Robin Givhan

In The Battle of Versailles, Robin Givhan—former fashion reporter for The Washington Post and the first fashion writer to win the Pulitzer Prize—tells a story of an event which, when first conceived, may have appeared both stratospherically high-end and gossamer-light, but which proved to have surprising depth and a continuing resonance and importance for our times. She chronicles how five American designers— Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Anne Klein, Halston and Stephen Burrows—went up against five giants of French couture—Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro and Marc Bohan of Christian Dior, in front of a select wealthy and titled audience at an event designed to raise money to help restore the French royal palace. Her story brings details the power and influence of Eleanor Lambert, a relentless promoter of American fashion (and her own public relations clients), creator of the Coty Award and “Fashion Press Week,” and one of the founders of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Givhan also gives brief but illuminating overviews of each of the eight designers at the Versailles, which is especially enlightening for the least known of them, Stephen Burrows. An immensely talented African-American designer who drew inspiration from his stays on Fire Island and his multicultural, multiracial, multisexual “family” of friends, Burrows was more focused on his work than on building a brand or creating a “name” for himself.

Battle also shows how fashion was tied to issues of social change in both the U.S. and France in the late 1960s and ‘70s. The Americans at Versailles prominently featured black models at a time when fashion hoped to show how progressive it was, leading the way forward toward greater racial harmony. That many of these relatively inexperienced models, such as Pat Cleveland and the striking Billie Blair, were extremely theatrical and exciting in an age when most models were merely ‘hangers’ for the clothes was a major factor in the success of the Americans. “It was the beginning of voguing,” declares Burrows friend and co-choreographer Charles Tracy. “They went crazy giving attitude.”

After all the froth and frayed nerves, shade and triumph of the Americans at Versailles, Givhan’s final chapters slow down to take a valuable and serious look at its meaning and aftermath, exploring what happened to each designer, their companies and their models, and how the night at Versailles changed the way models looked and walked the runway—at least temporarily. For while the Americans and their models won the Battle, not all of them managed to win the war.
http://www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews/06/03/the-battle-of-versailles-the-night-a...… (altro)

In 1973, Versailles, the fabulous palace created by Louis XIV, was falling apart for lack of funds. Eleanor Lambert, the publicist for American fashion designers- a job she created out of nothing- had the idea of a big fashion show, using both French and American designers. The French, of course, were skeptical, because at that point in time, American designers were not considered to be anything but copyists- people who came to Paris to see what was new there and then went home and copied it for American buyers. This actually worked well; most rich Americans couldn’t get haute couture no matter how much money they had. They had to be Somebody. American designers created clothing that was ready to wear, not fitted expressly to the woman’s body through multiple fittings and the most costly techniques.

Five French designers and five Americans agreed to put on the fund raising show. Immediately the arguing started- what models would be used? What order would the designers show in (everyone wanted to be the grand finale)? What would the presentation be like?

In the end, the show changed not only the minds of the French about American designers- they really could create new looks! – but how fashion shows were presented. The Americans brought life to the runway though music and dance; they took the unprecedented step of using many women of color as models; they showed that clothing for business women could be just as exciting as clothing for the ladies who lunch.

Givhan gives us a very detailed look not just into this one show, but into the fashion industry of the time. She follows the lives of the designers and models, the fashion trends, and what has happened to fashion shows today. Givhan grounds the fashion in the social changes of the 70s; this book is as much sociology as it is fashion. As someone with a strong interest in both, I found the book fascinating.… (altro)

Washington Post fashion correspondent Robin Givhan transports readers back to 1973, when American fashion designers descended on a high-end fundraiser at Versailles and trumped the French with their performance and style. The event marked a zenith in American culture for two reasons: the high-spirited performances of the many African-American models and the emergence of American designers as standalone artists, not the imitators of French design as in years past. Highly recommended as a treatise on both fashion and civil rights. (61)… (altro)