Alexis de Rede was born in Zurich, Switzerland, on February 4 1922, the son of Oscar von Rosenberg, a Jewish banker from Austria-Hungary, who became a citizen of Liechtenstein and was given the title of Baron de Rede by the Emperor of Austria in 1916. This was a genuine title, though it did not appear in the Almanach de Gotha, and, inevitably, Nancy Mitford and others questioned its validity. Alexis's mother was descended from the von Kaullas, a German-Jewish family, who had been part owners of the Bank of Wurttemberg with the Kings of that country. In 1939, Oscar Rosenberg committed suicide on account of financial problems, leaving his children a small income from a life insurance policy. Alexis found himself in the care of an unsympathetic guardian and preferred to set off by boat to New York, an umbrella from Swaine, Adeney in hand. Installing Phpbb Theme Programs more.

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He checked into a hotel, living on $200 a month. Presently he went to California to try his luck working for an antique dealer, and made friends with the artist Salvador Dali and his wife, but in 1941 returned to New York. In a New York restaurant he was spotted by Arturo Lopez-Wilshaw, an immensely rich Chilean with a fortune derived from guano, who, although married to his cousin Patricia Lopez-Huici, had enjoyed a number of homosexual relationships with various partners, including one of the Rocky Twins who had danced with Mistinguett in Paris.

Lopez became Rede's protector. Before the war he had bought a house in Neuilly, 14 rue du Centre, which he rebuilt and furnished with priceless treasures. Lopez apparently offered Rede one million dollars to return to Europe with him, though on this matter Rede was reticent. Rede arrived in Paris in the company of the interior decorator Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe) in June 1946 and was instantly swept into the centre of chic Parisian life.

Paris had suffered during the Second World War, and most Parisians were short of money. Lopez's fortune went a long way and meant that he was able to live at a pace way beyond that of most of the French. The set was always a little aloof from Paris life, entertaining the grand and the rich. The writer Philippe Jullian described their world as like a small 18th-century court, with all the usual intrigues.

The more interesting members of the circle included the poet and patron of the Surrealists, Marie-Laure de Noailles (who fell in love with Rede, and seduced him twice), musicians such as Henri Sauguet, Georges Auric, and Francis Poulenc, and the artist Christian Berard. Important influences were the interior decorators Georges Geffroi and Victor Grandpierre. At this time, Lopez lived with his wife Patricia, a well-known figure in the Paris social world, though there hovered on the scene his pre-war boyfriend, Tony Pawson (who was soon sent packing).

The arrival of Rede into this menage was at first uncomfortable, with many of the grand ladies less than inclined to accept his hospitality. But Rede's languid charm and exceptional good looks gradually won him many friends. His position in Paris life was greatly enhanced by his move, in 1949, into a magnificent apartment in the Hotel Lambert, on the Ile St Louis. This he restored beyond its former glory, filling it with well-chosen treasures, including a desk, the pair of which is owned by the Queen. The Lambert gave him a place to entertain, which he proceeded to do in lavish style for the next 55 years. When Chips Channon dined in the Gallery in 1951, he wrote: 'It is fantastic that this sort of thing can exist in this age.' Officially Lopez lived with his wife at Neuilly, but unofficially he lived with Rede at the Lambert, returning home in a basketwork-adorned Rolls-Royce to preside over lavish entertainments.

There was also a yacht, La Gaviota, fabulously decorated by Geffroi, in which husband, wife and Rede travelled for many months each year, taking the same friends with them. They were often in St Moritz at the Palace Hotel, maintained an apartment at the Grand Hotel in Venice, and rented different properties for other holidays. Rede boosted the early careers of designers such as Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent.

For a Beaumont Ball in 1949 he commissioned Cardin, then working alone in an upstairs atelier, to create a costume for him. When Rede gave the Bal des Tetes at the Lambert in 1956, at which the Duchess of Windsor was one of the judges, the young Saint Laurent made many of the headdresses, thus meeting many important clients. The most spectacular entertainment he gave was the Oriental Ball, again at the Lambert, in December 1969. Half-naked men dressed as Nubian slaves bearing torches lined the stairs, and turbaned figures sat on two giant papier-mache elephants in the courtyard.