The underside of the Battle of Versailles, the fashion competition that we see in the series "Halston"<

Reading time: 9 min

November 1973, it is already winter in Versailles.In this boiling year that agitates companies, the château Glacé will serve as a theater for a confrontation between France and the United States about fashion and what it represents.On this field is sort of a kind of match between two conceptions and two visions at the time very different.

If France, with its mythical past, could seem favorite, the United States will surprise and, against all expectations like a fable of the fountain, the winner will not be the one we expected.Americans will symbolically win this duel with hands down.Their brilliant victory will definitely project fashion in the adventure of ready-to-wear.France has not admitted has not been overcome: during the following decades, it will regain the hand thanks to the emergence and talent of new creators and new creators who will end up overshadowing the couturiers.

1973 is beautiful

Consecrated to the American creator Halston, the eponymous series of Ryan Murphy broadcast on Netflix allows you to rediscover an episode in the history of contemporary fashion little known to the general public and baptized The Battle of Versailles - The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and MadeHistory, title of Robin Givhan's work, criticism, fashion editor and winner of the Pulitzer Prize as a author.

At the origin of the project, the American Eleanor Lambert, press secretary and fashion pope, has the idea of organizing in France a confrontation between the creators of the two countries.Presented as a source of funding for the Palace of Versailles, the event was built on the model of an American charity (which made it possible to harvest 280.000 dollars).The organization is entrusted to Marie-Hélène de Rothschild in connection with the curator of the castle, Gérald Van Der Kemp.

The event brings together and opposes five American creators and five French creators.On the American side, the choices fell on Halston, Stephen Burrows, Oscar de la Renta, Anne Klein and Bill Blass, instead of contemporary fashion.The French favored the Presttic associated with their design of sewing with Yves Saint Laurent (Pierre Bergé is at the heads of the event), Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior (by Marc Bohan), Givenchy and Ungaro.At the time, France still had the notoriety of its sewing and sold in the United States, in the form of licenses, the authorization to reproduce its models.Now Donald Potard, fashion consultant and TV presenter, underlines that it is the United States who is behind ready-to-wear.Accustomed to taking up the models of French sewing, the creators from across the Atlantic learn to simplify them for a clientele eager for easy-to-put on a daily basis and financially accessible.

In Versailles, the Americans landed with their models not very well paid, but happy to discover Paris.Several African-American are traveling.Liza Minnelli, close to Halston, ensure its presence as Guest Star.On site, the situation is close to chaos, tell the protagonists.During rehearsals, the French are privileged and outrageously truses the space.When Americans can finally invest the premises, the evening is already well started.They still have to confront the cold and a room whose dimensions were transmitted to them in centimeters but which they interpreted in inches.Their sets must adapt to a lot of improvisation.Not to mention the shortcomings in food and toilet paper with which they are confronted.

A wind of freedom

The day known as, an audience of stars and personalities - the Princess Grace, Andy Warhol, Elisabeth Taylor, among others - flock to Versailles.

The French open hostilities with pomp and spectacularly by playing on the universe of fairy tales supported by an ambitious decor: a pumpkin for Dior with Danielle Darrieux, a rocket for Cardin, a Bugatti for Ysl, a rhino for Ungaro.Their guests are prestigious.Rudolf Noureev, Joséphine Baker, Zizi Jeanmaire participate in the same way as Jean-Louis Barrault.Long, prerived, even chichite, the show offers the vision of a fashion turned towards the past.

American side, the option breathes air from time.The creators set their sights on clothes in line with the aspirations of freedom and lightness that characterize the time.Anne Klein, whose French despise the basic lines cut for the active woman, surprises with an ethnic collection inspired by Africa, but which detonates above all by its accent put on the sexy side.Burrows undoubtedly stands out as the most original by presenting a collection of clothes that sweat sensuality to the skin in an explosive mixture of colorful colors.Halston opts for very dressed and stripped dresses (an apparent breast or a just obliterated chest with a fan), lightened with a touch of feathers in homage to the folies shepherdess.

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Bill Blass reinterprets a jazzy spirit at La Gatsby.Oscar de la Renta has remained the most faithful to the tradition of a sewing vision, but by instilling in lightness and movement embodied by its vaporous silk crepe dresses presented to the rhythm of Barry White's music.Energetic, the American presentation lasts around thirty lively, removed, dynamic and joyful minutes.Liza Minelli chants everything with very music-hall moments.Mannequins parade at the will of their exuberance.Pat Cleveland leaves the memory of a performance where the fantasy disputes the virgin and whirling flights which seem to never want to stop.

