Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco
- Director: James Crump
- Writer: James Crump
- Producer: James Crump; Ronnie Sassoon
CGiii Comment
If fashion history is your thang...then, this here doc is a must!
If fashion history ain't your thang...then, you might wonder what all the bluster and gushing is all about! Because...outside of the fashion world, few will ever have heard of Antonio Lopez.
Yet...in that world, he was a mighty force [alongside his ex-partner, collaborator, confidente...Juan Eugene Ramos].
Gawd...do these 'names' like to gush about this almost God-like man...everyone, men and women, fell in love with him...he was joie de vivre, la vie de l'esprit, la belle epoque...and, it all ended when he died, aged 44, from the you-know-what!
Jessica Lange gushes, Bill Cunningham gushes...they all gush together. But, Jerry Murdoch [née Hall] and Grace Jones are [present via archival footage] conspicuously absent from all the gushing! They and the fact they don't appear could speak volumes...silence.
The most interesting parts of this film are the relationships Antonio had with those - other than his entourage...the 'rivalry' with Andy Warhol [mentioned but not explored], his flutterings between the rival camps of Karl Lagerfield and YSL...his 'realtionship' with Mr Lagerfield, brought to an end by the introduction of a S&M aficionado! Oooh you can just about smell the undercurrents of maverick jealousies...and, what of Juan? It would seem that he became a bit of a doormat for Antonio's disco-dancing, flirting feet. Not only is there promiscuity, there's also a liberal serving of the paranormal! Seriously, you couldn't make this stuff up!
All in all, this is a belated and fascinating obituary...for fashionistas and the like. As a glimpse into the hedonism of those decades and the fashion world as it was, it's a little head-spinning...many lost their lives in those mad, mad days...it's good to remember the good times and all those good, good people. Antonio Lopez and Juan Eugene Ramos are no exceptions.
A fitting and well-deserved testament...allowing these men's memories to live on.
Trailer...
ANTONIO LOPEZ 1970: SEX FASHION & DISCO / Official Trailer from Summitridge Pictures on Vimeo.
The(ir) Blurb...
This entertaining documentary shows how fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez breathed an alluring wind of change in the NYC and Paris fashion scenes in the 1970s. Coinciding with the decline of haute couture and the rise of prêt-à-porter, Nuyorican Antonio Lopez (Puerto Rican-born and New York-raised) took the rather sedate world of fashion illustration by storm, creating colourful pictures inspired by street-life, people of colour and a particular take on transgressive sexuality. Lopez’s talent, appetite for life and magnetic sex appeal attracted lovers of both sexes and a crowd of young models that included Jerry Hall, Grace Jones and Jessica Lange. This electrifying documentary combines interviews with Bill Cunningham, a still-smitten Lange and Pat Cleveland to name but a few, together with Lopez’s fabulous illustrations, fashion pictures and archive footage. It’s a heady mix of glamour, fashion and disco that’s impossible to resist.
Laure Bonville
Cast & Characters
Jessica Lange as Herself;
Patti D'Arbanville as Herself;
Grace Jones as Herself;
Jerry Hall as Herself;
Karl Lagerfeld as Himself;
Joan Juliet Buck as Herself;
Michael Chow as Himself;
Yves Saint-Laurent as Himself;
Tina Chow;
Grace Coddington as Herself;
Pat Cleveland as Herself;
Jane Forth as Herself;
Bill Cunningham as Himself;
Charles James as Himself;
Bob Colacello as Himself