Lucie de la Falaise may have the most sophisticated job of any 17-year-old in Paris.
Make that France.
Maybe even Europe.
And include this country, too.
Short of being a princess with specific responsibilities and duties to the crown, there are few teens anywhere who have contracts that call for them solely to project an image of womanly beauty.
Lucie de la Falaise-who lived on a sheep farm until four years ago, who grew up without a TV and who never ever had sugar except for the icing on birthday cakes-is the ”face” and image for skincare products and cosmetics produced by the French house of Yves Saint Laurent.
Her best friend is her 19-year-old brother, Daniel. They share private tutors and secrets, finish each other`s sentences and together occasionally do something quite ”naughty”-like having a hamburger and french fries at the McDonald`s in Paris.
”They are straight out of a Gothic novel,” says Andre Leon Talley, Vogue magazine`s creative director. ”They are fairy-tale children.”
It is Talley who is credited with discovering the talents of the young beauty several years ago when he was visiting her aunt, Loulou de la Falaise, long the ”muse” of Saint Laurent-his inspiration-and the designer`s personal assistant.
”I had seen photos of both Lucie and Daniel over the years and they impressed me as being children not impressed by anything in the Western world,” Talley recently reminisced. ”They simply did not look as though they were the kind of teens who watch TV and rock videos.
”Then, when I met them, I found that they indeed did not watch TV because they did not have one. Their entertainment was having their mother read Oscar Wilde to them.”
And the rest is history
Talley, then on the staff of HG, did a story on the de la Falaise family for the magazine. He was so enchanted with Lucie`s fresh beauty and her unspoiled spirit that he recommended her for another story; she appeared on the cover of a later edition and also did some fashion photography for European publications.
”Then YSL was looking for a young girl to do their beauty photos,”
Lucie explains, ”and somebody said, `I know one,` and they got in touch and that`s how it started,” she says of the beginnings of her modeling career.
She made her first runway appearance in January in Paris during the YSL couture show, when she modeled six ensembles (”Only very decent outfits,”
says Daniel, including the bridal gown at show`s end). She ”was totally terrified,” she admits. But when she modeled for YSL in March during the designer`s Rive Gauche ready-to-wear presentation, she looked like one of the pros. It was during that show`s finale that, with great aplomb, she tossed kisses to the audience, wearing a shimmery golden bridal gown.
Lucie`s one-year beauty contract, which will be renewed in October, calls for her to be photographed for YSL cosmetics and skincare advertising and to be available for editorial features. (Neither the company nor the family will reveal her salary.) She can do any other modeling assignments, as long as they do not conflict with YSL products. She and Daniel, for example, appeared in an April Vogue fashion feature, and she`s scheduled to be included in a photo story on ”designers` inspirations” in the magazine`s July issue.
No big deal
She seems totally unaffected by her prestigious job. The most fun part of it, she says, is going to new places, like New York and Florida, ”and meeting all the people.” She admits that there is a ”strange and exciting” feeling ”when your girlfriends see you in the pictures or when you yourself first see a picture somewhere. But, then, it`s just there. It doesn`t go to my head. I`m not a spoiled brat.”
And the family`s reaction? ”They never really go on about it.”
But, then, Lucie`s family is terribly worldly. ”Style is in their pores,” claims Talley. Great grandmother Lady Berley was renowned for her beauty and was the wife of the official painter of the British royal family. Grandmother Maxime de la Falaise was a top model-and known internationally for her flair in the kitchen as well. Aunt Loulou and her husband, Thadee Klossowski (son of the artist, Balthus), are leaders in Parisian arts and social circles.
And Lucie`s immediate family is also other-worldly. ”These children were brought up in a fresh way, in a 19th Century way,” according to Talley.
”They are scrubbed and shy and wholesome, and their parents are incredible.”
Meanwhile, down on the farm
Lucie de la Falaise was born in Wales, where her father, Alexis, was a sheep farmer and her mother, Louisa, gardened, read and looked after the animals.
