Duolingo saw a sharp rise in Spanish learners following Bad Bunnyโs Super Bowl Halftime Show, according to a post shared by the language-learning app on social media.
โDuolingo saw a 35 percent increase in Spanish learners last night. Better late than never,โ the company wrote on Threads on February 9, under its official account, @duolingo. The post, which included a graph showing a clear spike in Spanish lessons, has been liked more than 7,500 times to date.
The surge followed Bad Bunnyโs historyโmaking performance at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, where he became the first artist to sing primarily in Spanish during the most-watched sporting event in the U.S. Duolingoโs official Threads account shared the data shortly after the night ended, highlighting the immediate impact the performance appeared to have on language learning behavior.
Bad Bunnyโs Super Bowl appearance came months after he used a Spanish-language monologue on Saturday Night Live (SNL) to tell audiences they had โfour months to learnโ Spanish ahead of the game. Despite online backlash from some commentators at the time, the data shared by Duolingo suggests many viewers embraced the message, with interest in learning Spanish rising sharply during the Halftime Show.
The Department of Homeland Security has brought on a 21-year-old social media professional from the Department of Labor to help run its communications channels โ despite internal concerns about N*zi-coded content he previously posted.
According to The New York Times, Peyton Rollins moved from digital content manager at the Labor Department to a key role in DHS communications this month.
His name is Peyton Rollins. C’mon.
This kid has definitely killed small animals.
Could central casting find a more inbred Nazi looking 21 year old?
There were masks on the walls in a room on Epstein Island what had a dentist chair in the middle. Howard Lutnick [current Sec of Commerce] lived next to Jeffrey Epstein on 71st St and both their homes were owned by Les Wexner. #TheEpsteinClass
Republicans love immigrant #PeterThiel and his rampant drug use. Republicans look right past his homosexuality. Republicans love his Big Government Palantir tracking your every move.
This all shows that itโs not about invasive, gay, immigrant, ketamine addicts. All that matters is who serves fascist white nationalism.
Billionaire sex abusers get more than due process, they get Republican protection.
On Sunday, February 21, 1965, a little after 3pm, as he was preparing to address his Organization of Afro-American Unity in New Yorkโs Audubon Ballroom, the controversial civil rights leader and revolutionary Malcolm X was shot dead by members of the Nation of Islam, the religious group X had broken from the year before. He was 39.
โIn the aftermath, rivers of ink spilled across New York Cityโs many newspapers,โย wrote Ted Hamm. The legendary journalist Jimmy Breslin was callous and dismissive; Langston Hughes โsomewhat cryptic.โย ย
James Baldwin, who was in London at the time, famously shouted at the reporters who found him after Xโs death: โYou did it! It is because of youโthe men that created this white supremacyโthat this man is dead. You are not guilty, but you did it. โฆ Your mills, your cities, your rape of a continent started all this.โย
Later, Baldwin told the story this way:
“There we were, at the table, all dressed up, and weโd ordered everything, and we were having a very nice time with each other. The headwaiter came, and said there was a phone call for me, and Gloria rose to take it. She was very strange when she came backโshe didnโt say anything, and I began to be afraid to ask her anything. Then, nibbling at something she obviously wasnโt tasting, she said, ‘Well, Iโve got to tell you because the press is on its way over here. Theyโve just killed Malcolm X.’ The British press said that I accused innocent people of this murder. What I tried to say then, and will try to repeat now, is that whatever hand pulled the trigger did not buy the bullet. That bullet was forged in the crucible of the West, that death was dictated by the most successful conspiracy in the history of the world, and its name is white supremacy.”
โI was certainly saddened by the shocking and tragic assassination of your husband,โ Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote to Betty Shabazz, Xโs wife, after the murder.ย
“While we did not always see eye to eye on methods to solve the race problem, I always had a deep affection for Malcolm and felt that he had a great ability to put his finger on the existence and root of the problem. He was an eloquent spokesman for his point of view and no one can honestly doubt that Malcolm had a great concern for the problems that we face as a race.”
More than sixty years later, some details about the assassinationย remain unclear. But Malcolm X has endured as a cultural icon, death being, in the end,ย not quite enough to silence him.