The reverie made in France of sewing finds itself eclipsed in the face of the joy and the air of freedom that distills the American performance, which wins this match high.On the first page of Women's Wear Daily (WWD) of the time spanned a cocardier without nuance: "Americans cam, they sewed, they conquered".

The fallout is immediate.First a kind of statement: it will now be necessary to count with American creators and creators and expect a future fashion internationalization.American mannequin careers open, granting greater visibility to diversity.Above all, we are witnessing the emergence of a more contemporary form of fashion carried by the energy of ready-to-wear-which is about to dethrone sewing.

The ready-to-wear revolution

The Battle of Versailles embodies an event which undoubtedly participated in ringing the death knell for a backward seam, whose codes suddenly seem a little obsolete.The ready-to-wear is still in its infancy in France with the left bank of Yves Saint Laurent founded in 1966.It remains from sewing and designed as a simple variation aimed at touching the greatest number and making the brand more profitable.In terms of creation, this type of fashion has no credibility.

The 1970s will see this new fashion increasingly embodied.Sonia Rykiel founded her brand in 1968, Kenzo Jap in 1970, Thierry Mugler, a first collection in 1973, Montana in 1975.The machine will not live its peak until the 1980s with new names: Jean Paul Gaultier, Alaïa, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Chantal Thomass, Jean-Rémy Daumas.This is when France and the United States will play their return match.Americans will continue to exploit their style by forgetting extravagance in favor of classicism.Calvin Klein, an emblematic creator of these years, remains more known and recognized for his jeans and underwear than for the originality of his dresses.

Donad Potard, which founds at the time the house Jean Paul Gaultier, believes that the success of the creators who shaped the style of that time is based on the true novelty of their proposals: "They are not from seam.They want to express themselves.They want to create.Success and money are not their primary motivations.»The French are again on the rise.They impose the look of the 1980s: a conquering woman, exacerbated shoulders, the fine waist, a well -dressed working girl.Each and each with their version: humor with Gaultier and Daumas, colorful fantasy with Castelbajac, femininity with Alaïa and Chantal Thomass.Paris Bruisse and becomes the fashion capital again.If the creators eclipse the notoriety of the designers, the latter are also building empires, transforming their names into brands.Not to mention their diversification with a lot of accessories and perfumes.

Paris also retains its title of fashion capital by its opening to others - a quality by which the Americans have not always shone, notes Donald Potard.The City of Lights becomes a rallying point for creators from around the world: from Japan to Belgium via Korea, without forgetting England from which creators and creators with the most recognized talents: Vivienne Westwood, HusseinChalayan or Alexander McQueen.

In the United States, we confine ourselves to chic and sportswear embellished with a touch of preppy. Quelques Français dont les codes s'en rapprochent y défilent pendant plusieurs saisons: parmi eux figurent Marithé & François Girbaud dont les jeans, depuis Flashdance (1983), ont été un grand succès outre-Atlantique.When the Lacoste brand (launched under the name IZOD from 1952 to 1993 in the United States) begins to parade in Paris, it chooses to impose its real name to present its collections a few seasons in New York.

American glories ultimately remained inside the borders of their country.Donal Potard assimilates this phenomenon to the "normativity" of this society, inherent in its culture.American designers have struggled to export in Europe even if Michael Kors, Tom Ford or Marc Jacobs had a notoriety undoubtedly linked to their relations with houses in the countries of the Union (Céline, Louis Vuitton, Gucci,YSL).American fashion loses creativity to focus on more basic models.The energy of the 1970s and the Versailles victory was ultimately only short-lived across the Atlantic.

What remains of the battle?

Of the 1973 match, out of the five Americans, only Stephen Burrows is still active.Anne Klein died shortly after (in 1974) but her house continued with Donna Karan, her assistant who had accompanied her to Versailles.The Halston brand still exists and has notably launched Halston Heritage in 2009, a collection that revives the glam spirit of the 1970s.Bill Blass sold his Limited company in 1999 for $ 50 million.Oscar de la Renta, in addition to his American career, has produced the Couture de Balmain collections from 1993 to 2002.

On the French side, names have always been in the fashion landscape with empires to the key.In the firmament, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy.For Pierre Cardin, diversification has led to enormous financial success whose future destiny is not yet defined.If the name of Ungaro has remained lasting, a dozen artistic directors have succeeded without success since the withdrawal and disappearance of the creator.

The Battle of Versailles also had the merit of showing that fashion was no longer only the prerogative of France, but that it was ready to open up to all the continents.If ready-to-wear has been able to establish itself as a creative engine of the fashion planet, the sector today sees its years of glory fray.Fast Fashion, ecology, the desire for upcycling, new consumption modes, covid or virtual parades will undoubtedly precipitate its fall.But fashion will surely, once again, reinvent oneself.