Stephen Burrows

Stephen Burrows (born September 15, 1943) in Newark, New Jersey is an American fashion designer based in New York City. Quotes "I want to be to be as modern as I can, and sent out a resolutely up-to-the minute collection to prove it. Stephen Burrows-VOGUE(17 September 2003) It was a very creative time, and it was a very inclusive time, different from what it had been before. It was a great accomplishment for a Black guy to have gotten that far at such a young age. My whole aim was to be translucent but not transparent. It was a lot of work, but it was fun. Everyone would come to my house and get dressed up. I had to keep making new clothes, because all my friends would take them and I’d never see them again. This is my portrait from Henri Bendel, the best store in New York at the time. I told my teacher when I left FIT: ‘See you at Bendel’s.’ And three years later, I was at Bendel’s. Geraldine Stutz [its legendary president] gave me a boutique on the third floor. I met her through my friend Joel Schumacher [he was the store’s visual display director before heading to Hollywood to become a director], who was the one who discovered me, out on Fire Island. That was the beginning of my career It was just wild: The Parisians’ show went on for an hour and a half; it was too long and too boring. The Americans were new, and we took only 37 minutes to show off what we did. It brought the audience to their feet. They were screaming ‘Bravo!’ and throwing their programs in the air. It put America at the fashion table of global designers. Saint Laurent told me my clothes were beautiful. He saw them and said, ‘Ravissante. We were preparing to go out to Studio 54 for the New Year’s Eve party in 1978. Moy [far right] was one of my assistants—she made all the masks that she, Bethann Hardison [second from left], and Daniela Morera are wearing. Oh, it was a great discotheque—they loved artists, and we never had to pay for anything there. I never got in trouble; I just had fun and witnessed a lot of sex going on. Marisa Berenson was one of the special models for Halston at the Battle of Versailles. It was more of a high-society event than a fashion party, so it was all about the socialites who were coming, like Grace Kelly and Gloria Guinness. I was excited to meet them at the dinner they gave after the performance, which was held in Marie Antoinette’s bedrooms. Her bedroom suite was huge—it just went on forever. At some point, the Baron de Rothschild came to introduce me to the ladies. It was my first time in Paris! It was dawn on Fire Island, which was a magical place at the time. This is my tribe of friends and the people I worked with in 1972—Roz Rubenstein, my partner in O Boutique [second from right]; my assistant, Hector Torres [second from left]; and a model friend named Daryl Meade [far left]. Charles Tracy was the photographer for our group. There were lots of cliques, where everyone did different things. Everyone had their own DJ, for example. You’d have a plant guy—Halston had a plant guy. This is Ramona Saunders. She had a great body and was one of my top girls. This is in 1968, at O Boutique, a block from Max’s Kansas City, where I got noticed by all the fashion press. We made the clothes in the basement there, and we did a lot of leather pants. It was more a unisex thing—tops and bottoms that anyone could wear. The pants I have on were the first pair I made: I cut up my grandmother’s leather coat and made pants. Stephen Burrows Looks Back at His Life in Parties-WMagazine(Feb. 21, 2024) Category:Designers from New York City Category:1943 births