One of the five designers who represented American fashion at the 1973 Battle of Versailles, Stephen Burrows’s work is defined by color, joy, movement, inventiveness, and togetherness. His designs are as emblematic of the 1970s as that of his friend Halston, but less known. “He’s a quiet, beautiful storm,” says Bethann Hardison about her friend, who is this year’s recipient of the CFDA’s Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award.
Burrows’s focus has always been on his work, not fame. Born in 1943 in Newark, New Jersey, he was raised by his grandmother who taught him how to sew. After studying at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art and FIT, in 1966 Burrows went to work on Seventh Avenue. Two years later he was designing for O Boutique, which the Daily Mirror dubbed, “New York’s hottest and newest fashion boutique” at the time. Everyone involved was friends, and with one exception, they were all under 25 and working and playing hard.
Henri Bendel played an important role in Burrows’s career. From 1970 to 1973 you could find the designer at his own shop at the iconic department store, called Stephen Burrows’ World. While there he staged shows on the street and in-store with models prancing down the runway in his top-stitched and colorblocked pieces, and the fluid Jasco jersey pieces that were one of his trademarks.
“I use knits because they suggest skin and its flexibility,” Burrows told the AP in 1972. He similarly bent metal mesh to his will, so that it looked liquid on the body. On the heels of his crowd-rousing performance at Versailles, Burrows, the sole Black designer to participate, won his first Coty Award in 1974 (he joined their hall of fame three years later), and Max Factor released the Stevie B fragrance (the designer appeared in the ads) in 1976. From the ’80s into the ’00s he worked independently, and sometimes in concert with Henri Bendel, which reopened his Stephen Burrows World shop in 2002. He was the subject of a monographic exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, “Stephen Burrows: When Fashion Danced,” in 2013. To celebrate his CFDA Award, seven of his friends and close collaborators shared their memories of Stephen Burrows.
Pat Cleveland
Stephen created clothes that you could dance in: lightweight matte jersey wrap dresses in whimsical rainbow colors. My favorite dresses are the matte jerseys for evening with long trains, a fox tail shawl, and fringed leather pants and dresses. Stephen has taken me on so many exciting adventures doing photos [starting from] the very first time I met him, in 1978 at the top floor of Henri Bendel’s where he had his design studio and cutting rooms. He and his friends were all dressed in Stephen’s designs and we walked over from Bendel’s to Central Park and I’ll never forget it because I had never seen so many beautiful young people dressed so well and so colorfully. Stephen has inspired so many designers with his talent and authentic soul, he is much loved.
Karen Bjornsen Macdonald
I first met Stephen in the early 1970s in New York. Halston introduced us and most likely encouraged Stephen to book me for his shows. I love his clothes. They are unlike anyone else’s. His use of fabrics, his lettuce edges and combinations of colors are modern and unique to his designs. He is a true designer of clothes for men and women. Stephen’s dresses fit and move with your body—they are both feminine and bold. I remember wearing a blue seersucker striped dress he designed while I was working with Antonio Lopez in Italy; it was long, with a halter neckline and a deep V in front. It is impossible to choose a favorite garment of his, but that dress might just be it for me. In 2003 Stephen had a ready-to-wear runway show in downtown Manhattan. My younger daughter was a senior in high school, and he invited us both to walk in the show; it was a very special memory to share before she left for college, made all the better by Stephen’s warmth and beautiful designs.
Nancy North
Stephen makes unique colorful fashion. I don’t remember [him giving us] any instructions [at his shows], just Stephen saying, ‘Oooh I love it, Miss Nancy.’ (Everyone was a Miss: Like Miss Alva or Miss Cleveland.) I always felt like we were a bunch of kids rooting for one another. It was a wonderful feeling of belonging!
Alva Chinn
My first time walking for Stephen was when he was at Henri Bendel and he had a show on 57th Street. I was so nervous and walking so fast that the only pictures that were in focus of me by Bill Cunningham were when I was going back to change. I was so nervous. But Stephen was very encouraging. I remember at Versailles, he was in the back sewing. I remember that. That vision stays with me, that and Ramona Saunders putting the quill in her hair and [Stephen’s good friend, the photographer] Charles Tracy running back saying, ‘Oh, vous êtes!’ ‘This is it.’ ‘Vous êtes, vous êtes!’ they used to say.
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