High Fashion Figure. A model of note, she later became a designer, author, and actress. Born Maxine Birley, she was raised in Hampstead by a noble but eccentric family, her father Sir Oswald a respected portrait painter and her Irish mother Rhoda a noted artist, gardener and cook, she traveled the world with her family, became fluent in French, and briefly served in World War II as a Bletchley Park code breaker, causing a bit of comment by having her uniforms tailored at a top fashion house. After the conflict, Maxime became a much sought after model for designers such as Elsa Schiaparelli and Yves Saint Laurent, while frequently posing for such prominent photographers as Cecil Beaton and George Dambier. Following her 1946 marriage to French Count Alain de la Falaise (divorced 1950), she changed her first name to "Maxime", lived in France, had a daughter named Loulou who was later to be a top model, and began creating her own designs for Gerard Pipart. A second marriage to museum curator John McKendry (deceased 1975) led her to New York where she was the food editor for "Vogue". In 1973, she published "Seven Centuries of English Cooking: A Collection of Recipes" which has since been reissued, and followed in 1980 with "Food in Vogue". During her time in New York, she became a friend of Andy Warhol, appearing in "Andy Warhol's Nothing Serious" (1971), "Phony" (1973), and "Andy Warhol's Dracula" (1974). Maxime even created the menu for Warhol's up-scale automat, though the project never came to fruition. Her years in America also saw her continue designing clothing for various houses, earn respect as an interior decorator, and on occasion work as a caterer; she lived out her days in Saint-Reme-de-Provence, France and died of the infirmities of age.
High Fashion Figure. A model of note, she later became a designer, author, and actress. Born Maxine Birley, she was raised in Hampstead by a noble but eccentric family, her father Sir Oswald a respected portrait painter and her Irish mother Rhoda a noted artist, gardener and cook, she traveled the world with her family, became fluent in French, and briefly served in World War II as a Bletchley Park code breaker, causing a bit of comment by having her uniforms tailored at a top fashion house. After the conflict, Maxime became a much sought after model for designers such as Elsa Schiaparelli and Yves Saint Laurent, while frequently posing for such prominent photographers as Cecil Beaton and George Dambier. Following her 1946 marriage to French Count Alain de la Falaise (divorced 1950), she changed her first name to "Maxime", lived in France, had a daughter named Loulou who was later to be a top model, and began creating her own designs for Gerard Pipart. A second marriage to museum curator John McKendry (deceased 1975) led her to New York where she was the food editor for "Vogue". In 1973, she published "Seven Centuries of English Cooking: A Collection of Recipes" which has since been reissued, and followed in 1980 with "Food in Vogue". During her time in New York, she became a friend of Andy Warhol, appearing in "Andy Warhol's Nothing Serious" (1971), "Phony" (1973), and "Andy Warhol's Dracula" (1974). Maxime even created the menu for Warhol's up-scale automat, though the project never came to fruition. Her years in America also saw her continue designing clothing for various houses, earn respect as an interior decorator, and on occasion work as a caterer; she lived out her days in Saint-Reme-de-Provence, France and died of the infirmities of age.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
Family Members
Children
Advertisement
See more de la Falaise or Birley memorials in:
- Église Saint-Roch de la Falaise or Birley
- Paris de la Falaise or Birley
- City of Paris de la Falaise or Birley
- Île-de-France de la Falaise or Birley
- France de la Falaise or Birley
- Find a Grave de la Falaise or Birley
Records on Ancestry
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
