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The Saint Laurent Muse

A Novel

ebook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 6 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 6 weeks

The Paris runways of the 70s come to wild and splashy life in this novel of fashion's "It Girl" Loulou de la Falaise and her life partying and designing with Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, and Halston. Nightlife! Gowns! Cocaine! Glamour!

It's the 1970s, and from hippie London to Warhol's Factory in New York, reluctant aristocrat Loulou de la Falaise is desperately seeking adventure. Having escaped an early, unhappy marriage, she arrives on a whim in Paris—the champagne-soaked heart of the fashion world, where the rigid old world of haute couture and the ffast-paced new world of ready-to-wear are vying for supremacy.

Glamour, sex, and cocaine nights fuel the Paris fashion scene. Its crown prince is the soulful and intensely gifted Yves Saint Laurent, whose sexy tuxedos for women and chic Rive Gauche boutiques reflect women's desire for seductive independence, a desire Loulou knows all too well.

Loulou's bohemian flair immediately captures Saint Laurent's attention, and they embark on a glorious intimate friendship as artist and muse. Together they revel in the excesses of high society, decadent parties, and the hedonistic underworld of gay nightclubs, where the young and beautiful become prey, and dangerous rivalries start to emerge. Their course collides with eccentric designer Karl Lagerfeld, intent on his own conquest. Lagerfeld's bitter professional rivalry with Yves divides Paris even in an era when anything goes. As Yves plunges into a dangerous, secret affair with Karl's enigmatic young companion, and Loulou finds herself falling in love with a colleague's handsome boyfriend, evanescent illusion and savage deception will bring them to the brink of ruin.

Intoxicating and unforgettable, The Saint Laurent Muse is the dramatic imagining of a lifelong friendship between two kindred spirits, and of a tumultuous time and place in fashion history that will never be seen again.

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    • Booklist

      February 1, 2025
      While the shopping public might not recognize her name, Loulou de la Falaise influenced the brand whose YSL logo plasters the perfumes and purses of conspicuous consumers. Fresh off a divorce, twentysomething Loulou travels to Paris and meets Yves Saint Laurent at a turning point in his life. The archaic world of haute couture, whose demands he resents, crumbles as more design houses embrace pr�t-�-porter (ready-to-wear) clothes, YSL among them. His personal life, caught between a longtime partner and new boy toy, is also at a crossroads. Loulou gains Yves' trust and collaborates on groundbreaking (if not always well-received) fashions while bolstering him with her friendship. This frothy tale offers maximum 1970s high-fashion zeitgeist at its zenith, right before AIDS brought the party to a screeching halt. It's an endless round of hedonistic decadence--constant drug use, casual sex, emotional dysregulation, and eccentricity--peppered with all the notable names of the day, including Halston, Warhol, Nureyev, and Paloma Picasso. Fans of fashion or melodrama will find titillating appeal in the world of "beautiful superficiality" Gortner has captured.

      COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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