Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the Battle of Versailles.
Catfights, rivalry and royal splendor — the legendary gala had it all, according to designer Stephen Burrows and models Pat Cleveland and Alva Chinn, who shared their memories with WWD executive editor Tara Donaldson at the Apparel & Retail CEO Summit in New York City.
Although this year marks the 50th anniversary of the event staged to finance the restoration of the Palace of Versailles, they could still recall every detail of the Nov. 28, 1973, evening when five U.S. designers faced off against France’s top couturiers in front of an audience that included Princess Grace of Monaco, Christina Onassis and Andy Warhol.
The brainchild of fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert, creator of the Best Dressed List, the bash went down in history as the night that put American fashion, and African American models, on the map.
It pitted Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein and Stephen Burrows against Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin and Emanuel Ungaro.
It all started promisingly enough.
“That flight over to Paris was wild,” Cleveland recalled. “We were responsible for being ladylike but we were not. We were drinking Champagne in the plane and having a ball and then we get to Versailles, and it was, oh my god — the snow was coming down. It was like a fairy tale riding up over the cobblestones.”
For many of the participating models, it was their first trip to Paris. “They got out of the bus and kissed the ground, they were so happy. But then when we get in there backstage, it was, like, so cold and damp and the roof was leaking,” she said.
The French welcome was underwhelming, to say the least.
“I just think the French showed us something that I would have never thought, which was being rude to your guests,” said Chinn, noting that the American designers were not given sufficient time to rehearse their segment.
“There was no toilet paper in the bathroom. It was terrible,” Burrows added. “They had the girls there working all day long and didn’t feed them. Something had to be done.”
At one point, Halston threatened to withdraw from the event.
“Something happened that upset Halston, and he wanted to pull his stuff. But everybody else was still functioning, you know, and he got on board, because the truth is, we were there to do something bigger than us,” Chinn said.
In true showbiz fashion, Liza Minnelli, who was headlining the U.S. segment, convinced everyone that the show must go on.
“She wasn’t kidding, and we all rallied,” said Chinn. “When you have music of the day, and you have clothes that accentuate your body, and you know that you’re there to serve a purpose more than just yourself, you show up and you do the best you can to make those clothes sparkle. And I think every girl that I know, Black or white, brought their A-game and had fun doing it.”
U.S. models walk in the Battle of Versailles.
Reginald Gray
Improvisation was the name of the game. Although Kay Thompson had choreographed some numbers, Burrows found out he wasn’t part of the plan.
“So I had to think of what to do myself, which I did there on the stage at Versailles,” he said, recalling how he instructed the models to zigzag across the runway, then line up in the back and fan out in a V-formation before posing at the edge of the stage. The guests went wild.
“They started screaming and stomping on the floor, the audience, and throwing their programs in the air and screaming, ‘Bravo!’” Burrows said. “It was mindblowing to have them react the way they did. The French are usually so staid.”
Chinn said the models were just as inventive as the designers. “Ramona Saunders took this quill and took all the feathers off and stuck it in her bun on the top of her head, so we really didn’t look like, necessarily, people — we sort of looked like creatures from another planet,” she said.
Cleveland explained that the moves that blew away the audience would later become known as voguing.
“OK, Madonna, I’m sorry darling, but that’s a dance we used to do all the time because, you know, when you vogue, you don’t mess up your clothes. Because it’s just like, you know, you’re framing your face and you’re looking gorgeous. So we gave it to them and they’d never seen that dance before,” she said.
“We were like a love bomb coming in, throwing the bouquet of our energy out to everybody. It was magical. They loved us,” she added.
If the Americans wowed Paris society, the U.S. participants were equally impressed with the finery of Versailles and its illustrious guests.
“During the show, we were seated next to Saint Laurent and after the show, he came over to me and said that my clothes were ravishing. That made my trip, and meeting Josephine Baker was also a highlight,” said Burrows.
Finishing each other’s sentences, the trio described walking through the sumptuous Hall of Mirrors at night.
“The cherubs were dancing on the ceiling, and the glow of the candlelight — it’s not like if you go there as a tourist and you’re like cattle walking through the hallways. We had the whole place to ourselves,” marveled Cleveland. “We were the fashion commoners walking in the hall of Versailles,” Chinn enthused.
At the dinner after the performance, everyone mingled.
“I was sitting with the Duchess of Windsor, and we were joking around together,” said Cleveland. “Everybody was just like kids at a birthday party or something, and it was beautiful, because everybody was so happy.”
There were the inevitable faux pas as worlds collided.
“One of the girls, Billie Blair, she was standing behind Josephine Baker and Josephine had on this black feathered cape, and she was back there plucking the feathers off her cape, like, ‘Oh, we have to have this as a souvenir,’” Cleveland recounted. “And I stepped on Nureyev’s toe before he went out. ‘Sorry!’ That was hysterical.”
Burrows said that although the audience’s reaction made it clear that the Americans had won the evening, the true repercussions only became clear some time afterward.
“Actually, Women’s Wear didn’t promote it as a fashion event. They promoted it as a social event, so it was more about who was there than what was shown, so it didn’t matter very much back here. It didn’t resonate like it [does] today,” he said.
Nonetheless, the Battle of Versailles changed the status of Black models.
“That was the beginning of my international career,” said Chinn, who in September became the first model to walk for all 10 participating designers when she took to the runway for Cardin.
Still, she deplored that half a century later, many Black designers still struggle to have visibility.
“We are a melting pot, whether people like it or not. There’s a variety of people that exist in this country, and everyone should have a seat at the table. It’s pretty simple: everyone. If you are talented and creative, it shouldn’t just be about money. It should be about creativity,” she argued.
Cleveland agreed that labeling designers felt reductive. “I think putting the racial ‘X’ on a creative person is the worst thing you can do, because everybody’s blood and bones to me. So let’s just see the talent and acknowledge it and back it. It doesn’t matter what color you are, it matters what you do,” she said.
Having said that, she felt proud to be part of a seminal moment.
“I feel like I’m part of history, you know, like something that changed the face of fashion for America,” she said. “I think it’s just marvelous that Stephen is here, and Alva, and we get to have that feeling like, ‘Oh, that was useful, what we did.’ It made a difference, you know, and making a difference and being here in this life, it’s a wonderful feeling.”