Fashion Designers And Their Muses Through The Decades

Yves Saint Laurent and Loulou de la Falaise

Essentially the original haute hippie, Loulou de la Falaise seemed bred to inspire. The fashionable free spirit was born to a French writer father and British model mother and was said to be baptized not in holy water, but in Elsa Schiaparelli's perfume, Shocker. And indeed she was. After Loulou's rebellious nature got her kicked out of elite boarding schools in both Switzerland and New York City, the inadvertent muse started modeling in the '60s, at which point she met the French designer with whom she'd creatively collaborate for decades.

Her bohemian aesthetic apparently captivated YSL so much that she inspired his legendary Le Smoking tuxedo in 1966, in addition to his 1970s Rive Gauche pieces. Professionally joining forces with Saint Laurent in 1972, de la Falaise designed jewelry for the house for 30 years before branching off and establishing her own line in 2002.

According to the Telegraph, YSL once spoke of de la Falaise:

“She has an extraordinary lightness of touch, along with a faultless critical view of fashion. Intuitive, innate, individual. Her presence at my side is a dream.”

[Photo, YSL and de la Falaise via, via]