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The Beautiful Fall: Fashion, Genius, and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris
A comprehensive biography of the late designer, Karl Lagerfeld, and his infamous rivalry with Yves Saint Laurent.
In the 1970s, Paris fashion exploded like a champagne bottle left out in the sun. Amid sequins and longing, celebrities and aspirants flocked to the heart of chic, and Paris became a hothouse of revelry, intrigue, and searing ambition. At the center of it all were fashion's most beloved luminaries - Yves Saint Laurent, the reclusive enfant terrible, and Karl Lagerfeld, the flamboyant freelancer with a talent for reinvention - and they divided Paris into two fabulous halves. Their enduring rivalry is chronicled in this dazzling exposè of an of social ambitions, shared obsessions, and the mesmerizing quest for beauty.
"Deliciously dramatic... The Beautiful Fall crackles with excitement."- New York Times Book Review
"Fascinating." - New York Times
"Addictive." - Philadelphia Inquirer
"It's like US Weekly , 1970s style." - Gotham
"A story constructed as exquisitely as a couture dress. . . . It moves stylishly forward, with frequent over-the-shoulder glances at some very dishy background." - Boston Globe
In the 1970s, Paris fashion exploded like a champagne bottle left out in the sun. Amid sequins and longing, celebrities and aspirants flocked to the heart of chic, and Paris became a hothouse of revelry, intrigue, and searing ambition. At the center of it all were fashion's most beloved luminaries - Yves Saint Laurent, the reclusive enfant terrible, and Karl Lagerfeld, the flamboyant freelancer with a talent for reinvention - and they divided Paris into two fabulous halves. Their enduring rivalry is chronicled in this dazzling exposè of an of social ambitions, shared obsessions, and the mesmerizing quest for beauty.
"Deliciously dramatic... The Beautiful Fall crackles with excitement."- New York Times Book Review
"Fascinating." - New York Times
"Addictive." - Philadelphia Inquirer
"It's like US Weekly , 1970s style." - Gotham
"A story constructed as exquisitely as a couture dress. . . . It moves stylishly forward, with frequent over-the-shoulder glances at some very dishy background." - Boston Globe
- GenresFashionNonfictionHistory
449 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 28, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 19, 2024
I bought this book at an Urban Outfitters after 2007 when they used to sell books. Heck, I don't even know how "around" they are anymore, since ours closed a couple of years ago.
If I do the timeline right, I think I MIGHT have bought it when I was unemployed? But who knows what happened in the mists of time. I bought it and it sat around my closet for more than 15 years.
I am giving three stars but it's more of a 2.5. While it is a fascinating representation of the time and place (Paris in the fashion industry in the 1970s and a bit of the 1960s and 1980s as well) it is also tinged with sadness and emptiness. It's hard to explain, but maybe I can try. I really feel that the heavy lifters or this period where the outsiders, the Americans who came over and provided a lot of the inspiration behind the work. People of color, people who were lost to AIDS in the 80s...I think they were the ones with the original ideas. The illustrators, the models, the stylists.
YSL perfected those ideas and used his fixations on certain artists (Proust, Callas) to perfect his fashion. But he lived quite a sad life.
Lagerfeld - did anyone ever really know him? Did he know himself? Who can say. I think Uncle Karl was married to his work, it was his great love. Was he a great designer or a good stylist and great businessman? You will have to judge for yourself.
I am glad I finally read it. And when I finished, I left it at Coastal Roasters coffee shop in Summerville, S.C., so if you find it - enjoy.
If I do the timeline right, I think I MIGHT have bought it when I was unemployed? But who knows what happened in the mists of time. I bought it and it sat around my closet for more than 15 years.
I am giving three stars but it's more of a 2.5. While it is a fascinating representation of the time and place (Paris in the fashion industry in the 1970s and a bit of the 1960s and 1980s as well) it is also tinged with sadness and emptiness. It's hard to explain, but maybe I can try. I really feel that the heavy lifters or this period where the outsiders, the Americans who came over and provided a lot of the inspiration behind the work. People of color, people who were lost to AIDS in the 80s...I think they were the ones with the original ideas. The illustrators, the models, the stylists.
