Alice Rawsthorn is the author of Yves Saint Laurent: A Biography and Hello World: Where Design Meets Life. A British Design critic, she writes for the International New York Times, and she is a regular contributor to Frieze magazine. she is Chair of Trustees at Chisenhale Gallery and the dance group Michael Clark Company, and a trustee of the Whitechapel Gallery. She worked as an award-winning journalist for the Financial Times from 1985 to 2001 and was Director of the Design Museum in London from 2001 to 2006. She has sat on the jury of many cultural prizes, including the Turner Prize, the Sterling Prize for Architecture and the PEN History Book Prize.
She was awarded an OBE for services to design and the arts and she lives in London.