beautiful Fall (Hachette Digital, 2007), retrieved via Google Books on 7 November 2011
  13. ^ a b Fox, Margalit (5 May 2009). "Maxime de la Falaise, Model, Designer and Muse, Is Dead at 86". France: NYTimes.com. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  14. ^ a b c lefigaro.fr. "Le Figaro - Culture: La créatrice Loulou de la Falaise est décédée". Lefigaro.fr. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  15. ^ a b Cavanagh, Alice (7 November 2011). "Loulou de la Falaise, Yves Saint Laurent's Muse, Dies at 63". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  16. ^ "Georges de la Falaise Biography and Olympic Results". Sports-reference.com. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  17. ^ a b Petkanas, Christopher (18 August 2010). "Lady Libertine". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  18. ^ a b c Alicia Drake, The Beautiful Fall (Hachette Digital, 2007), retrieved via Google Books on 5 November 2011
  19. ^ a b c "Loulou de la Falaise". London: Telegraph. 6 November 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  20. ^ "18 November 2010: A French Gourmet Adventure". New York Social Diary. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  21. ^ "Daniel de la Falaise's Carrot Tarragon Soup". Allthebestblog.co.uk. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  22. ^ "Daniel de la Falaise". Port Eliot Festival. 4 May 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  23. ^ http://www.asiatides.com/products_creativity.html#
  24. ^ "En privé avec… Loulou de la Falaise". Madame.lefigaro.fr. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  25. ^ "Op-Ed | Remembering Loulou de la Falaise". Businessoffashion.com. 7 November 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  26. ^ a b "Loulou de la Falaise, YSL Collaborator, Dies at 63". WWD.com. 5 November 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  27. ^ "Loulou de la Falaise - Paris". Agenceberi.com. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  28. ^ "LdF - Paris VII". Agenceberi.com. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  29. ^ "Desmond FitzGerald". The Daily Telegraph. London. 16 September 2011.
  30. ^ Horyn, Cathy (5 June 2008). "On Rue St.-Honoré, Paris". The New York Times.
  31. ^ Cunaccia, Cesare. "Loulou de La Falaise". Vogue.it. Retrieved 14 November 2011.

References


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