“You took one look at Loulou and gasped.” – Grace Coddington

Loulou de La Falaise, fashion icon, jewellery and accessory designer and muse to Yves Saint Laurent, was the embodiment of French chic.

Loulou, christened Louise Vava Lucia Henrietta Le Bailly de La Falaise, was born in London on May 4, 1947. Even as a child, she was enchanting. “There was something so surreal about her beauty that people used to stare at her in the street,” recalls her aunt Lady Annabel Goldsmith.

Loulou’s family connections were equally exceptional. Her mother was Maxime Birley, a renowned English model in Paris, and her father was Alain de la Falaise, a French count who was a publisher. The marriage did not last long and a few years after the birth of their youngest child, Alexis, in 1948, the couple divorced. Due to conducting an extramarital affair, Maxime lost all her rights as a mother. Loulou and her brother, Alexis were farmed out to a foster family in Seine-et-Marne. At the tender age of four and three they were essentially abandoned to live with a couple that Alain’s mother only vaguely knew.

Later, Loulou said the period was “too painful to talk about.” From an early age she refused to be a victim. “She and Alexis never put their crap on the table, which is admirable,” says Lucie, Alexis’s daughter. Loulou’s attitude towards her mother, Maxime was admirable. “She was kind and forgiving,” says Robin Birley, the son of Loulou’s uncle Mark Birley.

In the mid-1960’s, Loulou lived at breakneck pace. She assisted an unknown Helmut Newton, was discovered by Vogue’s Diana Vreeland, modeled furs for Richard Avedon and designed prints for Halston.

She met Yves Saint Laurent through a friend. “Loulou came as a shock to Yve’s thoroughly French taste,” Drake wrote in The Beautiful Fall. “There was fantasy and colour and daring to her style that was truly original.” They complimented each other. “Loulou’s accessories were the defining exclamation mark on an Yves Saint Laurent ”said Hamish Bowles.

She married her best friend Thadee Klossowski in 1977.  It was an incredibly memorable social event where Loulou wore an Indian inspired outfit.  They inherited a sixteenth-century Italian chateau, Montecalvello castle, purchased by Thadee’s father, the artist Balthus.

By the end of the 1980s, Saint Laurent was creatively exhausted and thoroughly depressed. There were rumours that Loulou was responsible for ready-to-wear, leading to the frequently used nickname Yves Saint Loulou. Yves Saint Laurent retired in 2002. On February 14, 2003, she opened her eponymous boutique on the Rue de Bourgogne. From the start, the European press praised Loulou’s new venture. Bergdoff Goodman would carry her line.

However, as the seasons passed, Loulou overextended and opened a second shop.  It was a mistake.  In spite of her impeccable taste, she could not be bothered with the details of the business.”  At the end of 2006, due to mounting debts, she was forced to pull the plug on her business.  She went onto design costume jewellery for Oscar de la Renta.

Tragically, in 2011 Loulou became ill with cancer and died.  Robin Birley, her nephew, named his latest hotspot for London’s upper crust, Loulous, in her honour.

“Loulou is still my inspiration. No one could achieve eccentricity with elegance like Loulou.” – Mario Testino

This is true. She was a walking art piece.

Accessories really can express your personality and make an outfit go from drab to fab. So here’s how to keep calm and accessorise:

I have used a white T-shirt and white jeans (everyday wardrobe staples) and changed the accessories to show how this can make the overall “look” feel different. I seldom wear more than three colours in a “look”. The only time this rule can be broken is if the accessory has a combination of colours and pulls the look together.

Go wild on the accessories.  Create intrigue without saying a word.  People will stare.  Make it worth their while.  Make them gasp.