EVERGREEN QUOTE:โYouโre not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you canโt face reality. Wrong is wrong no matter who does it or who says it.โโMalcolm X
I am tired of the gaslighting and lies. Blatantlyย claiming to be following the court’s orders when they clearly are not and giving the middle finger to the courts.ย Are we a nation of laws or are we now a nation ruled by corrupt gangย thugs who as one person in the DOJ said “tell the court to fuck itself”.ย Where has the Republican Party of law and order gone?ย When the Democrats are in charge the Republicans sue all the time to block things. Look how many times Biden was blocked by the courts in lawsuits filed by Republicans.ย How would they have reacted if Biden’s administration just ignored the courts like tRump’s admin is doing?ย Are we at a crisis point yet?ย Hugs
Sheer scale of the lawsuits threatens to clog the judicial system
About 700 Justice Department attorneys deployed to represent the government in immigration cases
Hundreds of judges around the country have ruled more than 4,400 times since October that President Donald Trumpโs administration is detaining immigrants unlawfully, a Reuters review of court records found.
The decisions amount to a sweeping legal rebuke of Trumpโs immigration crackdown. Yet the administration has continued jailing people indefinitely even after courts ruled the policy was illegal.
“It is appalling that the Government insists that this Court should redefine or completely disregard the current law as it is clearly written,” U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston of West Virginia, an appointee of President George W. Bush, wrote last week, ordering the release of a Venezuelan detainee in the state.
Most of the rulings center on the Trump administrationโs departure from a nearly three-decade-old interpretation of federal law that immigrants already living in the United States could be released on bond while they pursue their cases in immigration court.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the administration is “working to lawfully deliver on President Trumpโs mandate to enforce federal immigration law.”
SOARING NUMBER OF IMMIGRANT DETAINEES
Under Trump, the number of people in ICE detention reached about 68,000 this month, up about 75% from when Trump took office last year.
A conservative appeals court in New Orleans last week gave the Trump administration a victory in its drive to lock up more immigrants. Just because prior administrations did not fully utilize the law to detain people โdoes not mean they lacked the authority to do more,โ U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Jones wrote in a decision reversing rulings that led to the release of two Mexican men. Both remain free, their lawyer said.
Other appeals courts are set to take up the issue in the coming weeks.
Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, said the increase in lawsuits came as “no surprise” – “especially after many activist judges have attempted to thwart President Trump from fulfilling the American people’s mandate for mass deportations.”
The department did not respond to more specific questions about the cases and data findings in this story.
With few other legal paths to freedom, immigrant detainees have filed more than 20,200 federal lawsuits demanding their release since Trump took office, a Reuters review of court dockets found, underscoring the sweeping impact of Trump’s policy change.
In at least 4,421 cases, more than 400 federal judges ruled since the beginning of October that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding people illegally as it carries out its mass-deportation campaign, Reuters found.
A chart showing the number of habeas challenges to immigration detention by month
Other cases are pending, have been dismissed because the detainee was released, or were transferred to another judicial district, which would force immigrants to file a new case. Reuters was unable to determine how many cases were moved or re-filed.
Joseph Thomas, an 18-year-old high school student from Venezuela, was arrested during a traffic stop in Wisconsin in late December, while riding with his father, Elias Thomas, on his Walmart delivery route.
The men are asylum seekers who entered the United States in August 2023. Both are authorized to work, their lawyer, Carrie Peltier, said. Peltier said they were stopped for โdriving while brown.โ
Within a month, judges ordered the release of father and son.
Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz – also a Bush appointee – ruled that Joseph had been detained illegally and ordered his immediate release. In his ruling, he said Joseph was not subject to mandatory detention, and called out a โlack of any evidence that ICE had a warrant when it detained Joseph while he was a passenger in his fatherโs car.โ
U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud, a Trump appointee, ruled that Josephโs father Elias was eligible for a bond hearing.
โThis raises an issue of statutory interpretation that courts in this District have repeatedly considered and rejected, and it will be rejected here as well,โ Tostrud wrote in his order.
Joseph is now taking classes online, afraid to return to school.