YSL perfected those ideas and used his fixations on certain artists (Proust, Callas) to perfect his fashion. But he lived quite a sad life.
Lagerfeld - did anyone ever really know him? Did he know himself? Who can say. I think Uncle Karl was married to his work, it was his great love. Was he a great designer or a good stylist and great businessman? You will have to judge for yourself.
I am glad I finally read it. And when I finished, I left it at Coastal Roasters coffee shop in Summerville, S.C., so if you find it - enjoy.
April 4, 2026
4.5. Excellent
October 10, 2023
I read it for research on the fashion industry and it was immensely helpful. Full of detail and designer shenanigans hehe
September 29, 2026
There is something wonderfully strange about reading a book in which a dress, a dinner party, an apartment, and a badly chosen remark can all carry roughly the same political importance.
The Beautiful Fall understands that 1970s Paris fashion was not simply an industry. It was a small, competitive society populated by enormously talented people who watched one another closely, borrowed from one another freely, and occasionally behaved terribly.
The author builds the book around the very different worlds of Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent, but some of the best passages happen at the edges of that rivalry. The account of Saint Laurent’s 1976 Ballets Russes collection is particularly good because the clothes are allowed to become more than decoration. You understand the spectacle of the collection, the historical references, the money and labor behind it, and the peculiar emotional force fashion could have in that moment. Elsewhere, the parties, drugs, friendships, betrayals, models, assistants, lovers, and hangers-on accumulate until Paris begins to feel surprisingly small. Everyone seems to be at the same table, or hoping to be invited to it.
What makes the book work so well is the writing. The author has done an extraordinary amount of research but rarely makes you feel the weight of it. She is observant about vanity and ambition without becoming smug about either, and she knows when a detail is more revealing than an explanation. At times the sheer number of names and social connections can become exhausting, but perhaps that is also an honest reflection of the world being described. By the end, the glamour remains, but it has acquired something more interesting around the edges: work, insecurity, rivalry, loneliness, and the uncomfortable fact that remarkable art can emerge from people behaving in remarkably ordinary ways.
The Beautiful Fall understands that 1970s Paris fashion was not simply an industry. It was a small, competitive society populated by enormously talented people who watched one another closely, borrowed from one another freely, and occasionally behaved terribly.
The author builds the book around the very different worlds of Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent, but some of the best passages happen at the edges of that rivalry. The account of Saint Laurent’s 1976 Ballets Russes collection is particularly good because the clothes are allowed to become more than decoration. You understand the spectacle of the collection, the historical references, the money and labor behind it, and the peculiar emotional force fashion could have in that moment. Elsewhere, the parties, drugs, friendships, betrayals, models, assistants, lovers, and hangers-on accumulate until Paris begins to feel surprisingly small. Everyone seems to be at the same table, or hoping to be invited to it.
What makes the book work so well is the writing. The author has done an extraordinary amount of research but rarely makes you feel the weight of it. She is observant about vanity and ambition without becoming smug about either, and she knows when a detail is more revealing than an explanation. At times the sheer number of names and social connections can become exhausting, but perhaps that is also an honest reflection of the world being described. By the end, the glamour remains, but it has acquired something more interesting around the edges: work, insecurity, rivalry, loneliness, and the uncomfortable fact that remarkable art can emerge from people behaving in remarkably ordinary ways.
February 16, 2026
A lot of the descriptions and recounts are repetitive. I was interested in some of the upbringing of Parisian fashion, but the author decided to focus more on the characters' cliques and reputations. I also don't like how Alicia Drake attempted to glorify some of the toxicity in the fashion world. What I really did enjoy was the descriptions of Parisian streets and locations; the author made me feel like I was walking down the gorgeous champs, passing cafes and boutiques.
September 7, 2024
Absolutely fascinating and well written. Her research shows in every page
August 28, 2026
While a good read covering fashion growth and changes from mid century to modern, the Karl Lagerfeld A Fashion History is a better resource.
April 26, 2023
this is more gossip and drama than a book about clothes but whatever that's fun too
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews