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A review by seabreezes
Loulou & Yves: The Untold Story of Loulou de la Falaise and the House of Saint Laurent by Christopher Petkanas
4.0
I'd probably give this book about a 3.5 if we had half-stars.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, I couldn't put it down by the end. Despite some hilarious anecdotes (Andre Leon Talley panicking at the thought of Maxime de la Falaise possibly serving him dog placenta soup, members of the Le Bailly de la Falaise family fighting over their ancestors on fucking... Wikipedia!!!), Christopher Petkanas never lets you forget the unrelenting cruelty that exists within the fashion industry. It was really quite harrowing to read about how Loulou had such a turbulent childhood and such a pitiful ending.
I "get" what Petkanas was trying to do by formatting the book with mostly interviews, instead of creating a non-fiction narrative, but after a while it lacked structure. There were certain things that were said and alluded to that I think required more investigation and a stronger author would have dug into them a little more. Interviews with the staff at the YSL studio were the best, they didn't hold back about how awful Pierre Berge could be. It was also interesting that Petkanas referred to the scene in Saint Laurent where Yves was wondering if he (well, via Pierre) really gave Loulou and Betty all that they deserved, compared to what they gave him. I'm going to say in the case of Loulou, no... probably not.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, I couldn't put it down by the end. Despite some hilarious anecdotes (Andre Leon Talley panicking at the thought of Maxime de la Falaise possibly serving him dog placenta soup, members of the Le Bailly de la Falaise family fighting over their ancestors on fucking... Wikipedia!!!), Christopher Petkanas never lets you forget the unrelenting cruelty that exists within the fashion industry. It was really quite harrowing to read about how Loulou had such a turbulent childhood and such a pitiful ending.
I "get" what Petkanas was trying to do by formatting the book with mostly interviews, instead of creating a non-fiction narrative, but after a while it lacked structure. There were certain things that were said and alluded to that I think required more investigation and a stronger author would have dug into them a little more. Interviews with the staff at the YSL studio were the best, they didn't hold back about how awful Pierre Berge could be. It was also interesting that Petkanas referred to the scene in Saint Laurent where Yves was wondering if he (well, via Pierre) really gave Loulou and Betty all that they deserved, compared to what they gave him. I'm going to say in the case of Loulou, no... probably not.