LANDSLIDE OF LAWSUITS
Habeas corpus – Latin for โyou shall have the bodyโ – emerged in the English courts in the 1300s and is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. It provides a legal recourse for people the government has detained unlawfully.
Reuters counted habeas lawsuits by gathering the dockets of every publicly filed federal court case over more than two decades from Westlaw, a legal research tool that is a division of Thomson Reuters.
The records, combined with other court filings, offer the most comprehensive view to date of the scale of lawsuits moving through the U.S. justice system and of the defeats for the administration.
Within the span of a few days in January, lawyers filed habeas petitions forย Liam Conejo,ย a five-year-old Ecuadorean boy detained in the driveway of his Minnesota home; a Ukrainian man with a valid temporary humanitarian status who was detained on his way to work as a cable technician; a Salvadoran man married to a U.S. citizen and father of a 3-year-old autistic child who is also a U.S. citizen; an Eritrean hospital worker with refugee status who was arrested after letting agents into his apartment complex and a Venezuelan man who was arrested after dropping off his daughter at school.
None had criminal records.
DIVERTED LAWYERS, VIOLATED ORDERS
The rush of lawsuits is forcing the U.S. Justice Department offices to divert attorneys who would normally prosecute criminal cases to respond to habeas cases.
Using court dockets, Reuters found more than 700 Justice Department attorneys representing the government in immigration cases. Five of the attorneys each appeared on the dockets of more than 1,000 habeas cases.
Partly as a result of that legal logjam, judges have found that the government has left people locked up even after judges ordered their release.
In aย court order, ย issued last month in Minnesota, Schiltz said the government had violated 96 orders in 76 cases. The U.S. Attorney there, Daniel Rosen, said in aย filing, ย two days later that the cases had created an “enormous burden” for government attorneys.
Similarly, U.S. District Judge Nusrat Choudhury, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden in New York, wrote this month that ICE violated two “clear and unambiguous orders” by flying a man to New Mexico for detention while falsely claiming he was in New Jersey and could be brought to a court hearing.
A Justice Department spokesperson, Natalie Baldassarre, said the administration “is complying with court orders and fully enforcing federal immigration law.”
“If rogue judges followed the law in adjudicating cases and respected the governmentโs obligation to properly prepare cases, there wouldnโt be an โoverwhelmingโ habeas caseload or concern over DHS following orders,” she said.
LEGAL HURDLES
In New York, advocates have waited outside immigration court to connect detained immigrants with lawyers who can file same-day habeas claims – blocking their rapid transfer to a detention center in another state.
On January 16, U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken issued an emergency ruling for an Ecuadorean man who was detained at his court hearing, barring the government from moving him out of New York. On January 30, U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter, who like Oetken was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, ordered his immediate release.
Still, many immigrants arenโt able to seek that relief. Some arenโt aware that they can file a habeas case. Others canโt find affordable lawyers.
Judy Rall, the U.S. citizen wife of a Venezuelan detainee who has spent almost a year at the Bluebonnet detention center in Texas, said she was quoted upwards of $5,000 to file a habeas petition, which she could not afford. She and her husband have a pending immigration case based on their marriage, but the government has declined to release him while the case is being adjudicated. He has no criminal record, but the government has alleged, without providing evidence, that he has links to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
This month, her lawyer offered to take on the habeas case for free.
“Our home burnt down, and I had told them I needed him to come help,” she said. “I assume that is the reason.”
Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Brad Heath in Washington, D.C.; additional reporting by Brad Brooks in Minneapolis; Editing by Craig Timberg and Suzanne Goldenberg
Last year I started a list of book conventions and fan gatherings that went completely sideways or didnโt happen because they fell apart during the planning. The title: WTF Cons? I realized in about mid-May that keeping track would be a full time job and I couldnโt keep up with it. There were that many.
Sometimes itโs lack of organization. Sometimes the follow through is so bad the City of Baltimore files civil contract claims against you, as is the situation with Grace Marsceau, the organizer behind A Million Lives Book Festival. You know, the one that made headlines about how much money people lost. There was Sinners & Stardust which came with a side order of Sexual Harassment. There were weekend cons that promised attendees for registered authors and didnโt deliver any; there were gatherings that promised reader events that didnโt materialize. I could keep going but Iโd be here for days.
