Will I love The Beautiful Fall?

Meticulously researched by brilliant fashion journalist Alicia Drake, this book charts the bitchy, high octane rivalry of two mega egos of the industry, Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. As a journalist working today in an era of horrendous consumerism known as ‘fast fashion’ this detailed account of how both men were instrumental in shifting the established codes of a refined haute couture system into a faster-paced ready-to-wear market in the 1970s is illuminating. It also documents the evolution of couturier as a celebrity, detailing how YSL used an image of himself to promote his aftershave in 1971, a revolutionary… show more.

British fashion journalist Drake tackles two of fashion’s giants—Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld—and shows how their lives and careers ran parallel, intersected, intermingled, then split decisively, giving birth to a fervent competition between the two men that upped creativity throughout Paris culture. It’s dishy, decadent, and divine.

The youthful bromance between Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent reads like an especially juicy novel. Friends turned fashion rivals, the two very different designers partied and peacocked their way through Paris in the decadent 60s and 70s, with all the drugs, love affairs, models, muses, and assorted Eurotrash that implies. In the wrong hands, The Beautiful Fall would read like mere gossip; Drake elevates it to a Shakespearean morality play, without losing any of the page-turning thrills.