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Showing posts with label Stephen Burrows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephen Burrows. Show all posts

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Versailles 1973 Black Supermodels

Introduced ©By Audrey J. Bernard
versailles 
Bold, Beautiful and Black models are reunited at the special luncheon at The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Amina Warsuma, Norma Jean Darden, Pat Cleveland, fashion designer Stephen Burrows, Charlene Dash, Alva Chinn, China Machado, Billie Blair, and Bethann Hardison. (Not pictured: Barbara Jackson, Jennifer Brice, Ramona Saunders ((deceased)) (Photo by Mike Coppola / Wireimage)
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Back in 1973, The Palace of Versailles played host to a fundraiser orchestrated by American fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert and Palace of Versailles curator Gerald Van der Kemp to raise money to restore the aging structure to provide exposure for American fashion.The time was right to introduce and celebrate some of the hottest Black Models of the Day like the ones so featured. French Fashion Designers as well as Italian Designers have long featured minority models for their shows. Myself and several other Models, walked the Runways of Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy 1969 for Valentino’sBlack on Black’ Fashion Show, with creations by Silvano Malta. It was an ALL Black cast of Models with Everyone wearing Designs that were in the Color Black. It was Wonderful. These Shows showcased the Beauty of All People to the Industry as well as The Public. It paved the way for today’s successful Black Models and other Minorities as well who work constantly without having to worry about being typecast. People like Naomi Campbell, Iman, Tyra Banks, Alek Wek and so many more, have these Women, like the Versailles bunch, to thank for helping to make the job of Modeling a little easier and friendly. It’s the same way Josephine Baker made show business more receptive for many other minorities of the times. Even before the models mentioned above walked the Runways, French Designers like Christian Dior, Jean Patou, Ungaro, Pierre Cardin and a few more, hired Women of Color to walk in their Catwalk shows. Now, it is very much mainstream for fashion shows to be filled with  Models of different cultures. In the 70s, particularly, Henri Bendel featured Stephen Burrows clothes, exclusively. He remains innovative to Fashion as Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, Carolina Herrera, Ann Klein, Tracy Reese, Nicole Miller, Donna Karan, Bill Blass, Prabal Gurung are today. All of these fashion designers represent American Fashion, worldwide. French fashion designers somewhat rely of America for setting the trends. France Fashion Catwalk shows in Paris, many times, reflect many American Signature styles. New York Fashion Week is an example of Haute Couture and American Sportswear for the masses. Like Europe’s Pret-a-porter, American clothes is marketed with the intention of clothes being affordable. Fashion events like Fashion Week New York City, FW London, FW Paris, FW Milan and others is a prime example of the American Fashion industry‘s impact on the rest of the World. – - Find out more

Friday, January 21, 2011

Stephen Burrows: Host “Tribute to American Fashion” @ Met Museum

Retrospect: Stephen Burrows at Studio 54 in 1977
Mr. Burrows gathered some of  his Model Greats like Bethann Hardison, Amina Warsuma, Billie Blair, Pat Cleveland, Alva Chinn, Norma Jean Darden, Barbara Johnson, China Mechado & Ramona Saunders.

Event held at  Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the annals of fashion smackdowns, few events have attained anything resembling the legendary status of the 1973 Grand Divertissement à Versailles. A stunt benefit ginned up by Eleanor Lambert, the publicist who invented the Best Dressed List, this fabled fashion show, promoted as a Franco-American collaboration, was always destined to be seen as a battle for dominance: the Old World slugging it out with the New, a muscular group of comers with Studio 54 as their shared point of reference taking on the fusty world of the haute couture.

Read More in NY Times Article by Guy Trebay | Published: January 12, 2011