Model and former wife of Bryan Ferry
Born: September 9, 1960;
Died: July 23, 2018
LUCY Birley, who has died aged 57, was a model who became a muse to the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and the designers Christian Lacroix and Karl Lagerfeld among others, although she is also known as the former wife of Bryan Ferry, the rock musician and lead singer of Roxy Music.
The couple married in 1982 after being introduced to each other by the interior designer Nicky Haslam at a party. Ferry was still recovering from the end of his relationship with Jerry Hall, who had left him for Mick Jagger. The new relationship was good for Ferry creatively and in 1982, Birley appeared on the cover of Roxy Music’s final studio album, Avalon.
Birley was born Lucy Margaret Mary Helmore and was brought up in Kensington and educated at a convent. Her father was a Lloyd's underwriter although in many ways it was an eccentric childhood - the family had many pet birds including owls and pigeons which would fly around the house at will.
By the time she was 17, she was already a presence in the fashion world, working as a model for Mapplethorpe; she also appeared in Lacroix's couture shows. A black and white Chanel Piano puffball dress that Lagerfeld made for her is now at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
She had four children with Ferry but by the mid 1980s the marriage was in trouble, with Birley drinking and using drugs. She entered rehab in 1993.
She and Ferry divorced in 2003 and she married businessman Robin Birley, the son of Lady Annabel Goldsmith and nightclub owner Mark Birley, in 2006.
In 2011, Birley told The Guardian that she retreated from public life following the breakdown of her 21-year marriage to Ferry and for other personal reasons, including the furore around their son Otis's storming of the Commons chambers to protest against the fox hunting ban.
She told the newspaper: "I didn't want to be put in the spotlight. My family's attitude to the press and publicity was very much that it was frowned upon. You only appeared in papers if you were born, married or had died. That affected me when I got married to Bryan."
A statement on behalf of her current husband Robin Birley and her children with Ferry said: "Lucy Birley (nee Helmore) passed away whilst on holiday in Ireland, surrounded by her beloved dogs, Daisy, Peg and Daphne.
"Her husband Robin, and her sons - Otis, Isaac, Tara and Merlin - are understandably devastated."
She is survived by Robin and her four children.
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