In 2006, Stephen Burrows celebrated his 40th year in the business, one of the first African American fashion designers to achieve international acclaim. Using (then) cutting-edge new stretch fabrics like wool and rayon jersey knits, Burrows - and his exuberant love of color - first burst onto the high fashion landscape with soft, comfortable and sexy body-con clothing at a time when American fashion was structured, lined, heavy...and heavily under the sway of European fashion houses. Fashion critic Suzy Menkes of "The International Herald" later lauded Burrows as "the Master of matte jersey and colour combinations!"
Nominated 5 times throughout the 70s for a Coty Award, one of fashion's most prestigious honors, Burrows was also a designer-about-town who ran in circles that included Halston and Warhol, with a client roster commensurately studded with bright young things from Studio 54 crowd: Cher, Diana Ross, Lauren Bacall, Liza Minnelli, Jerry Hall, Lauren Hutton, and Barbara Streisand.
And now, he's teamed up with Target on a limited-edition capsule collection of knits with an urban-street aesthetic to celebrate the launch of the chain's Harlem location, their first store in Manhattan (517 East 117 Street, (212) 835-0860). “Doing a project like this would have been the kiss of death,” he recently remarked to the The New York Times about how times have indeed changed. “Now it is a source of creativity.”
Available August 1 at Target.com, and starting July 25 at the Harlem store, where 5% of the purchase price of each Burrows item sold will be donated to the designer's charity of choice: The Fund for Public Schools in support of the library at The Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem.
- Lesley Scott
(photo at bottom: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)
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