The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard by Natasha Lester

Publication: January 30, 2024-Forever (Grand Central)-Historical Fiction-496pp

Book Summary

“Vogue meets Daisy Jones & the Six,” says New York Times bestseller Kate Quinn, in this bold novel of feminism and fashion set in 1970s New York City and the historic designers’ showdown in Versailles.

Everyone remembers her daringly short, silver lamé dress. It was iconic photo capturing an electric moment, where emerging American designer Astrid Bricard is young, uninhibited, and on the cusp of fashion and feminism’s changing landscape. She and fellow designer Hawk Jones are all over Vogue magazine and New York City’s disco scene. Yet she can’t escape the shadow of her mother, Mizza Bricard, infamous “muse” for Christian Dior.  Astrid would give anything to take her place among the great houses of couture–on her own terms. I won’t inspire it when I can create it.

But then Astrid disappeared…

Now Astrid’s daughter, Blythe, holds what remains of her mother and grandmother’s legacies. Of all the Bricard women, she can gather the torn, painfully beautiful fabrics of three generations of heartbreak to create something that will shake the foundations of fashion. The only piece missing is the one question no one’s been able to answer: What really happened to Astrid?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Three generations of Bricard designers take to the runway in Natasha Lester’s intriguing mystery of a famous designer’s disappearance from the Palace of Versailles’s Hall of Mirrors in 1973.  Leaving only a blood-stained white dress as a clue, the missing designer, Astrid Bricard, remains the central character as her mother, Mizza, muse to Christian Dior, and Blythe, Astrid’s daughter, reveal their own stories in alternating chapters. There are many questions to be answered and Lester’s plot unfurls like chiffon from its bolt. The patterns seem to be set, only to be redesigned and refit depending on the Bricard women’s level of guilt, pain, and pure stubbornness. Lester’s vivid settings of underground escape tunnels in Paris, the Viet Nam War, and the Equal Rights Amendment sink readers into the political events of the early years of WWll and the 1970’s.  The rich and famous Jackie Kennedy, Princess Grace of Monaco, and the Duchess of Windsor make appearances at events and in the current magazines of the day, Vogue and Life. Lester capturesJohn Fairchild’sintolerable personality and keeps readers infuriated with his “In and Out” column.  Scenes at real venues, Electric Circus and Cheetah, with ever present paparazzi trying to get a picture of Astrid in the silver lamé dress, along with pop culture icons Mick Jagger and Bianca, depict the ‘breakneck, brash’ vibe of NYC in contrast with the ‘sultry, aloof’ streets of Paris. Lester’s research into the details of the famous competition involving designers, situations, and interactions revealing their personalities is a treat for fashionistas as American designers Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, and Halston match wits and design creativity against French icons Yves St. Laurent, Christian Dior, and Givenchy. Changing the show order and screaming shout downs were part of the toxic atmosphere at Versailles! Was it a French or American designer? More importantly, what happened to Astrid Bricard?  

Enter the strange and mysterious world of fashion as Natasha Lester’s designing women of three generations, each an expert at leaving, create their own “pièce de résistance.”

I always look forward to the author’s notes where the author separates fact from fiction. Natasha Lester’s note includes many interesting bits, so don’t skip it. She recommends the 2016 documentary Battle at Versailles for a real live look at the famous competition.

Do you remember wearing hotpants or kneeling on the floor to have the length of your skirt measured? The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard was written with you in mind!