Alicia Drake (born 1968), is a British

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fash ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. She is best known for her 2007 non-fiction work ''The Beautiful Fall : Fashion, Genius and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris'' which focused on the rise of designers

Karl Lagerfeld Karl Otto Lagerfeld (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, creative director, artist and photographer. He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position held from 1983 u ...

and Yves Saint-Laurent. She has lived and worked in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

for the last 10 years.

Biography

Alicia Drake was educated at Cambridge University. She has been a fashion journalist, writing regularly for a variety of publications, including the '' International Herald Tribune'', ''

Travel and Leisure ''Travel + Leisure'' is a travel magazine based in New York City, New York. Published 12 times a year, it has 4.8 million readers, according to its corporate media kit. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC, with trademark rig ...

'', '' W'' Magazine and ''

British Vogue British ''Vogue'' is a British fashion magazine published based in London since autumn 1916. It is the British edition of the American magazine ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'' and is owned and distributed by Condé Nast, Condé Montrose Nast. Bri ...

'', for which she was a contributing editor. Drake's

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

book, ''The Beautiful Fall : Fashion, Genius and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris'' is the story of two

fashion design Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates c ...

ers living and working in Paris during the 1970s. The "deliciously dramatic" book "sets the concentrated world of couture against the always-on social scene of 1970s Paris". After the release of the book, designer

sued for "damages for intrusion into his private life" in the French court. Drake rejected the claims and the case was dismissed by the Court in a judgment on 15 January 2007, with an order that Lagerfeld pay Drake's costs. The French version of the book was published by Denoël, under the title “Beautiful People” in 2008. Beautiful People was named non-fiction book of the year by RTL Lire 2008. In 2018, Drake published her debut novel, ''I Love You Too Much'', about a young Parisian boy adjusting to life after the divorce of his narcissistic upper-class parents.

Selected works

*''The Beautiful Fall : Fashion, Genius and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris'' (2007) *''I Love You Too Much'' (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Alicia 1968 births Living people English journalists British fashion journalists British women journalists