”Mummy would have been happy to stay on the farm forever. She loves birds. She loves dogs and cats. She`s very funny. Quite mad, but great fun,” says Lucie.
”They`re both great fun,” adds Daniel. ”Father`s a great cook. We all love to go out hiking in mud up to our knees in the countryside.”
”We`re very lucky to have great parents that we get on with very well,” adds Lucie.
The de la Falaise family moved to ”a very cozy house” in Fontainebleau, about 35 miles from Paris, four years ago. Lucie explains: ”Father`s a carpenter. A furniture designer.” He recently had an exhibition of his works in Paris. ”As he increasingly did more and more in Paris, it seemed easier to live nearby.”
Lucie comes into Paris (always chaperoned, by Daniel or Mum) only for photo sessions and special events-for example, the showing of friend John Galliano`s fall fashion collection.
They study at home with tutors; she`s currently doing history and English, while Daniel is taking the equivalent of first-year college studies. ”I don`t miss school life at all,” she says. ”I`ve always loved being in the country. When we`re not studying, we go to the forest or to the park. We`ve always been on our own as children. We listen to music we heard as babies-blues, rock. Sometimes we play around with a video camera. We just have a good time together. Sometimes we get quite noisy. Or we scrap-you know, puppy fights. Five minutes later we make up. Life is too short to make war with someone you live with.”
He has a girlfriend at Cornell: ”Half American, half Haitian. We met in Holland at a United Nations program. But it gets complicated, because she lives in Rome.”
She has a boyfriend who lives in Wales but is now on a round-the-world trip with his brother and is due back in September.
”Strange, isn`t it?” she asks.
From head to toe
Lucie was chosen as the beauty image for Saint Laurent both because of her family`s close association with the designer and for her ”look” and looks. The company describes her as ”a fascinating mixture of fragility and energy, a harmonious blend of spontaneity and sophistication . . . with graceful, sensitive features” and a ”gloriously clear English complexion.” Lucie says, ”I don`t spend time scrubbing and squeezing. I just wash it. I use makeup remover first, then I wash it.”
When she does wear cosmetics (”never at home”), she likes it to be what she calls ”invisible makeup, like I`m wearing for this picture” (the outdoor photo accompanying this story). ”Foundation that is natural-looking, something on the eyes, but not so that you can tell, and some lipstick.”
She neither diets nor exercises specifically because she is a model, though she does enjoy swimming and also goes to a gym. As for food, ”I just eat Mummy`s cooking. She`s never brought us biscuits or cakes or chocolates or sweets. We`ve just never had them. We eat very healthily.”
Though she goes through phases of wearing rings and occasionally wears a necklace given to her by her mother, Lucie`s usual jewelry is a ring and earrings. She believes she`s an American size 6, is 5 feet 6 inches tall, and if she could change one thing about herself, ”I`d like to have long, long legs.” (Interestingly, when asked if she`d like to be anyone else, she answered, ”I like being myself. I`d like being taller, but I like being me.”)
Her favorite clothes are pants with a sweatshirt or sweater and a scarf.
”Sometimes it`s nice to wear something grand and sometimes it`s just nice to wear a baggy pair of trousers, a jumper (sweater) and sneakers. And that`s how we dress-to suit the occasion. We dress comfortably and then, when we need to, we dress appropriately.”
Both she and Daniel wear some of their parents` clothes; ”Mum`s slightly smaller than I,” she says, followed by Daniel`s ”Father is slightly taller than I.” In the photo on this page, for example, Daniel wears his father`s old YSL jacket, while Lucie wears her mother`s old Levi`s with her own YSL denim jacket, which she loves because it is young and it can be worn with jeans or something dressier.
However, she adds, displaying both an understanding of style and a great maturity: ”I love Saint Laurent and I think he`s a genius and I love his clothes but, if I didn`t have a contract, I wouldn`t go out and buy his clothes. I`m 17.”
