8/3/2023 0 Comments Liza minelli halston![]() “When seeing it come across my email, it was something that I really, really wanted.” It brought a liveliness to everything instead of just being in a couture house that was very silent ladies having tea and looking at girls walking around the room.“I got an audition like any other kind of job, but it felt very different for me,” Rodriguez explained. It all had to do with the music, dancing and the fun that people were having. “It was mostly 7th Avenue girls that were coming to Europe after '73, and they were very welcomed. “After they couldn't get enough of those girls,” Cleveland told InStyle. According to Cleveland, the careers of many American models, and Black American models in particular, were set on an upward trajectory from that day forward. Their presence was surprising for the time, and they stole the show. The next day’s headline for Women’s Wear Daily read, “Americans came, they sewed, they conquered,” and the fashion world was permanently changed that snowy November night.īy many accounts, the Americans’ inclusion of Black models like Pat Cleveland, Alva Chinn, Billie Blair, and Bethann Hardison was what put them over the edge. The Americans were unanimously victorious. Compared to the lengthy French segment, the Americans’ 30-minute portion was so captivating that the audience threw their programs up in the air not once but twice.Ī photo of Givenchy’s segment shows the impressive sets the French had. “The American segment pulsed with the vibrancy of the groovy disco era, and a more liberated view of femininity,” Women’s Wear Daily explains. They utilized dramatic lighting and music, and had the models dancing and voguing. The lack of lavish sets emphasized the performances and, of course, the clothes. She was the common thread throughout the American show, opening and closing each of the five designers’ segments. ![]() One of Halston’s closest friends, Minnelli had recently won an Oscar for her role in Cabaret. If the French show had the stale energy of an antiquated opera house, the Americans’ had the energized zing of a Broadway debut, in part thanks to Minnelli. They were aiming for something Marie Antoinette would have recognized,” The Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan told Harper’s Bazaar. “The French had a lot going on onstage but it was much more rooted in tradition and in history. The focus didn't seem to be on the clothes or the models, but on showing off the resources they put into the project. It was grandiose and opulent, but overly formal. They had an orchestra, more than one live rhinoceros, and elaborate 17 th century-inspired sets. Josephine Baker opened for the French, who proceeded to put on a two-and-a-half-hour performance. Daniel SIMON // Getty ImagesĪnd go on it did–with Princess Grace of Monaco, Elizabeth Taylor, and Andy Warhol in attendance. Josephine Baker donned a sequin bodysuit and feather headdress to open the show. Liza Minnelli, who had come to perform during the show, saved the day by giving a rousing speech to the effect of “the show must go on.” There were also warring designer egos and a Halston tantrum that allegedly ended with both him and choreographer Kay Thompson walking out of the rehearsal. The American set designer had prepared using inches rather than centimeters, so the designers from the states were left with useless backdrops that didn’t fit the space. The French were taking up all the rehearsal time, and working conditions in the decrepit palace were less than ideal. The day preceding the show was reportedly a bit of a mess for the Americans. No one considered the possibility that the Americans could out-show the French.“Everyone thought this was a joke,” fashion expert Marcellas Reynolds told InStyle. ![]() The French camp consisted of Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro, and Christian Dior’s Marc Bohan. ![]() ![]() (Anne Klein was accompanied by her assistant, a 25-year-old Donna Karan). The American representatives were Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, Halston, and Stephen Burrows. Princess Grace of Monaco is shown here arriving at the event. ![]()
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