As early as 1949, the Comtesse Alain de la Falaise was, according to Vogue, “a prompting spirit in Paris couture”. She was one of the earliest upper class women to sport a cropped gamine hairstyle, while Cecil Beaton said of her:“Her limbs are so exaggeratedly elongated, her nose so small, her eyes so enormous, that she looks like a fashion drawing come to life.”
She was born Maxine Birley to the English society portraitist Sir Oswald Birley and Rhoda Pike, a celebrated Irish beauty. In Paris after the war de la Falaise modelled for Elsa Schiaparelli, whose designs then enjoyed a brief renaissance, and became a stylish vendeuse and ambassador for the label. When it went into decline, she worked for Christian Dior, and also especially for Maison Paquin before it closed its doors in 1956.
After her career in modelling, she kept herself financially afloat (her marriage to Count Alain de la Falaise had been brief and he wasn’t rich) by writing, selling furniture and acting as a muse to Yves Saint Laurent.