The latest breakdown per Threads seems to be Getting Witchy With It in Salem, MA, scheduled in both 2026 and 2027. The CEO of Anytime Author Promotions, Virginia Johnson, posted a video about Minneapolis, and to say it didnโt go over well is an understatement.
โYouโre seeing the extremism of what Minneapolis, of what the news wants to show you.โ
Which part is โthe extremism,โ I wonder?
The part where ICE executed Renee Good? Or the part where ICE executed Alex Pretti? The tear gas canisters lobbed at pre schoolers or the ones tossed at high school students?
The level of privileged, ignorant bullshit this person seems to be fertilizing her professional reputation with is truly breathtaking.
(Also, is she driving while recording this? I canโt tell from the windows but it appears that the car is in motion and sheโs driving it. If so, then I ask most sincerely, WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THAT. And I once saw someone tuning a violin while slowly moving toward the George Washington Bridge at 7am. Pardon my fuddy duddy question but is this a thing? That people do? Record videos while driving?)
I havenโt been able to find any active social media accounts for Anytime Author Promotions, and I havenโt seen a statement. I have reached out to them directly โ though I tried to use the comment form on their site to reach out, but I received an error message that my message was unable to be sent.
But when I looked into the company, I was shocked. This isnโt one event: itโs many.
Revelations about the alleged political alignment of the CEO of Anytime Author Promotions do not appear to be new โ only the video is.
Author Maddox Grey reported in November 2024 in another thread that the Anytime Author Promotions Facebook group seems to have a history of using right-coded language and fostering a community that does so as well:
I cannot find this Facebook group, only pages that are sporadically updated, so I canโt fact check this claim.
What a shitty position for folks trying to grow a career to be in. The two largest cons are long gone, along with all the support and reader connections they fostered. There are many other gatherings, but as I mentioned at the start, itโs a risky prospect. They can be replete with inexperienced conference organizers, insufficient budget for events and security, and low turnout among authors, readers, or both. Itโs a real crap shoot with time, money, and energy โ all of which are in limited supply.
To create a successful event, in my experience, you need buy-in from several key groups. In this case:
Authors, butย especiallyย some with established audiences and name recognition. That said, hosting an author with a massive fanbase requires additional security, space, and logistical organization for crowd control and safety for everyone.
Readersย who might want to meet those authors and potentially be introduced to new ones, which requires outreach and engagement and, you know, marketing and publicity. Readers also might want or expect aย reader-focused eventย like a party or similar, and not just a book signing and panels. So that means budget allotments for decoration, entertainment, etc.
Host Location, i.e. where will this event be held? Is there an airport with direct flights or easy driving access and parking? Does the space have enough room should items A and B yield a high turnout? What about food โ because food costs inside hotels will send your eyebrows right into your hairline.
Then, considering the above, how much will attending cost? How much are table fees? Will those fees cover the cost of the above items? Those margins might thinner than the profit on a mass market paperback.
(I also want to say a word about conference organizing: I used to do this, so Iโm not just talking out of my ass here. I have always followed what I call โthe mafia ruleโ when blogging: โYoudonโt talk about the work, donโt talk about the family,โ so the most I want to say is that many years ago, I worked a nonprofit which hosted meetings between their membership and US and international officials. Organizing these gatherings both in the US and abroad was my job. So while Iโm a little rusty, Iโm pretty familiar with the large and small scale logistical coordination of stakeholders and invested parties.)
Lam then went on to share the eleven other events they will be appearing at in 2026. So there are other options โ many other options.
I think we are accelerating past the point where embracing right wing rhetoric and supporting the actions of the current administration yields ferocious backlash, especially within romance, and especially within communities of marginalized people within romance.
With one video and the resulting social media response, Johnson appears to have damaged the brand of the company and reduced author and reader attendance at most of the scheduled events, if reports on Threads are accurate. That is a big, big mess.
