La Falaise, Loulou (De)
Loulou De La Falaise was the collaborator and a very close friend of Yves Saint-Laurent, also a personal support during the designer’s several difficult periods.
Born in Sussex, she had an androgynous figure and a Marlene Dietrich face. Her father, Oswald Birley, was the official painter to the English court; her mother, Maxime de la Falaise, modeled for Schiaparelli.
The beginning of her career
She started her career as a model for Vogue, called by Diana Vreeland, manager of Vogue magazine, at the time, and photographed by important names such as Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. Nevertheless, modeling was not for her, so Loulou moved to London and started working for fashion magazines, like Queen Magazine.
Loulou and Yves Saint Laurent
The two met in 1968, thanks to Fernando Sanchez. At the time Yves was opening his first fashion boutique, on the Rive Gauche, Paris, supported by Pierre Bergé. The following year, helped by his muse Loulou, Yves Saint Laurent opened his second boutique, in London this time.
The work collaboration between De La Falaise and Saint-Laurent started officially in 1972. She was firstly source of ispiration for many different Saint-Laurent collections, such as the famous 1966 Collection that unveiled the iconic Yves Saint-Laurent’s Smoking. Then Loulou became the designer and the director of the accessories section of the brand, bringing her own boho-chic taste and her love for ethnic jewellery.
Loulou De La Falaise becomes a brand
Thirty years after her first job, and about one year after Saint-Laurent retired from fashion, Loulou opened a boutique in Rue de Bourgogne, in Paris, in February 2003, where she made her début in stylism with her own collection of clothes and jewels.
Loulou De La Falaise’s Collections offered creative, but always refined, clothing such as soft and light silk blouses, french sailor style trousers and coats with fur profile.
The fashion icone passed away on 5th November 2011, at the age of 63, after a serious illness.
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