Filmmaker Deborah Riley-Draper, Director of the documentary Versailles 73:
I attended the screening of a new documentary film;"Versailles 73; American Runway Revolution" from Coffee Bluff Pictures written and directed by Deborah Riley-Draper and narrated by Cameron Silver. Anyone who was a fashionista in the 1970's will remember this seminal fashion moment in history when American Models, including eight African American Models, came to Paris and stole the show and put American designers Halston, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, Oscar de la Renta and Stephen Burrows on the International fashion map. Pat Cleveland, a runway legend, Billie Blair, Alva Chinn, Bethann Hardison, Jennifer Brice, Norma Jean Darden, Charlene Dash, Barbara Jackson, Armina Warsuma and Ramona Saunders sashayed down the runway at Versailles like it had never been done before.
The documentary tells the story of how the Americans were pitted against the fashion icons of France, who literally and figuratively stole the show from the French with little else than the models who showed the fashions with no props, just amazing runway style. The fashion show was developed to raise money to restore the leaky roof of the Palace of Versailles. The evening was filled with all of the moneyed aristocracy of Europe including Princess Grace of Monaco. By the time the American part of the show was over the aristocratic audience was stomping their feet, jumping up and down in the aisles and throwing their expensive programs in the air. Fashionistas will love this documentary film because of the history and the revolution it caused.
Featured in the documentary are most of the participants, including Pat Cleveland and Stephen Burrows. This is a must see documentary about this event and everyone, and I do mean everyone, should see it when it shows in a theatre near you.
After the screening I had tea on the Carlton Patio with Writer/Director Deborah Riley Draper, Entertainment Attorney Shannon Nash, Executive Producer McGhee Osse, Executive Producer Caralene Robinson and Yolonda Brinkley. We laughed and talked for hours while the after-party for the screening of "Lawless" starring Shia Lebeouf went on around us. It was a magical and fascinating evening.
Trailer for Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkFxzMsIbBg
