Loulou de la Falaise, who died on Saturday, designed flamboyant jewellery for Yves Saint Laurent and had an irreverent approach to her own personal style that was ahead of its time.
The celebrated jewellery designer, Loulou de la Falaise, who died on Saturday at her country home outside of Paris at the age of 63, will be remembered for her own personal style. When Yves Saint Laurent hired her in 1972, a former fashion editor on Queen Magazine in London, she became his close friend and collaborator in everything from ready to wear to haute couture, but became known for her extravagant and bold jewellery designs that would complete each of the designer's looks. Along with his muse, the poker-straight haired Betty Catroux, Loulou de la Falaise was usually at the designer's side, the romantic, multi-coloured gypsy to the harder edged, androgynous Catroux.Loulou de la Falaise had a style that was all her own, and no doubt inspired Saint Laurent in his collections. She was ahead of her time in her ability to apparently haphazardly throw together outfits that just worked. She was one of fashion's greatest magpies. Her bold approach to jewellery and accessories in particular is one that continues to inspire countless designers and stylists.
She just had a certain style - something that stayed with her throughout her life. It was her creative way with colour and texture and mixes of clothes and jewellery that attracted Saint Laurent. She knew how to finish off an outfit with a giant crocodile belt, a jangle of earrings, or a cluster of oversized wooden bangles. Accessories were her playthings. She would wear brightly coloured turbans, cossack boots, gypsy skirts mixed with a beaded couture jacket. She shared with Saint Laurent a penchant for mixing up off beat colours - red and purple, gold and red. There would always be a nod to an exotic, far flung place - Moroccan amber beads, or Chinese jade. It is a style that many women like to try to emulate, but it her chic nonchalance is difficult to imitate if it is not something you are born with.
In an interview in 2003, de la Falaise said, 'I never think ahead about what I'm going to wear. I get out of my bath and then I dress. Sometimes, it's a new pair of shoes and I work around that. But sometimes it simply depends on what's at the cleaners and what's around.' Her style was totally instincitive and un self-conscious: 'I'm actually terrible about thinking ahead. When people say, 'What are you going to wear?' - that gets me very nervous. When I throw things together at the last minute, I'm happy.'
