The Battle of Versailles Fashion Show was a historic fashion show held on November 28, 1973, in the Palace of Versailles to raise money for its restoration.

Created by Eleanor Lambert and Versailles curator Gerald Van der Kemp,[1] the show pitted French designers (Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro, Marc Bohan, and Hubert de Givenchy) against American designers (Oscar de la Renta, Stephen Burrows, Halston, Bill Blass, and Anne Klein, who brought along her assistant, Donna Karan).[2]

With a guest list of 700 and notables such as Princess Grace, Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, Jacqueline de Ribes, Gloria Guinness, Andy Warhol, Liza Minnelli and Joséphine Baker the event became legendary.[3] Each designer was to submit eight designs for consideration. The Parisian designers viewed their competition as mere sportswear designers. The American designers used eleven black models, an unprecedented number at the time. [4] The American designers and their models stole the show, providing a youthful approach and stunning the primarily French audience.[5]

In 2011, the Huffington Post Game Changer Awards honored the African American models of Versailles with the Style Award. The models included Pat Cleveland, Bethann Hardison, Billie Blair, Jennifer Brice, Alva Chinn, Norma Jean Darden, Charlene Dash, Barbara Jackson, Ramona Saunders, and Amina Warsuma.[6]

In 2012, filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper chronicled the event in the feature documentary, Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution. The film included designer Stephen Burrows, French Chambre Syndicale President Didier Grumbach, and many of the models, journalists and guest who attended the event in 1973.

In 2016 another documentary "Battle at Versailles" was made by the fashion network M2M, chronicling the event. The film was narrated by Stanley Tucci and featured many of the event's participants. [7]

A fictionalized version of the Battle is depicted in the television miniseries Halston, which premiered May 2021 on Netflix.[8]

On December 7, 2023, Madrid-based board game publisher Salt & Pepper Games launched a crowdfunding campaign for their card-driven tabletop game depicting the event on the Gamefound platform. In "The Battle of Versailles," two players take the role of either the American or French design teams in a fashion battle to contribute the most to the reconstruction of the Palace of Versailles.[9]

References

  1. ^ Givhan, Robin (2016-01-01). The Battle of Versailles: the night American fashion stumbled into the spotlight and made history. Flatiron Books. ISBN 9781250062321. OCLC 908176012.
  2. ^ Morris, Bernadine (10 September 1993). "Review/Design; When America Stole the Runway From Paris Couture". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  3. ^ "Relive the Magical Fashion Battle of Versailles". The Cut. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  4. ^ Campbell, Jason (31 August 2021). "They Invented the Supermodel:These ten Black women should all be household names". The Cut. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  5. ^ Givhan, Robin (2016-01-01). The Battle of Versailles: the night American fashion stumbled into the spotlight and made history. Flatiron Books. ISBN 9781250062321. OCLC 908176012.
  6. ^ "Huffington Post Game Changers of Style".
  7. ^ "Battle at Versailles".
  8. ^ Freedman, Adrianna (2021-05-14). "The True Story Behind the Battle of Versailles in 'Halston'". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 2021-05-15.
  9. ^ "Battle of Versailles on Gamefound.

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