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).
[4] The American designers and their models stole the show, providing a youthful approach and stunning the primarily French audience.
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.