Loulou de la Falaise

What is it about the French? Or French women to be exact? No matter what they're wearing--whether it be a t-shirt or a ballgown--they always manage to exude that certain...je ne sais quoi. And it's precisely that je ne sais quoi that has inspired designers (and our wardrobes) for generations. So in honor of Bastille Day, we're taking a look back at some of our favorite french style icons--from those of the past like Jane Birkin and Brigitte Bardot, all the way up to the new guard, like Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lea Seydoux. Click through to see them all.

Loulou de la Falaise, the iconic muse and collaboratrice of Yves Saint Laurent died yesterday. She was 63. In a 2002 New Yorker article about Yves Saint Laurent, writer Judith Thurman called "the quintessential Rive Gauche haute bohémienne" by the New Yorker, de la Falaise's style served as the inspiration for YSL's Le Smoking suit and YSL's classic sheer blouse, a style de la Falaise often wore herself. In addition to serving as muse and constant companion to Yves Saint Laurent, de la Falaise designed accessories for the iconic French house. As Cathy Horyn writes in her On the Runway post remembering de la Falaise, her "chunky bracelets and necklaces...helped establish the YSL look." After Saint Laurent retired in 2002, de la Falaise launched her own ready-to-wear line, sold in a namesake boutique she opened on Rue Cambon. We thought it fitting to remember Loulou de la Falaise through her incredible influential style. Take a look.