One can hear it in the way he speaks, that Stephen Burrows is one among the multitudes who came from somewhere else. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, on May 15, 1943.
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Mr. Burrows is a fashion designer whose clothes defined an era. He has done superbly well since his arrival. I, for one, have spent the last several years observing something of the buoyancy of his enduring appeal. Burrow's brilliant work, from 1968 to 1983, is the subject of an important rertrospective exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, “Stephen Burrows: When Fashion Danced.”
It's the thing that most makes living here so extraordinary, the fact which one sometimes forgets to remember. Matchless opportunity in New York lures superb people, people who are the best in the world at whatever they do, to one small spot. Remarkably, one even often meets the great, as they condescend to live in our midst. Day in and out, we strive so to emulate the rebuke and encouragement represented by their success, mostly unaware of their equal effort to sustain all their gained and the glory.
Ca. 1974
An all-important part of most triumphs, is how well one responds to life's inevitable setbacks, eclipses or failures. This is something well worth careful study, for whoever's name is on the card drawn from the envelope, there is always sure to be an audience watching. The harshness with which one's reaction is critically appraised, is nowhere greater than in Manhattan.
Naturally, Michael McCollom and I included Stephen Burrows 7 years ago, when we co-curated the MCNY's groundbreaking exhibition, "Black Style Now." Exploring the influence of hip hop and earlier African American popular culture on fashion, in some ways it can be said to have been a prelude to “Stephen Burrows: When Fashion Danced.” In any case, is was preparatory for this undertaking that I first became acquainted with the man whose aesthetic sense so imbued the period of my coming of age, in the 1970's. How nice, modest, affable, engaging and ageless he is. From that initial encounter, I have come to attend one Burrows' tribute after the next. Fittingly, each has been a superlative event.
Evening Cocoon, a polychrome-printed black silk georgette dress, hand-beaded and sequined, by designer Stephen Burrows shown in theMCNY's groundbreaking 2006 exhibition, "Black Style Now."
The first, 4 years ago, was especially memorable for taking place at an unusual Harlem venue. Mounting a serpentine stair, emerging into a dimly lit cavernous hall, one was embraced by the ever louder sonorous sounds of Sonatas by Chopin. Billed as Collections, Spring Season 2010, Harlem's Fashion Row, the showing of creative apparel I attended, on a 'dark and stormy night,' was extraordinary! There surely could not have ever been a lovelier or livelier paced event held in the city.
Staged at the Gatehouse, a late Victorian industrial building-turned performance space, the show featured the elegant work of Dinna Soliman, wildly experimental offerings for men by handsome Haitian native José Duran, design-team-sisters, Lialia, and the incomparable Epperson.
Audrey Smaltz and Epperson
Characteristic of occasions honoring Burrows, people were at pains to look their best. Every bit as chic and arresting as anything viewed in the collections presented, was the raiment of the fashionable, diversely-multicultural and inter-generational audience.
Such hats and coiffures, such precious paste jewelry, such fabulous frocks and marvelous shoes, all made one optimistic, that allure and glamour are not yet extinct!
And, as if one needed for that notion to be underscored, at the very end, all of the show's models formed a tableau vivant, and a bouquet wasthrust at that ultimate high-fashion-icon, Stephen Burrows. Wearing black, armed with sunglasses, the maestro smiled shyly, as the elegant crowd stood to pay respectful tribute.
Stephen Burrows and Veronica Jones
What strides this masterful man made in the 1970's, dressing Cher, Diana Ross, Lauren Bacall, Liza Minnelli, Jerri Hall, Lauren Hutton, Barbara Streisand and Farrah Fawcet.
What a moment of triumph, for the entire nation, occurred in 1973. During a benefit fashion extravaganza at the Palace of Versailles,
"In the fashion world, 38 years ago, failure to give black models opportunities to work was a particularly acute problem," former model Audrey Smaltz tells me. "That's what made what happened at Versailles so sensational," she says! Bethann Hardison, who was there, said, "The amazing showdown was the idea of Francoise de la Renta, Oscar de la Renta's late wife, one of the sweetest women imaginable." Mrs. de la Renta, Ms. Hardison explains, wanted to do something for Versailles, to benefit the restoration of Marie Antoinette theatre in the park of the Petit Trianon. She dreamed up an amazing idea for 5 designers each, from Paris and New York to do a big show together in friendly competition. Yves Saint Laurent, Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Emanuel Ungaro, and Pierre Cardin would represent France against Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Stephen Burrows, Halston, and Anne Klein. On both sides it was largely assumed, that what with centuries of acclaim and a home court advantage, the French were unassailable.
But out-spent and out-classed by the French production, which included Nureyev, Josephine Baker, elaborate backdrops and assorted special effects like a Sputnik replica, by deploying a lithe contingent of black models who stepped down the runway in Burrow's sensuously diaphanous sheaths to a disco beat, the Americans causes an upset. Burrows and the expressive models who were his muses, stopped and stole the show! Providing opportunities to models that were heretofore overlooked or underutilized, Burrows helped to boost the careers of Norma Darden, Pat Cleveland, Alva Chinn, and Bethanne Hardison amongst others.
The black models at Versailles were Billie Blair, Pat Cleveland, Alva Chinn, Amina Warsuma, Jennifer Brice, Norma Jean Darden, Charlene Dash, Barbara Jackson, Ms. Hardison, and Ramona Saunders, who has since died. A disarming combination of simplicity and cool was what made the offerings of the American designers so effective. Think of how divinely their elegant, but uncluttered frocks must have contrasted with the sumptuousness of Versailles' Royal Opera where the show was staged. Due to a mix-up their stets had to be scrapped in favor of a bare stage. Moreover, juxtaposed with the French, the American contingent worked with an infinitesimally small crew that included Kay Thompson, Joe Eula, and Liza Minnelli.
"We had spirited music from the Love Unlimited Orchestra and that personality, and it was something that wasn't typical back in the early 1970's. Anyway, the Americans went first and I was one of the last girls," responds Hardison, who's reported to have, "Stalked down the runway in a tight-fitting yellow silk halter by Stephen Burrows, holding a floor-length train by a tiny ring on her little finger. When she reached center stage, she made a dramatic turn and haughtily dropped the train as the audience exploded in a frenzy of approval!"
At his Harlem's Fashion Row tribute Mr Burrows was accompanying our mutual friend Veronica, whose Harlem boutique from the 1990's is sadly missed. Montgomery, who was seated nearby, also no longer offers the latest in hot-high-style from her closed shop on Seventh Avenue. Rising rents and gentrification threaten the ability most African Americans once had to cater to discerning clients.
Montgomery
A year later, on a bright but bitterly cold and windy Monday afternoon, January 24, 2011, Stephen Burrows arrived alone at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The hallowed institution was hosting a commemorative lunch in his honor to recongnize the black models who walked in the legendary 'Battle of Versailles' fashion show in 1973.
Audrey Smaltz with Isabel Toledo and Kim Hastreiter
It was the brainchild of wonderful Donna Williams, who works assiduously at helping to expand the Metropolitan Museum's visitors into an audience that's better representative of the greatest city on earth. "What Donna Williams does, she's fantastic!" remarked designer Michael McCollom, "Uptown, or down, no other museum does a more splendid job of being inclusive and reflecting our area's multi-cultural richness through exhibitions and programming."
Michael McCollom and Renne Hunter
"Even if that's true at the Met, how ironic and sad, that even today, even in New York, so many of 'the best gatherings' are so terribly exclusive. Exclusion of people of color in American life, is nothing new and is hardly over either, notwithstanding our 'popular' African America president," insists my friend the social sage Grafton Trew. At 99 he no longer gets about to auspicious happenings, but remains aware of what's being talked about all-the-same.
Ruben and Isabel Toledo with Donna Williams
Nancy Lane with Spencer Means
Victoria Horsford with wonderful Audrey J. Bernard
Kathryn Chenault
Lowery Stokes Sims
Michelle R. Paige Paterson with great designer b. Michael
Amy Fine Collins, Robert Verdi and b. Michael
Amy Fine Collins chats with Hamish Bowles
Tonya Lewis Lee
Desiree Rogers and her daughter Victoria
Thirsty Jason Wu
Star Jones
Alma Rangel with Norma Aarden, Renald White and Bethann Hardison
A lifetime later the Met's lunch crowd of fashion-fanatics and slaves to style, was no less appreciative. On one of the most frigid days of the year Spring bouquets contributed to an exuberant air of optimism. Although several ladies at my table only had half, our roast chicken was delicious! As the museum's curator of costume, Harold Koda remarked how he hoped that recalling the achievement s of black models at the battle of Versailles might translate into more opportunities for more women of color today, one was not entirely encouraged. But the wonderment and conviction with which Oscar de la Renta and Anne Klein acknowledged Stephen Burrows and the black models they worked with long ago, made one think that that time, might, could, come again. Burrows certainly seemed hopeful as he congratulated the models for their global contribution to the world of fashion. “The models in the famed 1973 Versailles Fashion Show altered perceptions of American fashion’s presentation on the world stage, nearly 40 years ago...I could not think of a more deserving group of women and dear friends who helped us define a new era in fashion as we began our careers all those years ago, nor a more defining organization to deliver this recognition,” he noted.
Not even the Metropolitan Museum's President's Emily K. Rafferty's mink trimmed hoodie exceeded the brio of Thelma Golden's smart coat made by her husband, Nigeria-born fashion designer Duro Olowu.
Isabel and Ruben Toledo
Robin Bell Stevens who runs Jazzmobile
Alva Chinn
Donna Karan, Oscar de la Renta and innovative star Stephen Burrows, who were all victors at the battle of Versailles
Charlene Dash, Jeniffer Brice, Alva Chinn, Pat Cleveland, Bethann Hardison, Norma Jean Darden, China Machado and Billie Blair.
"Things have improved, today is better," said Charlene Dash garbed in dashing shocking pink silk. "Then, a part of our appeal was definitely an outré exoticism. I was told to my face, 'You are down, and cool, but you're not like other blacks...' The 'loud', 'unreliable' and 'nigger-ish' which in earlier times would have proceeded the 'like other blacks, was merely inferred. That was supposed to be progress then, and my presumed aberrant behavior, was meant as a compliment."
Of all the models who participated in the battle of Versailles show my lady-like friend Norma Jean Darden was more like the idealized girl next door than anyone else. A doctor's daughter, a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she was also a debutante who came out at a dance at the Waldorf Astoria. Modeling for Norma in fact was only an afterthought. As a girl she and her sister lived in a Colonial Revival mansion with a bowling alley and servants in Suburban New Jersey. Initially, Norma worked as a social worker, before turning to journalism, writing for Essence and other periodicals about previously unsung African American legends like Hazel Scott, Freddie Washington and Mabel Mercer.
A daughter of privilege, enjoying every material and academic advantage, Norma Darden's young life seemed as idyllic and enviable, in its way, as Princess Dianna's or John Kennedy, Jr.'s. Its unraveling was no less abrupt or dramatic. For both Norma and her sister Carol, seeking the proper role-model meant nothing more than looking to their college educated, former school teacher mother. When she was murdered, while gardening, by a panicked burglar, with her own hoe, their cosseted world was turned upside down. The police knee-jerk insistence that their father must be the culprit was still another blow. Because the Dardens were so widely respected, so accomplished and affluent, the story ran in all the papers and on the TV news for days.
'What', one wonders, has any of this to do with the battle of Versailles fashion challenge, or with black models, or Stephen Burrows? It only underscores how far Norma Darden and her sister models had all come back in 1973, when they arrived at the fabled palace built by Louis XIV, to momentarily gain world notice. For all of them, this fete was a highlight of their lives. Like Norma, they have evolved. Leaving modeling, Norma and her sister Carol produce an award-winning family history, brilliantly laced with extraordinary family lore, precious old photographs and heirloom recipes, Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine, was in turn parlayed into a catering firm and three wildly popular Spoonbread restaurants featuring 'down-home' favorites. Whatever they do, the models who stormed Versailles provide opportunities for others that they didn't have and this is the true measure of their accomplishment.
As for Mr. Burrows, his and their further legacy is an award winning documentary film, Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution. Finally yo accompany Burrow's 1974 Coty American Fashion Critics special award for inspired lingerie, his Council of American Fashion Critics award from the same year, a Knitted Textile Association Crystal Ball award, and a 1977 "Winnie," he has a host of new commendations helpfully outlined in WIKIPEDIA:
In May 2006 the CFDA honored Burrows with “The Board of Directors Special Tribute;” adding the designer to the ranks of such previous luminaries as Tom Ford and Alexander McQueen. Around the same time, Burrows was invited by the Chambre Syndicale de la Mode to return to Paris to present his Spring/Summer 2007 Collection in the Carousel de Louvre. "BURROWS IN PARIS" was presented to resounding applause as part of French Fashion Week. Fashion critic Suzy Menkes of " The International Harold Tribune” praised Burrows as “the Master of matte jersey and colour combinations!” In addition to “Stephen Burrows World”, Burrows expanded his company to include a number of labels drawn from various points of inspiration. “S by Burrows” was created for a venture with Home Shopping Europe (HSN) in Munich, Germany, while “Everyday Girl” was inspired by Anna Cleveland, daughter to muse and model Pat Cleveland, and “SB73,” a cut and sew knit line that was developed based on Burrows’ hallmark, color-blocked creations of the seventies
The book that accompanies the new Burrows display shares the same title as the Museum of the City of New York special exhibition, Stephen Burrows: When Fashion Danced. Like the beautiful show, it was a collaborative endeavor by Danielela Morera, acting as editor of contributions from the museum's scholarly and chic curator of costume, Phyllis Magidson, Glenn O'Brien and Laird Presson. At the opening night party, sponsored by Target, Tiffany & Co. and BET, Burrow's still exquisite model-muses, joined as usual by a faithful contingent of feverish and fashionable fans, attended in record numbers exceeding those for any event previously held here. This throng's cosmopolitan air of knowing sophistication, their devotion to a refined aesthetic, flowing, freeing, visually and actually, easy and effortless, confirms Burrow's staying power. Scaling the summit of world-wide fame, attracting attention where ever he went, whatever he did, for a moment, forgotten in an instant, he's back. If he is not any longer the public's and retailer's 'darling of the moment', he has evolved into something more meaningful. For with a film, books and exhibitions, all extolling the significance of his accomplishment, like Channel, Stephen Burrows has become a force of fashion.
The new Burrows book
Ms. Lu Sierra and Mr. Douglas S.
George Caleraro and a pal
Sarah Henry, chief curator of the Museum of the City of New
Kathleen Benson
Veterans of high fashion...
Like Mary Dawory ....
Showing how it should be done!
Stephen Burrows with Val Bradley...
Accomplished Constance White...
And...
Mr. Edward Wilkerson...
Museum of the City of New York's scholarly and chic curator of costume, Ms. Phyllis Magidson...
Thelma Golden of the Studio Museum in Harrlem...
Design World all-stars, Geoffry Banks and Jamie Drake...
And MHA and Ms. Toma Thelma Holley!
Incomperable James Meade with Ms. Holley
Spencer Means and Audrey Smaltz
The flair of fly hair
The pink of perfection!
Yuein Chin
Abdou Seye with Kevin and and Stefan Handl
Elegant elements of style
Long and lean...
Larry Bentley with a friend
A designer and his...
Buttons!
Susan Henshaw-Jones with Mark Gilbertson and a friend
Marvelous Max Wilson!
Alva Chinn, Harriette Cole and Sandra Martin
The imortals: Iman, Alva Chinn, Harriette Cole and Sandra Martin
Michaela Angela Davis with Sandra Martin
A stair with a view of
The man of...
The moment
Audrey Bernard, Val Bradley and Veronica Jones
Kibwe Chase-Marshall and a friend
Winter white
Winter black and white
Delightful Brandice Henderson, a founder of Harlem's Fashion Row
Lenn Shebar and Larry Ortiz
Robin Bell-Stevens
The throng
Experienced style
MHA with Marcus Fiore
Michael Henry Adams....has done a stellar job of commemorating the Stephen Burrows exhibition at the MCNY...it appears that it was the event of the spring season....he captured the fervor of fans... muses...and the curious....while imparting all the background and fashion history nececcessary to ensure one has a true appreciation of the significance of such an event....the photographs render one speechlesss....all the beauty and splendor....indeed everyone paid hommage to Mr Burrows....kudos MHA....you remain the major of Harlem....
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