The 17th century Palace of Versailles in Paris apparently has fallen victim to termites, worms and leaks, and those who want to save it say $60 million is needed.

So last night, a lavish fundraising party and fashion show was held at the palace for 650 invited guests.

“The fashion parade is moving faster all the time.” “The fashion parade is moving faster all the time.” All the time.” The Versailles Palace was a very old building that needed repair.

So actually, this whole event was to help repair history.

The Versailles 1973 event actually started in a very different way than it ended up.

It really began simply as a charity event.

Eleanor Lambert was, spending a vacation with Gerald Van der Kemp and his wife, in the south of France.

And they were talking about ways in which, Van der Kemp, who was then the curator of Chateau de Versailles, that how he could raise funds.

Eleanor came up with the idea to do a benefit for the restoration of the theater of the Palace of Versailles.

Monsieur Van der Kemp was the, we say, the conservator and chef, which we translated by curator, or, director or something like this.

He understood perfectly that it was a necessity to ask American fortunes and American, rich people to help, the French to restore these, magnificent monuments.

Eleanor, who is, of course, at that point the preeminent publicist for American fashion, came up with this notion that, the French would invite, American designers to participate on the same stage, for one night.

And it would be a charity event.

Selma was a deprived person who represented practicall all the designers at that time.

The idea that American fashion could be considered on the same level as the French is an idea that Eleanor Lambert had from the 1930s.

She was always waiting for the day that American fashion can be shown on the same stage as the French.

And I think that with a certain certain designers who were coming up in this late 60s and early 70s, I think she saw that that moment was certainly ripe.

Eleanor Lambert decided Well, let's show them what we'r worth.

We have a lot of value.

So she got this idea, which a that time was absolutely crazy, to have five designers from New York competing with five designers from Paris.

The Frenc didn't take that very seriously.

In fact, they didn't notice the event.

It was promotion to just repair a roof.

They didn't think it was major, but the Americans took it extremely seriously.

A deal was sort of worked out where the French, under the Chambres Syndicales would choose the five designers.

They wanted to show.

The French participating designers for the rendezvous, were one of the most prominent Frenc designers of the, at the moment.

First of all, Marc Bohan for the House of Dior, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro and Yves Saint-Laurent, and Hubert de Givenchy Yves Saint-Laurent became th youngest couturier in the world when he assumed the House of Dior's chief designer role at just 22 years old.

He saved the house from financial ruin with his first collection.

The House of Yves Saint-Laurent opened, presented his first collection in January ‘62, and it was possible because of the help of J. Mack Robinson, a businessman from Atlanta.

He then re-kindled that whole Cocteau spirit and Picasso.

YSL and his partner, Pierre Bergé popularized fashions from the street, becoming the first French couturier to launch a Pret-a-porter line.

In the early days Givenchy worked alongside Christian Dior and Pierre Baumann, designing for Lelong After opening his own shop.

Givenchy became the design darling of American starlet Audrey Hepburn.

After meeting her on the set of “Sabrina” Oh, Hubert is a great man.

So, so chic.

Givenchy is the most classical, couturier.

Well, Givenchy Hubert was just a also the most beautiful man ever, too.

He was so handsome an so refined, too, and such taste.

Givenchy gained incredible popularity furnishing clothes to Hollywood starlets.

Marc Bohan was crowned as th head of Christian Dior following Yves Saint-Laurents rocky departure.

And Marc Bohan was also very... classical, designer, who made, very I mean, incredible, dresses.

It began in ‘4 with the very famous collection, the Corolle Collection, which is known after the nickname of “New Look” The World of Carmel Snow And it was a very... it was a success, a very big success.

The House of Christian Dior, stood at the forefront of Haute couture and was considered the Arbiter of Chic.

Emanuel Ungaro, the son of a tailor, began designing for the hallowed House of Cristóbal Balenciaga.

In 1965 with the assistance of Swiss artist Sonja Knapp and Elena Bruna Fazio, Emanuel Ungaro launche his own fashion house in Paris.

He had the particularity, matching, different, prints.

Creating a style of mixing patterns, bold and contrasting colors, and a spectacular selection of fabrics.

Following World War Two, Pierre Cardin studied architecture and worked in Paris for the Paquin and Christian Dior fashion houses.

And one day, Christian Dior asked Pierre Cardin to go to England to present a fashion show.

And of course, Mr. Cardin designed quite everything.

But Dior wanted that It was said, “Christian Dior” But it was not possible fo Mr. Cardin, as he made things.

So he said, “I made it myself” And of course, that stopped immediately, the work with Christian Dior.

And that is the way Mr. Cardin began on himself.

By 1950, Mr. Cardin sets up his own couture house in Paris, and diversified his business to include his name on thousands of products.

Remember that the 70s is a complete turning period where, the way of life was really transformed.

It was less formal.

It was less classical than it had been before.

And these five, were probably... the people who understood this way-of-life transformation.

And that's why they were chosen for that show.

In turn, those designers woul choose an American counterpart.

You know, there was a little bit of an issue going on with, you know, who the sort of choices would be.

Givenchy Hubert, my friend... is responsible for choosing... Jimmy Galanos.

One of the first people invited was Jimmy Galanos, who at that point was, one could say, the preeminent designer in the French mode and that he had an extraordinary atelier, his workmanship, really rivaled, many of his, Frenc colleagues in the haute couture.

So he was an important, playe in the American fashion scene.

But he declined.

And then Geoffrey Beene was invited, and Geoffrey Beene hearing that the first person invited was Jimmy Galanos, he declined.

But, Other American designers including Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein and, astonishingly, Stephen Burrows, because Stephen Burrows was really an up and comer at that moment, were selecte to represent the American side.

Halston began his career as a milliner, achieving the coveted position of head milliner at Bergdorf Goodman, who arguably had the mos enviable clientele in America.

Halston was in Bergdorf Goodman.

They never highlighted the designers and designers designed, but they didn't even come out after the show.

They weren't allowed to.

He achieved instant fame on January 20th, 1961, when Jacqueline Kennedy donned a fawn-colored pillbox hat designed by Halston at the televised presidential inauguration.

He was like the ultimate American designer who kind of created an American woman, real style for an American woman.

Newsweek dubbed Halston the best designer in America in 1972, a groundbreaking businessman and compelling part of the 70s jet set.

Oscar de la Renta traine under fashion legend Balenciaga in Spain after leaving the Dominican Republic at 18 years old.

Oscar is a wonderful, amazing person, also very luminous and very great taste.

He's one of the best American designers ever.

He's extremely talented, creative.

It's like a gift.

In 1965, he launched his own label and has since been a fashion dynasty steeped in society and an institution known for his refined, ladylike looks.

Anne Klein founded Junior Sophisticates in the 1940s and revolutionized the junior category.

The consummate businesswoman, Klein launched a sportswear collection in the late 1960 to rave reviews and acceptance.

Anne was very organized, very organized, and she had herself with the her high end and low end, and she had separated her fashion so that she was appealing to different markets.

Klein opened its own in-store boutique within Saks Fifth Avenue in 1971, A first for a sportswear line.

Anne Klein's assistant, Donna Karan, would accompany her to the famed Versailles fashion show.

Stephen Burrows learned to sew watching his grandmother.

He became a head designer straight out of FIT then opened his own boutique.

But I do remember a boutique and...

I also think that it was quite unusual, in those days for a designer to really have their own shop where they coul market their brand exclusively.

I don't think anyone else had that.

Some of us are lucky enough to meet the creative people who actually... have ideas that weren't from before, but move, move us ahead.

And Stephen, was one of those.

Burrows was recognize for his innovative lettuce hems and sexy, flowing chiffons.

After serving in the Army, Blass landed at Anne Klein, where he was fired.

He became the protégé of fashion arbiter Baron de Gainsbourg and rising to head designer of Maurice Rentner.

Blass bought the company in 1970 and renamed it Bill Blass Limited.

He so loved the 20s, 30s, forward, a little less the 40s.

He loved America.

He loved American sportswear, but he always liked to have the influence of that refined lady.

Bill Blass would draw on his cuff.

He'd be drawing on his pant leg.

He'd draw on the napkin or on the tablecloth for the restaurant.

He was forever making fashion sketches.

The Blass brand would be known for glamorous clothes, and his partnership with the Ford Motor Company, designing the Continental Mark series.

Let me tell you, there were some very important designers that were never invited.

Eleanor Lambert was a promoter, don't forget.

And her clients were Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, I think Halston, too, but she was very, very important for fashion.

And how did Stephen Burrows get on?

How the hell did he drop into that?

You know, she was a tough bird, and she manipulated that whole thing to her own interests.

You know, she was aware of the PR value of putting a young black designer with, against Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy, it was genius.

Eleanor Lambert wa really pushing for Anne Klein, and I think that seems like no an obvious choice then or now, but I believe Eleanor Lambert really felt that Anne Klein represented... American sportswear.

Mr. Bergé... said “Anne Klein is a sports woman.

She's not qualified.” And Oscar de la Renta was a big shot at the time.

And he had, there was a whole thing about it.

But she went directly to Asia and they took him and as a favor, they allowed in Klein.

They went with a woman, and I'm glad they went with a woman, because she was really kind of “ of the day ” You know, women were more in the workforce, and she presented clothes that women wore to work.

So I think it was great.

Nobody was asking questions.

Bill Glass was very glad to be included, and... you know, and the other people, of course, said, oh, “she's a bitch, and she's this...” Hey, she was!

And you know what?

And these were her clients, and this was her.

She had dreamed this up, and she wasn't much worried about what people were going to say about her.

She didn't have to be.

Eleanor Lambert and Gérald van der Kemp recognized the need to involve patrons and begin to enlist the support of financiers.

The American hostess of the American Friends group would be C.Z.

Guest.

The French hostess would be the Baron de Rothschild, Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, both really social heavyweight on both sides of the Atlantic.

Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, was probably one of our most distinguished and elegant Femme du monde at that period.

And as she married Guy d Rothschild she was, of course, in a very good place to organize things.

She knew everybody.

And she had the, facilities to do that.

“Madame, the Syndica de la Haute Couture of America has asked us to organize an artistic gala, during which will be presented the creations of their five principal members conjointly with our own.

Our American colleagues and we ourselves believe that only you, Madame, have the grace, the talent and the authority necessary to preside over such an event and to successfully see it through.

Yours sincerely, Yves Saint Laurent Marc Bohan, Emanuel Ungaro, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin.

“My dear Maurice, the French haute couture has asked me to take on the presidency of a major artistic event in honor of the American and French designers.

What I had in mind was less a traditional fashion show because such does not merit this prestigious place, but mor show of dance, music and light.

The project requires your authorization to gain access to Versailles, the Royal Theater and the Hall of Mirrors.” “Dear Claude, Gerald van der Kemp and the French designers have asked me to organize a grand artistic event at Versailles.

I'm asking you to accept the honorary presidency of the committee of which I will be the president.

I remember, Marie-Hélène d Rothschild, she knew everybody.

She she would bring you her friends to, to come and to give them a hand and be part of it.

I mean, and I think it was the same thing in the New York with Mrs.

Guest.

New York society maiden C.Z.

Guest assembles an American host Committee, including Princess Lee Radziwill, Mrs. John Fairchild, and more.

My husband and I gave $1 million to renovate the Hall of Mirrors.

So, we were invited.

The subscription would be, 1000 francs.

In today's numbers, it seems like inconsequential was only about $230 - $250.

But, at that point, it was a substantial amount of money to attend this kind of event.

The Rothschilds underwrot the cost of the whole evening, so whatever it cost to put on, they underwrote that.

And I think that they probably underwrote a certain portion of the American presentation.

And then the ticket sales that Miss Lambert handled, here in New York, went to fund the restoration.

Eleanor was, very much a business woman.

All of the designers who participated were expected to contribute, to the expense of the staging of the show.

Charles Revson of Revlon, Prince Karim Aga Khan and Monsanto underwrite many of the expenses of the event.

The French designers reportedly spend over $30,000 each on their presentations.

Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, she decided to have practically all of Paris.

I mean, important actresses, actors... And she had Josephine Baker, who sang, “J'ai deux amours” “Mon pays et Paris” She had Charles Trenet, who sang, “Y'a d'la joie, La da da da da....” “Y'a d'la joie” and then she had Zizi Jeanmaire She had all the nudes, real nudes of all the Crazy Horse.

She had... it was endless.

American designers contribute $5,000 each for the American presentation.

My understanding is that David Mahoney, who was then the CEO of Norton Simon that owned Halston, that he put up the difference so that the Americans could all participate.

We had the designers all lined up and ready to go.

And not only that, we had a flying star.

We had Liza Minnelli, and we had the dancers of Broadway.

It was going to be big.

It was going to be bigger than any Broadway sho that you could kind of think of.

And the star of our show was the girl that just won the Academy Award for “Cabaret” So we had her.

We had like the hottest star in the world to be in our segment of it.

Directed by her godmother, Kay Thompson.

People know of Kay Thompson's ability and the legend of her that preceded her.

And Halston decided to hire her to direct the American segment of the show.

The buzz just started because it was there.

As soon as you say American designers versus French designers, that's already special.

The editor of Women's Wear Daily, John Fairchild, began pickin up the story and building hype.

This again shows the power of John Fairchild at that moment that he saw it as the opportunity to contrast the importance of both sides of the Atlantic in a kind of battle.

And so he came up with the idea of the Battle of Versailles.

It was not the Battle of Versailles.

It was not...

It was just to help them restore the theater.

And it ended up being a battle, or that's what the press said it was, between the American and the French designers.

American fashion editors are intrigued with the concept and want to ensure their presence at this first of its kind evening at the esteemed palace, there were journalists invited who were from the very top publications.

So you have the International Tribune, you have the New York Times.

You had, the majo European newspapers at the time.

The New York Times asked me to go to cover the event, and I would have covered it anyway.

I felt it was very important... for fashion.

It started out very low key.

There's a show that's going to happen in Paris, and they're looking for models and I think there were five designers tthat we had to go see.

And three of them had to like you in order for you to get the show.

To complete the staging of the show.

Each American designer must select from a pool of models, like the selection of the designers.

The selection of models is far from easy.

Each designer was to give a list of ten of their favorites and... all mine were eight black girls and two Caucasian girls.

You had to have three designers pick you.

So they all had to be picke by three, two other designers.

Mine was, Stephen Burrows and, Anne Klein and, Oscar de la Renta.

I was one of the lucky ones because all the designers speak to me.

So I got to go for sure.

I think people sometimes think that Versailles was all black girls.

It wasn't.

Wasn't at all.

It's like a melange, like a fruit salad of girls.

I never would have been there if it wasn't for Bill Blass, because what happened wa there were five designers going.

Obviously they couldn't all take their own models, so they all had to vote on the models.

And so Bill said, you're going in just for me.

So I went exclusive and I only modeled for Bill.

Some people that were close t you didn't get selected to go, but the main girls got in because they were like, you know, part of the regular scene.

Certainly people like Halston and Oscar were hiring additional models on their own, but the main grou of models that was hired was... done in Eleanor Lambert's office.

I went up to see Miss Lambert I had worked for her before doing other fashion shows.

She asked me if I was available, and I said yes I was.

Id been to Paris before, but t fly to Paris for the weekend...

I mean, it sounded so... chic.

Wilhelmina called, and tol me that, did I want to go back?

I had just come back from Europe and I said, of course!

Through my agent Wilhelmina, she said, You know, there's a phone call that just came in that theyre going to do thi fantastic event over in Paris.

And then she explained my book or what that was going to be.

And they said, would.

You be interested?

I went, would I be interested?

Let me think about this.

Yes!

I worked for Anne Klein I worked for Blass, I worked for I did Oscars show, Stephens shows, and of course, Halston.

I did go see Halston and he didn't like me, so... too bad, too sad.

Ann Klein pushes for a fair and organized process to pick the models.

Halston has different ideas for the models In his show.

Halston, who had the Halston money, the Norton Simon money that everyone talks about.

So he was hiring models like China Machado, who were really based in Europe or doing a lot of work in Europe for the couture that were, you know, a different price range.

China was like, Jane and... Marisa.

So she was a private client of Halston.

So those were, those are his ladies that he brought to the show.

I was in Halston.

Halston had quotation marks, Like celebrity people in his show, one was Marisa Berenson And there was Baby Jane Holzer I think it was a choice of Halstons that I'd be in that show and wearing his clothes.

So I went up to see Bill Blass, and I had worked for Bill Blass before.

So it was Bill Blass, Id worked for Oscar de la Renta before.

So I did that.

And the other one was Anne Klein and I had worked for Anne Klein before, so I was accepte by three of the five designers.

And then I went back to the agency, and then I ran into Eileen and she said, well, I don't want you to go because theyre not paying enough money.

Eleanor made it very clear that we had a limited budget, and that a lot of the girls were turning their nose up at these prices.

While they had a few stars, They didn't have a big budget.

And so they were using lesser known girls.

We didn't get pai a lot of money to do the show.

I'm willing to bet you 100 bucks on a handshake that this... she is a tough old bird, She could get these girls for ten cents on the dollar, and that's what she was getting.

I was, like, more of the alternative girl.

I wasn't really the girl who worked, who did all the shows, all by everybody.

Like, I never was a Halston girl.

I, you know, certain people you just didn't work for.

I was just the new kid on the block.

I just was starting to work for Oscar.

Halston, Stephen.

So there's three people already, right?

And then Bill Blass.

I work for him.

I worked for all of the designers on that.

And at Versailles.

Yes.

Yeah, I think I had worked with everybody at that point.

I think, my God, yeah.

So Oscar de la Renta, I work for Stephen.

Yeah.

Halston.

And then I worked for Bill Blass too.

So I did four of the shows.

I got on late.

I was selected last, and I got in right two days before with almost 2 o 3 days before we had the lead.

So Stephen asked me to come and do the sho with them, and I said I'd be glad to thank you.

And then Halston heard about that.

I was going, to be with Steve t photograph what this happening.

And he asked, do you think you could would Steve mind if we share you?

And I said, I don't think so, but I think you better talk to him because, you know, and he did.

And Steve was great about it.

The Americans head for Paris.

The five American designers assemble a fashion contingency totaling 36 models, ten Broadway dancers, hair stylists, dressers, assistants, photographers.

My father took me to the airport.

My father wasn' politically correct at the time.

So we go to the airport and we all met in this big room and there were hairdressers, designers.

This, and there was a lot of drama and models coming in with all...

I had to say, “Thank you daddy, you know, you can go home now.” - “Oh, look at this!

I've never seen anything like that.

What?

Who is that?” - “Please go.” “Please, go.” Well, I was thrilled.

I had never been to Paris before.

As a matter of fact, I had just recently, You know, purchased a passport.

Fog diverts a plane carrying the first class passengers, Halston, Liza Minnelli and her godmother, Kay Thompson.

The three spend the night in Aix-en-Provence In Marseilles, meanwhile, aboard Olympic Flight 401 and tourist class, American models dance in the aisles.

We had all the stuff that we needed, all the clothes was in cargo and it was a real party plane.

It was an amazing flight over.

I have to say.

It was uncomfortable for me.

I mean, there was a lot going on.

There were people running up and down the aisles, you know, and chatting and moving.

It was a lot.

This is kind of like the ebony fashion fair, you know, all these, black girls on the plane, you know, just riding really on the plane, like theyre on the bus.

Patty's in the aisle singing songs, and there was lots of, of this flowing, and, it got, there were more of us than there were of them.

So we got to do what we wanted in this plane.

Stephen was running around like a crazy person...

I don't know, I think Pat was all over the place, if I remember correctly.

There was this male model, what was he doing there?

And, who was very loud and... making himself... Oh, I don't want to talk about that... becasue he took off his shirt in the plane and sat there with no shirt on... Come on, give me a break.

You know, there's these beautiful girls here, I wonder what's happening.

We were just having a good time in the plane, and I'm sure there were catfights and all this going on...

But who cares, I was just, you know...

It was just a great plane ride.

Well, some people really wante to make a name for themselves, and they proceeded to make a name for themselves.

Well, I was exhausted, so I was trying to sleep.

All kinds of little petty frictions had, come to be, even on the plane.

And I remember getting off the plane just being so knocked out... jet lag.

We landed in Pari and everyone kissed the ground because some of the girls had never been to Paris, and this was their opportunity to show what they know.

And we got into our little bus and we went straight to Versailles.

Just arrived, yeah, getting ready to do that show in Palace Versailles, so I'm so excited.

After deplaning a private jet, Norton Simon executives and other socialites and millionaires are slightly upstaged at the Plaza Athénée by an equally, if not more famous and polarizing figure, Muammar Gaddafi, who was in Paris buying planes.

The models do not have such high profile problems at their less popular and far cheaper hotel outside of Paris.

Everything was set up.

We just went to our hotels.

We were in a hotel that wa not so great outside of Paris.

Some of them went to the bigger hotels.

Some of us stayed.

I think Halston must have been at the Plaza Athénée, and we were closer to Versailles.

We were all in little hote rooms, bunking in with people.

And then it became who's rooming with whom?

You don't know models.

You had to stay with somebody else.

This one was dissatisfied.

This one wanted to switch with this one.... and... And then the stars who were emerging because there were so many girls, the ones that felt that they, needed to establish themselves were doing that.

We were trying to see, you know, who you like who you didn't like, who youd get along with.

You know who you could you know, put up with, really.

What they didn't have when they arrived in Paris was support from the French.

Paris is the most beautiful city in the world.

If only there were no Parisians.

The French were very rude, and I don't feel uncomfortable saying that.

The Americans were not treated very warmly there.

The French handle all the arrangements for the American rehearsals, including the schedule.

They gave you an itinerary when, when you were supposed to be at Versailles and there would be a car to take us, every day and bring us back to the city.

When the rehearsal was over.

They picked us up at the hotel and took us there.

You couldn't leave.

It was rehearsal all day long.

And then they brought us back to our hotel at night.

And that was it.

The French designers rehearse first each day, followed by the Frenchs 40 piece orchestra.

French contingen had a lot of time to rehearse.

We were not allowed to rehears until like 2:00 in the morning because they had their rehearsal first and they prolonged different.

And we were there waiting, hungry, sleepy...

It frayed everyone's nerves.

And you're sitting there waiting for the French to finish.

And believe me, they could care less.

We could have sat there all day.

Actually, most days we di sit there pretty much all day.

And we're waiting and waiting and waiting.

It's freezing cold.

There's no heat.

Nobody knew what was going on.

By the time we got there the lights didn't work for us.

It was like we were being sabotaged.

No water... No... yeah, like... No toilet paper in the ladies room, stuff like that.

Yeah, It was really kind of like, Are they mad at us?

We had to throw fits to get them to finally bring food.

Because the girls, they wouldn't let them leave, but they wouldn't feed them.

It didn't make sense.

I don't know, that caused a big problem.

All these crazy models trying to speak French.

“Ooh la la, ooh cheri la mo toujour, comme ça, comme si...” I'm hungry.

In a cold place.

It was cold.

And did the other girls tell you how cold it was?

And no food?

There was no food.

We were there and no toilet paper.

Everything the girls were going through, pale compared to what the designers were doing to themselves.

Bill was first, and I was second, Anne Klein was third, Halston was fourth, and Oscar was the final.

Oscar's wife was French at that time, and so Francois was engineering everyone in the French side to give Oscar a better spot.

No, I'm going first because, yo know, I have to get out of here.

Everyone wanted to be first or last, and they couldn't figure out how to do it.

And they were trying to draw straws.

And I remember Halsto said he would kill to be first.

And the way he said it just brought chills on us.

Halston had a meltdown and insisted that the whole thing be pulled.

Halston was in a bad way at that point.

He was one of the major agitators from the really mean fighting, in-fighting for the Americans.

I missed all the fighting between Oscar and Halston and Anne Klein.

It was some kind of squabbling.

Not with me and Bill.

We were fine, but we were gone.

I missed the whole thing.

The next day I had to hear about it.

Sorry I missed it, but There was a big fight going on over rehearsal time and who was edging int someone else's rehearsal time, and it was all fighting over Kay Thompson and her time spent with each designer.

Were astounded because we didn't, we've never seen that kind of behavior between designers all acting, all diva and everything trying to, “This is my space.

Get your girls out of here.” There was some problem with Anne's section of the show, and...

They kept redoing it, not Anne, but the French people, and then There were all these breaks that they had to take, because we didn't quite understand the French, the French Union rules.

All of our music was taped on one master tape.

So, you know, Oscar de la Renta had seven minutes, and then there was a four minute blank in the tape.

And then the next music started.

And once the master tap started, you couldn't stop it.

So if you weren't in place as Oscar de la Renta or as Bill Blass, youre out of luck.

There was no unifying head of us landing in the theater and negotiating with the French for our amount of stage time.

Oscar choreographed his own segment, which was kind of interesting, you know, because Kay Thompson was there to choreograph, but because of the lack of stage time, he choreographed his at the hotel.

The French electrician said... “We're through” “Se finit, were leaving” you know?

So they left.

And Halston was furious because he wanted to rehearse and, Bill Blass didn't have an opportunity to rehearse.

When Bill Blass gets called up on stage to do it, I guess I'm up there 15 minutes and they say it's th end of the Bill Blass rehearsal.

You know, it's five different designers.

It's nobody really in charge.

They all have to come together and decide things together.

In the days leading up to the grand divertissement, Kay Thompson chooses “Bonjour Paris” from her movie “Funny Face” as the opening number for Liza Minnelli.

The models easily fit in with the Broadway dancers, yet with little to no rehearsal time, the Americans struggled to figure out their show.

Kay Thompson is not able to carve out enough time to meet each designer's need, leading to some conflict.

And it gets so vicious that Kay Thompson, th woman who was brought to Paris to direct the American segment, quits on the stage, quits!

She said, I will not participate in this kind of meanness, and and this is disgusting.

And she storms off.

The rehearsals were tense, but Stephen was very calm.

The rest of them seemed t be going a little mad-bonkers.

And they had Kay Thompson.

They brought in this actress from Hollywood who, was brought in to help... everyone with their production.

She didn't help me at all, though.

She...

I thought they were figuring out what was going to happen once I gave them the music.

But when I got there, I foun that I was supposed to think of what was supposed to be done so quickly.

We thought of what to do.

And we thought she was for everyone there.

Just.

That's what Stephen thought.

And I thought, okay, well, she's going to tell us what to do.

And dot dot dot, But it wasn't the case at all.

We never even spoke to her.

The measurements and lighting instructions are lost in translation for the Americans.

Joe Eula's set designs are created in centimeters instead of yards, causing them to be much smaller than necessary.

Joe Eula, whos this, painter and illustrator was supposed to draw and he drew it in my studio.

Announcing a big Eiffel Tower, that was going to hang so we could have something.

No one had figured the dimensions of the stage.

In their preparations for this show.

And this is a wide stage to get across, to get to the center, to then come down to the front, because after all, this was some sort of a fashio show, so everything was skewed.

I remembered the backdrop that Joe had made, for it wasn't the right size.

And he said it, It just looks like a little postage stamp sitting up there on stage.

Eleanor described it as, you know, towels just flapping in the wind.

The stage dwarfed the the scenery, so we had to get rid of it.

The artist, Joe Eula, had th problem with, the props design, and he had to redo everything, quickly.

I mean, it's it was a big, big panic.

French designers bicker over sets and the vignettes.

Marc Bohan of Christian Dior is not pleased when he is assigned a giant pumpkin set.

On the French side, the man who was supposed to be the director, was Jean-Louis Barrault, who was a French star.

Jean-Louis Barrault joins last minute to direct the melange after an Italian director quit.

The complicated sets are the brainchild of Barons de Rothschilds protege decorator Jean-Francois Daigre, and stressed the French in the same way the lack of sets upset the Americans.

But I think everybody that was anybody i Paris wanted to be part of this and sort of give glamorous parties for all of these designers and for all of these glamorous people that were in Paris.

So, you know, it was an event.

It was very, very important for everybody because everybody involved was put into the light in the best way, you know?

So there there was around this, a lot going on.

David Mahoney, referred to as “Monsieur Money Money” throws a $20,000 party for 200 guests at Maxine's the night before th show, in honor of Liza Minnelli.

The day before the show, a very elegant party was given here in this room.

Basically, it was a party, really, for Halston and Halstons friends, Stephen Burrows came.

Oscar was not there.

Bill Blass was not there, or his, you know, entourage.

So it was mostly.

Halston and a lot of the models that worked with Halston.

And we didnt say “Jet Society” at that time, we preferred the Café Society which was the real name of this elegant and fashionable world.

We stayed a very long drunk time.

We drank a lot of champagne.

Well, there was this place called that we all heard about here, called the club “Set”, and it was infamous That's where I met, Jerry Hall for the first time.

She was there with, Antonio, you know, the illustrator and all that.

It was just a mad place.

Everybody dancing all at once.

It was just great.

You could meet anyone there.

But that's about, I only went there twice, I think, with all the girls and the guys.

That was it.

They were going, like Halston and them, they were going to Maxine's and this and that.

We couldn't afford that.

On the evening of November 28th, 1973, the snow began to fall at the Palace of Versailles.

You have never seen anything more beautiful.

And you arrived to Versailles.

We came out from Paris, and the Palace of Versailles was lit by candelabras.

150 footmen and 18th century livery were holding these.

And that's what lit everybody's, entrance to the ball.

The crème de la crème start to arrive for the golden palace gates, the gratis of European society and millionaire luminaries including Christina Onassis, the ____ the Guinnesses, dukes and duchesses, Prince and princesses from far and near enter the gilded palace gates.

You could have backed an 18 Wheeler up and filled it with the jewels that we saw, there wer tiaras, necklaces and bracelets, I mean, unbelievable stuff.

Princess Grace had her fucking crown on.

You know what I mean?

This was where they come out with all this stuff.

I personally was wearing magnificent blue chiffon dress, That Hubert Givenchy made for me and Gerald from Van Cleef insisted in my wearing his diamond.

So I was bejeweled and I ha to have bodyguards all evening.

The guests fill the Theatre Royal, flooding the tiers and private boxes.

Marie-Hélène de Rothschil personally greets and welcomes everyone as they walk into the theater.

The guests, with great anticipation, are ready for the grand divertissement.

As the lights turned down, silence crept throughout the blue and gold theater.

The French presentation opened with the forest of Versailles and the Temple of Love.

The House of Dior begins with ten mannequins.

A pumpkin carriage emerges and a ballerina pirouettes out to the music of Prokofiev.

Pierre Cardin launches a rocket with fireworks taking off from the forest.

Emanuel Ungaro begins his presentation with a little girl sewing on the stage, an alpine double bass player sawing away, a rhinoceros looming, pulling a gypsy cart with ten Ungaro mannequins and Jane Birkin in her underwear, followed by Louis Jourdan in an animal costume.

A sequined mile-long Bugatti chugs on stage with ten Yves Saint Laurent mannequins, all in long, mainly chiffon evening dresses.

Zizi Jeanmaire, dressed like a man, dances with two models.

Then two fat men dressed like women, appear and dance during her rendition of “Just a Gigolo” Actress and fashion model, Capucine, stars in the Hubert de Givenchy show in a beautiful white dress with white ostrich feathers, with baskets of flowers dropping from the skies.

Men in black tie join the ten mannequins in chiffon dresses and waltz.

The French show is star-studded.

In between the designers, Rudolf Nureyev performs a “Pa de Deux” from Sleeping Beauty.

American-born Parisian sensation Josephine Baker is a finale resplendissant Should you ask me for the world....

Somehow, Id get it... Id Sell my very soul.... and not regret it... Because to live... without your love... it's just impossible.

The dancers from the Crazy Horse Saloon are covered in luxurious furs from Revillon, Dior, Ungaro and Yves Saint Laurent and join Josephine Baker on stage.

After two and a half hours, the French presentation ends.

They had everything.

You just couldn't believe all the entertainment they had.

It was like a circus.

It was like a circus.

The only thing they didn't d was shoot a man out of a cannon.

The French, had very elaborate sets.

They had very complicated routines, you know, they had, Louis Jourdan, they had Nuria, they had a number of stars, including Zizi Jeanmaire I mean, they just had everybody.

It was great to see because, yo know, but it was over the top.

They had, rockets coming down.

They were cardboard rockets.

It was a little bit corny, a little, cardboard-y, a little bit... dance hall musical thing.

Josephine Baker arrived in this huge, carriage being pulled by reindeers.

You know, it was spectacular, though, she was.

The girls from the Crazy Horse Saloon, that was a big surprise.

These girls came out of thes big fur coats and parade around.

Wearing, fur coats, from Yves Saint Laurent And then, boom, stark naked, honey.

They just had a lot going on.

They were just introducing act after act.

There was no continuity.

And I kept thinking, it's so disjointed.

They thought that we were going to come on, and they were competing with variety and they really went for it.

They just showed whatever they wanted.

They all thought they were the best, which probably was true, in fact.

And so there was no effort to being together.

Each person had a different.

Set, each designer had a different set.

So at the end of each presentation, everything had to be struck and reassembled.

It was very beautiful and very stiff.

That was kind of the way it had been done in the couture houses for 40 or 50 years.

That way.

The French did the mor traditional modeling, laid back, hips forward, spanning, and they were very surreal.

And it wa it was a wonderful fashion show.

It was typically French in the presentation, which is very noble and carefully walked and stiff, in our sense of stiff and... Another time.

Because we, choose, a very, a very famous, American an French singer, Josephine Baker.

It was a sort of link between the two, the two continents.

But in fact, she was 70 and she was not 70.

She was 67, quite old, in fact.

And everything was a bit old in, in what represented and definitely out of fashion.

They were presenting French fashion as it was in Paris as it was.

So they did totally the right thing.

I think if they had done anything else, it wouldn't have been French.

Their section with 2.5 hours long, I believe.

So we had to sit in the corner and wait.

So we were backstage and was, you know, we were waiting to go out and the French just kept moving that scenery on that old fashion, “machina de dio” with the wheels, the wood wheels running across the stage.

And you could smell the dust in the wood.

And we said, oh, we i the 1700s, no, let's go for it.

And we finally had our turn.

After a brief intermission, the Americans take th stage opening with Liza Minnelli singing “Bonjour Paris” Anne Klein the Grand Dame, of American sportswear show, separates in an African theme.

Following the big opening with Liza Minnelli Stephen Burrows follows Anne Klein and brings down the house with his famous lettuce edge and brightly colored jersey, interspersed with waves of multi-colored bibs, pop art bodices and long skirts with sweeping trains.

Bill Blass shows next.

The show is laden with crepe cardigans, pleated chiffon skirts with ruffled blouses, lavish fur trims and sheets of sequins, which lend a nod to The Great Gatsby, Newport and DeVille.

The beautiful and elegant gowns from Oscar de la Renta dazzle in chiffons, crepes and satin-face crepe de chines and blue peach and green floatin and flowing, guided by a genie.

Oscar wows the audience with daywear, an evening wear, Billie Blair leads the glamorous models as a genie enticing them and the audience.

Halston models pose to music from the damned and caped chiffon, swirling big satin capes and jackets with striped pallets and a light effect.

Elsa Peretti carries an oversize compact of her own design, opening the show and Marisa Berenso in a nod to the Folies Bergère, she has a solo moment on stage in sheer black gown.

The audience roars with approval, shouting Bravo!

Tossing their 100 franc programs into the air.

Thunderous applaus reverberate the Theater Royale.

The Americans started and it just exploded, it went “Bam!” And the curtain goes up and thi energy comes flying out at you.

It was electrifying.

For all the stiffness of the French thing, the Americans got out there and slammed ‘em with this just this raw energy.

The first number was this unbelievably, energetically choreographed number called “Bonjour Paris” “Bonjour Paris”... “Bonjour Paris!” “I'm going to step out on the Champs-Élysées.” “When they parlez-vous us We'll just give ‘em okay, that's for me” I have goosebumps thinking about it.

I mean, she got out there and it was like, “we're it!” And I watched Liza talk to th models and she was so wonderful.

And she said, kids, we never rehearsed this.

But she said, it's easy.

You know, it's just going to be sheer energy and guts.

And she said, we're all tourists in Paris Liza Minnelli came out and sang “Bonjour Paris” oh my God, every time I think about it... because we had talked and she does something where she strikes a pose and there's supposed to be a photographer snapping her picture, and I was going to be the photographer.

But during the show I had to help Stephen, so I couldn't be there.

So she struck a pose, bu nobody was there with the flash.

And I said, oh my God.

And we had rehearsed it all day long, Id “Click”... My first segment was Anne Klein, and I had on sort of like a camel khaki.

It was very simple daywear.

It was classic go-to-work wear The Anne Klein was, was very, let's say, more Caribbean-like...

There were cottons and linens and multicolored and, and an that section was very frenetic.

And all you could hear in the background was just applause and screaming.

And, you know, and, you know, I'm trying, I'm like, whoa, you can't see anybody, but you can hear all this, hear all this going on.

That's oh, this is this is great.

You know, because, I mean, that type of thing makes you, you know, because you when you do model it's it's really about attitude a lot of attitude and, and so when you hear that, you know, the attitude grows, it grows, you know.

So yeah.

So that was that was very exciting, very exciting.

The Bill Blass was very sophisticated.

Very Great Gatsby, very 30s.

It was like a tableau.

We didnt move, Sort of very staged in, in vignettes.

When the lights came on for us, we were standing in position and then I think we moved to another position.

We had sweaters.

Nobody did sweaters as jackets.

He had hand knit sweater jackets, gray flannel pants, these little slouched hats.

And then it moved to another position and then somebody else moved over here.

The guys were in navy blazers and white from his Bill Blass men's.

And we were all going to the races to like Ascot or... Chianti or something.

So we all came out and we were like.

Watching the horses go by.

Oscar's was just it was lovely.

Because Billie Blair was this genie with a scarf.

It there was a theme that was, a genie...

I was the genie.

So she had this, like, scarf, and she would go around and, shed, and then you'd come alive and move.

Then West started over here and then to bring these beautiful colors out in the greens, the genie.

And oh, then we look over here and then there, you have maybe the peach colors and then the peach, you know, it's coming out.

That's kind of the whole of Oscar's segment.

She would go to the person and kind of like, snap and you move and you' move across and do your thing.

And the music.

Was turned up really loud.

And I don't think they ever heard Barry White in the Theater Royale before.

There's a part that's, “du la la la...” And then there goes the fabric.

Well, it's on then Then the genie gets to working.

So I considered her kind of the the star of that segment.

So all these models were following her like a snake around the stage.

And then at the very finale, they all we all came out together to close it, facing everybody in the audience.

And that was just awesome!

Oh!

Its just not like any fashio show that had ever been before.

Halston decided that it was all going to be fantasy.

More.

It's as if Martha Graham choreographed it, you know, her staging.

So you have a light here on one of the models, then the light fades.

Then it goes to, two models that are standing there, Chris Royer and Elsa Peretti, And then the light fades.

And every outfit that h produced was a fantasy number.

It was the topless dress that China Machado wore That came up to here.

But there were no, her breasts were shown.

There was nothing on top.

So she said, “I just can't go out there” Let her tell you the story better.

I had a chiffon skirt that came from here down, and nothing up here without my nothing.

Okay, so it gives me this fan.

She had a black, cock feathers in the handle, a silver handle that Elsa Peretti had made.

I mean, this is a quite big fan.

It wasn't a small.

That was quite a big fan.

So I thought, well, I'll just hold it like this.

And maybe do a little flutter, you know?

But I certainly wasn't going t come out holding it like this.

But anyway, it was fun.

And he also gave our chain of dress like that.

It was one shoulder with one breast out, but she had red feathers that covered the breast like that.

But when she got on stage, she just flipped it.

And out...

It was great!

And I had, a great number that Halston made me do to a dance number, which I was always in my dreams, wanting to be a musical star.

Always.

So this was like the perfect occasion for me to be able to dance and, I had on this, sequins, black, completely transparent dress, which was fine.

You know, I didn't mind with a G-string.

And I danced in this dress.

Pat Cleveland came out in a trajectory, started spinning backstage because she had this dress that was really exaggerated on the bias.

Really, really, really full Lots of chiffons, different shades of tans and browns and everything.

And Pat Cleveland came fro behind that curtain, twirling.

Going faster and faster and faster.

And we were all standing backstage going, she's not going to make it.

She's got to go off the edge of the stage.

But she looked like a moth.

She turned so fast.

I said, oh my God.

And I turned and turn and tur and turn, turn turn turn turn.

So much.

People screaming now because they all are afraid, and they're all excited by this perfection.

that they see going on, on these, these heels Like this... and stops right at the edge of the stage.

And people just went absolutely crazy.

It was like a whirlwind coming at you, was great.

And then Al Green started and the beat was starting and the girls just sauntered out in these rainbow colored Stephen Burrows things and walked straight down really fierce.

My whole theme was abou a train, the dress, each dress, the train got longer and longer and longer and longer.

And so I was one of the shorte trains because I was too clumsy to wear a long train.

That would have been a very embarrassing thing.

Moving those trains in an S-shape down the stage with the spotlight on each girl.

So instead of coming like, you know, instead of coming directly toward the audience, we'd walk this way and then we'd walk this way and then walk that way, and then we'd walk straight back because the other person would be doing the zigzag.

All the girls strutte and still they had just landed like a flock of peacock on stage.

And that was the theme of mine was a train getting longer and longer and longer.

That was it.

There was this stark blue... screen in the back, and all we saw were these huge feather blooms and the girls coming down.

They look so fierce, so fierce and really strong.

And they had never seen that.

They had never seen something like that.

And then they got down to the bottom of the stage and they turned and kept on doing it.

Bethann was I mean, she looke like she's going to eat them up.

Bethann was next to last, And her train was, I called it a duck dress because it was yellow.

Bethann Hardison came down in that yellow gown that had the train, and she was strutting like no one had ever seen anything ever in life.

And when she got to the end, she pronounced that train with a drop.

When I threw that train down, i was like I defied the audience.

And they started the screaming and yelling.

Then when Bethann came down.

But culminated with Pat, she was my finale and she had the longest train, which stretched from the back of the theater to the front of the edge of the stage.

But then at the end of his segment, we all walked down en masse together.

And they all came forward an stood at the front and vogued.

They said that was the first voguing.

Oh my gosh.

It was like, you know, barrage of yelling and screaming and applauding and, you know, because we all kind of came down front all at the same time, you know, in a, in this, you know, this long road.

They just went crazy.

At the end when those girl were on the stage doing their, poses and everything, searchlights all over them.

The impact of that sent the audience into a frenzy.

And all these beautiful black girls, were just too much for the French.

They started screaming, thro up their programs up in the air.

I mean, they started throwing their programs in the air and screaming.

I thought something was wrong.

It was like... What's happening?

Did something go wrong?

No, something went right.

All the beautiful programs, these beautiful, Versailles programs of the French wen flying in the air like confetti.

And those programs weren't cheap.

They cost $50.

And back in that day, that was a lot of money.

Programs went up.

They stood up, clapping stomping and yelling, yelling.

They stood up, clapping stomping and yelling, yelling!

I couldn't imagine them yelling because, you know, all of these princesses, Prince and this and that.

The applauds were led by Grace Kelly and, Josephine Baker.

And they were stomping and the stood up and they were yelling, and I just couldn't believe it.

Bravo, bravo!

And they were making s much noise, I thought, My God, are there like a billion bottles of champagne popping?

People stomped at Versailles, you know, they were jumping up and down, peeing in their seats because these girls are so fabulous Stomping their feet, now, there are those fabulous six and $700 shoes are stomping their feet.

When those programs went up in the air, I never forget seeing Halston and Liza in that wing.

I asked Liza Minnelli and she said I was looking up, And Princess Grac was one of the first people who who was an American who was, you know, obviously in the French audience, was one of the first people to throw her programs in the finale.

And she said it felt absolutely incredible because she, they at first they didn't realize what was happening, but she realized that th French thought this was amazing.

It was so festive and so extraordinary.

Yes, it was.

And to be in Versailles, you know, I mean, God, to do a fashion show in Versailles... Louis the 14th, I mean what the hell were we doing?

It was fantastic.

So it was just, I think, a little bit more than they could have really.

The Americans made a good production, which didn't exist in France this way, and the show lasted 35 minutes altogether.

And, it was extremely active and fun and musical when obviously Jean-Louis Barrault could do nothing to just get the French designers to come into his system.

And each of them wanted to show the maximum of things.

It was a bore.

You like, oh my God, oh my God, you know.

And you're just so excited kissing everybody and hugging and craziness going on in the back.

Most of us couldn't believe it.

I mean, we thought we were great, but, you know, suddenly you thought, oh my God, there's Pierre Cardin, There's Saint Laurent theres Dior, you know, and... people went wild.

How do you compare that?

You know, what do we do?

We just went and did a simple show.

I think the French really got to it and they really appreciated it, especially with Stephen.

I don't think it hit us until that day was all over.

How big it was, how important it was.

And then we were all, our mouths were open, Oh, my God we really did something because the show that we put on was very simple, very simple.

And the French, of course, went completely bananas.

It came off great.

We killed ‘em.

Countess Jacqueline de Ribes declared the French were pompous and pretentious.

As she walks backstage and buy a green Oscar de la Renta dress right off the back of a model.

Saint Laurent, acknowledging that Stephen Burrows was the true American designer, and that was it.

That was, that was the biggest thing for us.

If Saint Laurent knew exactly who Stephen was and told them how much he loved the clothes, he thought he was the best designer.

Phyllis Feldkamp writes, “Within the space of approximately 50 minutes, five designers from New York's Seventh Avenue, showing for the first time i France, outclass the Paris peers and brought down a sellout house packed with the hypercritical tu Paris” When the Americans presented, it was as if all the doors of the chateau had blown ope and the new century had arrived.

Within thirty three minutes, Eleanor Lambert put America on the map.

We seem to, flow from one segment to the next so easily there didn't seem to be this disjointed thing that had happened for the French.

They just thought that we were just going to come on there were all kinds of acts and and it was the opposite.

It was about the clothes and about the presentation of simplicity.

Just beautiful clothes, on good looking people moving across the stage, no props, no spaceships.

The French were just astonished because they had been the king of the heap in fashion for lo, these many years.

And here was an American style, an American grace, an energy that, was so new.

The diamond ruby, an emerald bejeweled audience saunters into the King's apartments for the supper hosted by the Rothschilds following the show.

Someone came back and said, All the Americans, all the models are invited to dinner.

So you were invited upstairs so we could dine in the King's quarters.

And I just happened to have a dress.

I just happened to have it.

I had my Bill Blass dress, and I remember walking down this red carpet and up the stairs, this huge stone stairway up to the king's quarters to die.

Is this real?

Is this really happening?

Are they really that crazy about us?

Wow.

It's like when we walked into the room afterwards for dinner.

They gave us another ovation.

We walked in there to eat so I was like, okay, we did it.

We really did it.

And we all had these beautiful tables with the little golden chairs.

And there were gifts from, Estee Lauder little golden boxes under the chairs.

And there was Liza drinking champagne with the Rothschilds and Marisa Berenson The exquisite buffet consisted of croquembouche Terrines, paté and confits, and the finest wine from the personal collection of the Rothschilds.

I will never forget the food there.

It was just like a fairy tale buffet.

This picture that I have of Blass and Minnelli coming down the stairs into the hall of mirrors and she struck a pose for me.

It was really nice.

After dinner you paraded up and down the hall of mirrors and looked at yourself in the reflections.

And it was a long hall, because thats what It was for It was for indoor promenading.

No regular people were allowed to walk down the Hall of mirrors, but they were opening up to it, to all the people that attended the divertissment that night.

Walking back and forth, everybody with their partner, talking and saying hello and talking about the show.

And we looked at ourself in the mirrors, and there was Donna Karan and Karen Bjornson in her Halston Cinderella dress, and there was Stephen and everybody and all the girls and the Countess and Grace, and we were just moving down the Hall of Life with that atmosphere.

The Figaro journalist Jea Fayad said in the Morning Daily.

“I would not be telling the truth if I did not say the American show.

their clothes 100 times better than we.

All their models are stars of the stage, each one more beautiful, lither, more panther-like than the other.

They marched like soldiers and they turn like dancers.” I mean, the French came up with the big galleon and like, you know, girls posing like this.

And all of a sudden, here were these beautiful black models who came in dancing and, and people just got up and clapped and screamed.

What changed?

It was the models bringing the energy from the street and the clothes themselves being so uniquely American rather than copied versions of French clothes.

And it wasn't about the sets and it wasn't about the music, and it wasn't about the dancers.

It was about the models and the energy that they had.

And so when you have, a black woman sashaying and then throwing her train, I mean, it becomes something that is different than, the more polite, expression of standard, fashion, runway style at that period.

American sportswear was some something that had to be paid attention to, and that's what Eleanors championed, all these, all her years in fashion was that Americans had a voice which was considered not a voice before that was just we copied everything from Paris.

This Versailles changed that.

People like Bill Blass or Oscar de la Renta became key actors on the market, and especially Halston, whose talent was recognized.

It started, It's the beginning of American design.

The event of ‘73 will open the eyes of the not only of the French audience, but also of the European audience about all the possibilities of the style and of the fashion coming from the States.

And I think it put the American fashion into the world fashion.

That was a show that did it.

It put American, sportswear and fashion on the map with Europe.

But I think that was the that was the point by then, because we realized tha we were a little out of fashion, in spite of the quality of the, of the creations of the French designers.

The quality was not to be discussed, of course, but the way it was presented was different.

Definitely tacky and definitely out of, of fashion.

It also made America a part of the real fashion, because the French have always taken on that role.

You know, fashion is in Paris the haute couture is in Paris, and they hold on to that in a very strong way.

You know.

But America coming over and, and sort of being a part of all of that was important for, for, I think, American fashion to be as great as haute couture in the French were.

When people were watching in that room.

They saw not simply that it was a new day for Americans to be taken seriously, but that, the next decades, the next decades that followed would, be characterized by a different approach to the business of fashion.

There are moments in history that change the course of history.

That was a moment in history that changed the course of fashion history.

American editors, who had not always believed in American fashion, saw something that night, saw that the French were responding to American.

And it really did change everything, because up until that moment, the American editors looked to the French couture as their sign of what was happening.

If some somebody had to win, certainly did.

The American won for for this, for this precise event because something new happened there.

And, perhaps it was really the death of, haute couture.

Do you know what I think it did more than simply, become a platform for American fashion.

It became a platform for ready-to-wear, because that's reall what the Americans represented.

The idea that there could be this, many design and manufacturing process, that could reach a huge audienc and still be, really seductive.

This event, affected, ready-to-wear very, quite a lot, in fact, because of prominent place in the development of ready-to-wear showing ready-to-wear can be, very creative and, and very chic and that you can mix one piece with, with another an make your own style with that.

Well, I think, it certainly, made the American fashion stand on its own feet for the first time.

It always been kowtowing to the Europeans, European designers, and what is great about the American designers is they make clothes that people wear.

And you don't have to b a multimillionaire to wear them.

It was really world, a world wide revolution for the way people dress.

It's become much more casual.

It's not class conscious.

- It was...

The presence of these African American models that just animated the stage.

One has to say, the presence of, the, to the audience of the haute couture, which had non-Western models.

But really, until that point, n real presence of, black models, that it was shocking, I mean, but in the best way.

Versailles represents the apogee of classic French culture.

I mean, it was the most glorious building in, their history.

And for women who were possibly descendants of slaves to be the stars in this magnificent guilded Chateau... Not only are they models, they are showgirls, they are dancers, they are actresses.

They were all of it.

And they went out there and blew everybody away.

For the Americans, it was all about great clothing and the tour de force that were the black women that strutted that runway.

I was a part of a... of a group of black women who did make an impact.

The black models, the American models in general at Versailles in November 1973, actually did cause a major reversal.

Of how the fashion industry looked at black women and the concept of black beauty connected to black women.

The black models a Versailles would be recognized for not only the difference they made that evening, but for the change they brought to runway shows and walks around the world.

They brought such, freshness, such a different way of moving because, you know, the Europeans loo kind of stiff when they modeled.

And these girls came out shaking, wow, were they shaking... You know, in Paris when I began, you just didn't smile and you just walked in and there was a number by the door, just walked in and you walked out.

That was it, you know?

So this freshness, this happiness, this dancing quality that they brought in just absolutely blew everybody away.

It just changed, it revolutionized because we had wonderful African American models who could move like nobody's business.

Clearly it was felt even then because... Givenchy once said to me when we were doing the Givenchy exhibition down at FIT, it's after that that he changed the way that his runway presentations were.

He had music, he had more lively, walk down the runway, again, that it wasn't this, this idea that the haute couture had to somehow be separate fro what was happening... in life.

They brought with them life because before them, all American models were, were kind of like based on French.

You know, it was aboutI having a lot of attitude, a lot of elegance.

Even for me, you know, I was schooled in France and I knew about how to turn and show a dress and throw a shawl around, I knew all that, but I didn't emote... life.

And I think what characterized the walk, if you will, that you know how we define it when you look back at Versailles is that the walk was one of affirmation, and that's something that you own from your soul.

It has nothing to do with the clothing and everything to do with what you bring to the clothing.

These girls are magicians of movement.

They just created different ways of wearing clothes and spinning and pirouetting and flying down the runway.

Oh, please.

I think they loosened everything up.

All the models starte walking differently after that.

They became much more loose.

And then they did this straddle kind of walking, you know, like your hips and your ass move this way, wasnt that way before.

The point is that we had a kind of rhythm in our walk, And, nothing else worked.

What does a girl have to do, get to the core of what you know, just move it, you know?

So we moved it, and we moved it a little bit, a lot a bit, and then an extraordinary amount, and it just took over everything.

But the point is, is we had no props.

We had nothing to work with.

We had no staging, we had no rockets, we had no good lighting.

All we had was the core of who we were.

And so the designers decided t take the theme of who we were, and they put us out front because were they we were their arsenal.

We were what no one else had.

So, you know, the thing that that may have been thought a flaw, became the pearl.

So that was kind of the story of how those girls who were brought to Paris because you could get ‘em cheap, turned the world of fashion upside down.

The fact that these are black women all transformed the way that runway presentations were for for a decade.

It's important to know.

It stopped time.

It changed the course of history.

There's something about a way a black girl walks.

I am still fascinated by what happened that night at the Palace of Versailles, of how, the Americans came and conquered and who that crowd was.

You can't write a story like that.

It was a launching pad.

It was the type of recognition that was long overdue.

This was a moment in the history of the presentation of fashion that electrified the world of fashion.

We didn't think it was this, a thing that was going to be still resonating, it was just a benefit as far as we were concerned.

To look at the photographs now, it's, I can't believe I was there.

About the most glamorous thing I ever experienced in my entire life, and, that's pretty heady stuff.

In the art of fashion.

I think it's importan that we talk about this moment.

Something happened there that night and the French were willing to admit it.

This is it.

Theres no going back.

There's no.. That was a great moment for me.

I think that was my biggest moment ever.

Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, Because I was just an oddball seed in the wind.

How did I get there?

Fashion.

It was a great idea, I mean, to have every, all the American designers come to Paris and, and, perform in that little extraordinary jewel of a theater in Versailles, which, I have never been there since, actually.

But it's one of the mos beautiful places in Versailles.

The event was probably once in a lifetime occurrence.

It was, very proud that I was there and that I could participate.

And we were all fabulous.

Just... We represented America.

We were the stars that night.

Americans were the stars.

Revolutions are often ascribed a defining moment, a time and place where people can actually see change happening.

So for me, everything was in the energy of defiance.

I would look at someone in an audience.

You looked at the people.

You didn't just walk down.

They do now.

Just walk straight ahead.

Look straight at the cameras.

You looked at the audience.

And so I, the audience was right in front of me.

We didn't have a runway where you could look side to side or turn, and you couldn't do that.

We had to walk straight down.

It was not much you could do.

So that was the hardest thing for us.

For me, especially because I was someone who was a more of a performer.

America always had this capacity.

As long as it's, Europe's, don't have to, be extremely interested in fashion in Paris.

It's interesting to see that even now, when Asia is important in our export business, that the most important judgment comes from America.

And, we have difficulties to believe that, Madame Wintour could become Chinese.

There were so many that went before us.

There were Helen Williams, who came through, and Ophelia DeVore who had a modeling agency, who pushed Helen and others into the general market.

They were the pioneers.

And, then, of course, next came the first person to be on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, Donyale Luna.

And Naomi wasn't there, and Naomi was a big presence in breaking the color line.

And Charlene Dash came after her.

So we stood on the shoulders of many people who had gone before us.

Exactly that incredible energy that America had and that, that pizzazz, you know, that that they and that, bigger-than-life, wonderful, glamorous sense that America has, you know, of performing and... making everything just extraordinary.

That's really what it's America represents.

The interest America brings to Europe and when I say Paris, because, London is an iron islan and Milan is not exciting and, Berlin is too far out so that it happens to be i Paris and Europe is a reality.

And, let's face it, it's more fun to be here, no question about that.

Well, after my photograph came out in Vogue in ‘69, Vogue 69 Mr. de la Renta invited me to, you know, I was called in to meet him, and he was doing a show, going to do a Johnny Carson show.

So I was on the Johnny Carson show with Oscar de la Renta, there were other models...

It was a little fashion show.

So I got to meet Johnny Carson, so that was very exciting.

Then after that, I was.

I told you, I met Richard Avedon, who I thought was his assistant, Gideon, because I didn't know what he looked like, and I was I did this this ad, it was an Alcoa ad, and it was metallic dresses or something.

And there were several, about seven girls Jean Shrimpton, Samantha Jones, who else was there?

Windsor Eliot...

When the American segment started It was, you had to pay attention.

You had to sit up and pay attention.

And the colors were moving.

The girls were moving, the music was moving.

Obviously, it knocks their socks off.

They're like.

What's happening?

I think in those moments on that stage, that was like one of those moments where time stood still, like you might have fallen in love and you might have understood that.

Is this really how, this is like a moment in time that youll never, ever see again.