Ira: The Life and Times of a Princess

Description

A breathtakingly beautiful photo-narrative biography of the incredible life of Princess Ira von Furstenberg - half Austro-Hungarian Princess, half Agnelli: model, actress, princess, socialite, heiress, mother, and jewellery designer. Bursting onto front-page news in 1955 at the age of 15 in a jewel-laden gondola-wedding in the last great assembly of European nobility, Princess Ira von Furstenberg swung into the spotlight and has never left. Subject for master photographers Cecil Beaton and Helmut Newton, among others, actress alongside Klaus Kinski and Peter Lawford, and model for Vogue's Diana Vreeland, Princess Ira has been an actress, model, muse, mother, socialite, jewellery designer, and creator of objets d'art. On and off screen, in and out of the flashbulb, Ira's life - or, more accurately, lives - reads like a history of the jet set. More than just a chronicle of a gorgeously fascinating life, this lavish photographic biography is a truly sumptuous snapshot of the glamour and charm of a lost era, a prism through which to see the world of European royalty, Italian cinema in its heyday, couture at most haute, and parties at their wildest.

Nicholas Foulkes is the author of around 30 books, specialising in history and the arts. He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, FT How to Spend It, and The Rake. He is also a columnist on Country Life and Spears. He is an internationally recognised authority on luxury travel, material culture, timepieces and the arts.