As this seems to be an evolving situation, Iโll update this post if more information becomes available.
circa 1925: Portrait of American-born singer and dancer Josephine Baker (1906 โ 1975) lying on a tiger rug in a silk evening gown and diamond earrings. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
When most people think of historyโs American spies, they imagine a sleuthy white man, tracking troop movements, planting bugs and obtaining secrets under the radar of the enemy. Whatโs rarely imagined, let alone taught, is the role Black Americans played in espionage from the Revolutionary War through modern times.
Enslaved and free Black men and women slipped into rooms they werenโt meant to enter, cozied up to marks who underestimated them and quietly ran intelligence networks that relied on invisibility in plain sight. Here are Black spies whose intelligence work shaped history.
Mary Elizabeth Bowser
Screenshot: YouTube โMary Elizabeth Bowser: Unsung Heroes of the Civil War | Ancestral Finding Postcardโ
Dubbed the โbaddest bitch in historyโ by Comedy Central, Bowser became known as one of the Unionโs most daring Civil War spies. Literate and underestimated, Bowser worked as an undercover agent from inside the Confederacyโs most vulnerable locations โ Confederate President Jefferson Davisโs home, according to African American Registry.
Masking her intelligence by pretending to be bat sh*t crazy, โCrazy Bet,โ as she was known, used a rumored photographic memory to collect important military information and pass it on to Ulysses S. Grant.
James Armistead Lafayette
Fascimile of the Marquis de Lafayetteโs original certificate commending James Armistead for his revolutionary war service, 1784. From the New York Public Library. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).
James Armistead Lafayette was born enslaved but became a master of deception during the American Revolution. According to Americaโs Army Museum, he disguised himself as a runaway, infiltrated British camps, delivered key intelligence to the Marquis de Lafayette and fed false information to the enemy. His double agent work was crucial at Yorktown in 1781.
With Marquis de Lafayetteโs support, he later won his freedom and dropped his enslaverโs name.
Josephine Baker
circa 1925: Portrait of American-born singer and dancer Josephine Baker (1906 โ 1975) lying on a tiger rug in a silk evening gown and diamond earrings. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Josephine Baker was a known boundary-breaking dancer, singer and international icon, but few knew she was also a World War II spy for the French Resistance. Though she spied on behalf of France rather than the U.S., Baker belongs in this conversation about Black espionage.
At the height of her fame, Baker used her celebrity to move through elite European society and collect information on Nazi Germany and other Axis powers, according to History.com. Baker hid intelligence in invisible ink on sheet music and pinned notes inside her clothing, later explaining, โnobody would think I was a spy.โ
Her bravery earned her Franceโs highest military honors.
Debra Evans Smith
Screenshot: YouTube
While working in Records Management, Debra Evans Smith attended the FBI Academy after gaining nine pounds to meet the minimum weight requirement.
When only one percent of Black women were spies, Smith was drawn to counterintelligence. She volunteered for surveillance, learned Russian, and spent four years handling Russian counterintelligence in Los Angeles, conducting interviews and investigations in the language, according to the FBI. For her, the work was never about individual casesโit was about serving the country.
If youโve never heard of Abraham Gallaway, thatโs no accident. According to historian Dr. David Cecelski, Gallaway may have been the most important Southern war hero, but his legacy was erased when North Carolina rewrote its own history in the late 1800s, depicting enslaved people as โdocile.โ Gallawayโs story did not fit their narrative.
Born enslaved in 1837 near Wilmington, N.C., he escaped at 19. Gallaway became a โmaster spyโ for the Union Army during the Civil War, providing military intelligence from within the South and establishing a spy network. He also became a state senator, according to 6 ABC. Today, his story is preserved at the North Carolina Museum of History.
Mary Louvestre
Mary Louvestre (sometimes spelled Touvestre) was a free Black woman who would not take no for an answer. Working as a seamstress in Virginia, she stole documents about troop movements and walked to deliver them to Union officials in Washington, D.C. When officers brushed her off, hesitating to meet with her, she kept going back until they listened.
Darrell M. Blocker
Darrell M. Blocker spent 32 years in U.S. intelligence, retiring in 2018 as the most senior Black officer in the CIAโs Directorate of Operations and earning the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal. A second-generation intelligence professional, Blockerโs work took him to dangerous territory in places like Iran and North Korea, according to the International Spy Museum.
Having lived in 10 foreign countries, he has held titles including Deputy Director of the Counterterrorism Center and managed the CIAโs Ebola response.
A portrait of Harriet Tubman, African-American abolitionist and a Union spy during the American Civil War, circa 1870. (Photo by HB Lindsey/Underwood Archives/Getty Images)
Harriet Tubman was more than the Underground Railroadโs โMoses.โ She made power moves in the Union Army, using her reputation to recruit Black scouts. Tubman gathered intel no one else could. According to Brandeis University, she became the first woman to lead a U.S. military raid in 1863, which freed 750 people and sealed her acumen as a true strategist.
George E. Hocker, Jr.
YouTube: โ2025 Maryโs Woods MLK Jr Celebrationโ
George E. Hocker, Jr., a Washington, D.C. native, joined the CIA in 1957 while studying at Howard University. Working as a file clerk to fund his education, he stopped short of aspirations to work as a spy because CIA leaders told him Black people were not intelligent enough or able to โblend in.โ
He believed them โฆ until the 1963 March on Washington inspired him to pursue his dream despite racism. During the Cold War, Hocker gathered intelligence in Africa and later went to Latin America, risking his life on dangerous assignments. Hoker never lost sight of the fight at home, stating, โWhile I was fighting for my countryโs interests abroad, my fellow Black Americans were facing war zones of their own at home,โ as quoted in Newsweek.
Robert Smalls
Robert Smalls, 1887. African-American politician, publisher, businessman and maritime pilot. Born into slavery, he escaped, and commandeered and piloted a Confederate transport ship which became a Union warship. His example and persuasion helped convince President Abraham Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union Army. From โMen of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Risingโ by William J. Simmons. Creator: Unknown. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)
Born into slavery in 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina, Robert Smalls rose to become a skilled pilot on the Confederate transport CSSโฏPlanter by his early twenties. In a bold act of courage in 1862, he seized the ship, picked up his family, and navigated past Confederate forts under the guise of a captain, delivering the vessel safely to Union forces. Smalls went on to become the first African American to command a U.S. naval vessel, and after the war, he purchased his former enslaverโs house, reclaiming a space that had once symbolized his bondage.
In November 1973, 10 Black models helped put American fashion on the map in an epic runway face-off with well-known French designers. In honor of the start of New York Fashion Week, hereโs their story!
Models dressed in midriff-bearing tops and oversized bottoms of solids, stripes and plaids worn with headresses during the fashion show to benefit the restoration of the Chateau of Versailles, five American designers matching talents with five French couturiers at the Versailles Palace on November 28, 1973 in Versailles, FranceโฆArticle title:โOne night and pouf! Itโs gone! (Photo by Fairchild Archive/Penske Media via Getty Images)
We know that for most people, February is all about the Super Bowl, Valentineโs Day and Black History Month. But if you love style, you know itโs also about New York Fashion Week โ a time for some of the hottest designers to showcase the latest trends โ kicking off Wednesday (Feb. 11).
While weโre going to be all over covering whatโs new from Sergio Hudson and Public School, we thought this week was also a perfect time to show some love to the Black designers and models who paved the way for future generations.
Weโre kicking things off with the story of 1973โs Battle of Versailles fashion show โan epic stand-off between French and American designers in Paris. The highly-hyped event not only put American fashion designers on the map, but it also put a spotlight on a group of 10 Black models who shut down the red carpet and showed the rest of the world the beauty in having a diverse runway that looked more like the rest of the world.
A Palace in Need of Repair
Fragment of golden entrance gates to the Versailles Palace (Chฤteau de Versailles) on a sunny summer day. The Versailles is a Royal Palace in Versailles which is a suburb of Paris, some 20 kilometres southwest of the French capital.
The Palace of Versailles is an iconic French landmark. The stunning estate became the official royal residence in 1682. But while it has been a tourist destination for quite some time, in the early 1970s, the 17th century palace was in desperate need of a $60 million glow-up to repair years of damage.
A Fabulous Fundraiser
American Fashion co-ordinator, Miss Eleanor Lambert (Mrs Berkson) who arrived by Qantas today to finalise arrangements for a major all-American fashion show in Sydney and Melbourne later this year. May 25, 1967. (Photo by Trevor James Robert Dallen/Fairfax Media via Getty Images).
American fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert knew $60 million dollars wasnโt small change, so she proposed the idea of a fashion show to raise money for the Versailles repair project. Working with the palace curator, Gerald Van der Kemp, she wanted to invite some of the wealthiest elites from around the world to view collections from fashion designers from France and the United States. Lambert believed the ticket sales would help bring in much-needed funds for the palace project and give American designers a chance to prove their talent on the world stage.
The French Designers
Fashion designer Pierre Cardin stands in his studio surrounded by models. (Photo by Pierre Vauthey/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)
Lambertโs idea got the green light, and the date was set for Nov. 28, 1973. The French assembled an all-star lineup of designers, including Hubert de Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, Marc Bohan (Creative Director for Christian Dior) and Emmanuel Ungaro. Ready to show the international audience that Paris was the fashion capital of the world, they planned more than an ordinary runway show, but a production that featured live music, dance and an extraordinary set.
The American Designers
NEW YORK, NY โ JANUARY 24: Designer Stephen Burrows attends the Tribute To The Models Of Versailles 1973 at The Metropolitan Museum Of Art on January 24, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
The American team accepted the challenge and built a roster that included designers Oscar de la Renta, Halston and Bill Blass. Unlike the French, Team USA brought a little more diversity to the event, with the only woman designer, Anne Klein, and Stephen Burrows, a Black graduate of New Yorkโs Fashion Institute of Technology, who made a name for himself with his colorful, lightweight knit designs and signature lettuce hem.
News of the show got lots of press in both the United States and France. John Fairchild, who was the editor of Womenโs Wear Daily at the time, helped add to the hype, billing the event โThe Battle of Versailles.โ
Choosing Models
Norma Jean Darden, Bethann Hardison, Billie Blair (Getty Images)
The budget for the event was tight, causing some of the more well-known models of the time โ like Jerry Hall and Lauren Hutton โ to turn down the $300 job. But their decision left the door open for a group of talented and beautiful Black models who were happy to step in and help bring the designerโs clothing to life. In the end, the American show featured 10 Black models โ Billie Blair, Bethann Hardison, Pat Cleveland, Amina Warsuma, Charlene Dash, Ramona Saunders, Norma Jean Darden, Barbara Jackson, Alva Chinn and Jennifer Brice โ making it one of the most diverse runways the fashion industry had ever seen at a major show.
Americans in Paris
Models Bethann Hardison and Armina Warsuma arrive in Marseille, Paris. (Photo by Michel Maurou/Reginald Gray/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images)
Although they werenโt paid much for the gig, many of the Black American models chosen for the show jumped at the chance to participate in a high-profile international event. Pat Cleveland remembers how excited many of the models were when they first set foot on French soil.
โThey got out of the bus and kissed the ground, they were so happy,โ she said.
A Not-So-Warm Welcome
Model Pat Cleveland eats a sandwich backstage during the Battle of Versailles fashion show to benefit the restoration of the Chateau of Versailles on November 28, 1973. The Battle of Versailles featured the top five American designers matching their talents with five French couturiers. The Americans triumphed. (Photo by Reginald Gray/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images)
Although the city of lights was beautiful, the American designers and models did not feel the love in France. Designer Stephen Burrows confirmed that their accommodations were far from five-star.
โThere was no toilet paper in the bathroom. It was terrible,โ Burrows said. โThey had the girls there working all day long and didnโt feed them.โ
Rehearsal Drama
Oscar de la Renta watches American team model Billie Blair practicing in a breakout rehearsal space within the palace complex. (Photo by Michel Maurou/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images)
The French werenโt any more gracious when it came to the rehearsal time, using up most of the days leading up to the show to run through their performance โleaving the American team to make the most of the middle of the night.
A Star-Studded Guest List
Marisa Berenson, