Edmonde Charles-Roux/Marie-Charlotte Élisabeth was born on April 17, 1920, and died on January 20, 2016.

She was a French writer.

Edmonde a volunteer nurse in World War II, first in a French Foreign Legion unit, the 11th infantry regiment abroad.

Roux was wounded at Verdun in rescuing a legionnaire.

After she joined the Resistance, as a nurse.

When she landed in Provence, Roux was then attached to the 5th Armored Division, where she performed as a nurse but also as a divisional social assistant.

Edmonde Charles-Roux also served in the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC) and the Mechanized Regiment of the Foreign Legion (RMLE).

Decorated with the Croix de Guerre, she was made Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur in 1945 and received the distinction of vivandière d’honneur by the RMLE at the hands of Colonel Gaultier, corps commander.

In 1946, Roux joined the staff of a magazine being created, a women’s weekly: Elle, where she spent two years.

She worked for the French edition of Vogue, since 1948, becoming the magazine’s editor-in-chief in 1954.

Learning Vogue democratized luxury while giving access to the most innovative artists of the time, whether writers as Francois-Regis Bastide, Violette Leduc and Francois Nourissier or photographers like Guy Bourdin, Henry Clarke or William Klein, or designers Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and Emanuel Ungaro.

By bringing together ready-to-wear and Pop Art, Edmonde connected fashion with any other form of creativity.

Edmonde left Vogue Paris in 1966, as the result of a conflict for wanting to place a black woman on the cover of the magazine.

Later after 3 months, in 1966, she wrote Oublier Palerme and obtained the Prix Goncourt; she met Defferre the same year and married in 1973.

That particular novel was adapted to film as Dimenticare Palermo in 1990 by Francesco Rosi.

miss Roux is also known for publishing her photo stories on the lives of Defferre (L’Homme de Marseille 2001), or that of Coco Chanel (Chanel Time in 2004).

Edmonde wrote the books of several of Roland Petit ballets including Le Guépard and Nana.

Edmonde became a member of the Académie Goncourt in 1983, she became president in 2002.

In 2008, Edmonde was a member of the Commission headed by Hugues Gall and charged by Christine Albanel, Minister of Culture, with the post of Director of the French Academy in Rome, Villa Medici.

She was awarded by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in April 2010, with the rank of Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur.

Edmonde Charles-Roux passed away at 95, yrs old.