Louise Vava Lucia Henriette de la Falaise- RIP

That's LouLou, the 'muse' of YSL. LouLou was a friend of mine from when I worked for Yves St. Laurent; I worked on the brand 'YSL Beaute' and Lucie de la Falaise was the face of the brand. She passed away last week at only 62 years old after a long illness. She was famous for Yves St. Laurent's womans tuxedo, a look that was her signature. Always impeccably dressed, she wore incredibly tailored pants, often in bright colors. She loved to wear the big, beautiful YSL jewelry that was so popular at the time, jewelry that I could occasionally buy for myself when I was in Paris. 

Lou Lou with Yves St. Laurent



Working for YSL often meant commuting to Paris on the Concorde, getting to europe in 3 hours and just in time for a business meeting was an experience of a lifetime. I learned so many important lessons about style, design and business from the wonderful people at this famous design house, helping me make the leap to my own jewelry collections when the job ended. Imagine the thrill of launching your own jewelry line after a Henri Bendel trunk show and using skills and techniques you learned in Paris! Today the big 'signature' designs are better than ever, and thanks to lightweight resins, don't weigh you down when you wear them.



Kaleidoscope Necklace



LouLou might have liked the Kaleidoscope necklace if it was bigger, or maybe she would have worn 2 or 3 of them at once! The brilliant Swarovski crystals in different shapes and sizes make quite a show, and you can get it on sale with our 'Fall10' promo code.

I was really lucky to have met her when I worked there, and also worked with her niece Lucie de la Falaise. Years later she designed a line of jewelry and clothes for HSN, and just like myself made the pilgrimages to Florida to show her collection. We ran into each other a few times there and it was a thrill to see her again. We talked about our lines for HSN and how different this was from the way jewelry and fashion was presented in Paris.

It's funny, working on a collection for HSN is similar to the work we did for YSL, the most important thing is to have a good design. Good design is always good, the challenge is to make your vision at a price and quality that your customers can appreciate. We both knew that it takes all of this to make your product a success, and I'm thrilled to have craftsmen, factories and suppliers who can help me get the very best look for prices we can afford. Take a look at our Winter Style collection now on sale and you can see that we're bringing great style to you. Ciao!