His schoolboy pose was countered by a moustache, a Proustian affectation that swept from his upper lip in a manicured brush-stroke. He had on long cream shorts, leaving his legs bare and boyish, and in his hand he carried a slim volume of Montesquiou’s poetry. He wore an open-neck sailor shirt with a blue-striped silk cravat knotted as a tie at his neck. He was dressed incongruously for town and for his age. That afternoon in 1974 a young man pulled open its wrought-iron and glass-fronted door and paused to watch his beauty take effect. It was a mirrored place of entrances and encounters. It stood on the corner of Saint Germain life, an irresistible mix of café society, surging with literary, artistic, wanton and fashionable ambitions. Lewis and Joe Young, 1919 ContentsĬafé de Flore was the essence of all that was desirable on the Rive Gauche of Paris. How ’ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm (after they’ve seen Paree)? The Beautiful Fall is Alicia Drake's brilliant chronicle of this dangerous, brazen, fabulous time.Fashion, Genius and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris But as the 70s turned to the 80s, heroin and Aids cast their shadow fashion became an industry, money prevailed and the beautiful people discovered the danger of living their dreams. The two cliques could not help but become rivals. The tensions of class and nationality, bohemia and luxury, youth and yearning, talent and ambition were subsumed in the creation of glamour. Loulou de la Falaise, Paloma Picasso, Pierre Berge and Jacques de Bascher were all living in the mirror of fashion. Each designer created his own mesmerising world, drawing towards them people attracted by their power, charisma and fame. It was a decade dominated by intrigue, infidelities and addiction - and parties. The city embraced liberation and hedonism, making up for years of post-war insecurity. Then 1968 happened and Paris exploded like a champagne bottle left in the sun. Seemingly from a background of wealth and privilege, he was in fact a tireless workaholic, driven by his passion for capturing the pose of the moment.

Karl Lagerfeld was the freelance designer with a talent for ready-to-wear. Yves Saint Laurent was the charmed youth, the enfant terrible inheritor of Dior's couture crown. In 1954 they were two young talents from the provinces, both dreaming of Paris, glamour and glory. Livre en langue étrangère The beautiful fall : Fashion, Genius and glorious excess in 1970s Paris

The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake