Maxime de la Falaise facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maxime de la Falaise
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| Born |
Maxine Birley
25 June 1922 West Dean, West Sussex, England, UK
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| Died | 30 April 2009 (aged 86) Provence, France
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| Nationality | English-Irish |
| Known for | Model, actress, author |
| Spouse(s) |
Count Alain Le Bailly de La Falaise
(m. 1946; div. 1950)
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| Children | Loulou Le Bailly de La Falaise Alexis Le Bailly de La Falaise |
| Parent(s) | Sir Oswald Birley Rhoda Vava Mary Lecky Pike |
| Relatives | Mark Birley (brother) Hugh Hornby Birley (2x great-grandfather) |
Maxime de La Falaise (born Maxine Birley) was a talented woman from England and Ireland. She lived from 1922 to 2009. Maxime was famous for many things. She was a fashion model in the 1950s. Later, she became an actress in special "underground" movies. She also loved food and wrote cookbooks. Maxime even designed clothes for big fashion brands. In her later life, she designed furniture and decorated homes.
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Early Life and Family
Maxine Birley was born on June 22, 1922, in West Dean, West Sussex, England. She came from a family of successful artists and businesspeople. She grew up in Hampstead and later in East Sussex. Her father, Sir Oswald Birley, was a famous painter. He painted portraits of kings, queens, and other important people. Her mother, Rhoda Vava Mary Lecky Pike, was also an artist and a gardener. Maxine's brother, Mark Birley, became a successful businessman. He owned many hotels and restaurants.
Maxine changed her first name to Maxime after she married a French aristocrat (a person from a noble family), Alain Le Bailly de La Falaise, in 1946. After her second marriage to John McKendry, she was sometimes known as Maxime de La Falaise McKendry. John McKendry worked at the Metropolitan Museum, a famous art museum.
Her Amazing Career
During the Second World War, Maxime worked at Bletchley Park. This was a secret place where people worked to break enemy codes.
Fashion World
In the 1950s, Maxime de La Falaise worked for a famous fashion designer named Elsa Schiaparelli. Maxime's job was to be a "muse" for the brand. This meant she helped encourage wealthy English people to buy the clothes. She also modeled for well-known photographers like Jack Robinson and Cecil Beaton.
Maxime was known for her unique and stylish way of dressing. The newspaper The Independent once wrote that Cecil Beaton called her "the only truly chic Englishwoman."
Writing and Cooking
While living in New York, Maxime de La Falaise wrote a food column for Vogue magazine. This magazine is very famous for fashion and lifestyle. In 1980, she collected her columns and illustrations into a book called Food in Vogue. She also wrote another cookbook in 1973, titled Seven Centuries of English Cooking: A Collection of Recipes.
Working with Andy Warhol
Maxime de La Falaise also worked with the famous artist Andy Warhol. Warhol wanted her to be part of his video projects. She appeared in his 1973 black-and-white video Phoney.
She also acted in a 1974 film called Blood for Dracula. Even though it was sometimes called Andy Warhol's Dracula, Warhol did not make this movie.
In 1977, Andy Warhol asked Maxime to create a menu for his restaurant idea called Andymat. It was like a self-service restaurant. Her menu included tasty dishes like onion tarts, shepherds' pie, fish cakes, and Irish lamb stew. Some people even called her "The Factory mother" because of her close connection to Warhol's art studio, known as The Factory.
Personal Life
On July 18, 1946, Maxime Birley married Count Alain Le Bailly de La Falaise. She then became known as Countess Maxime de La Falaise. They later divorced in 1950. They had two children:
- Louise Vava Lucia Henriette ("Loulou") Le Bailly de La Falaise (1947–2011). Loulou also became a fashion model. She later worked closely with the famous fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. She also became a fashion designer herself.
- Alexis Richard Dion Oswald Le Bailly de La Falaise (1948–2004). Alexis designed furniture. He also appeared in an Andy Warhol film.
Maxime de La Falaise later married John McKendry. He was in charge of prints and photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. John McKendry passed away in 1975.
Maxime de La Falaise passed away peacefully at her home in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, on April 30, 2009. She was 86 years old.
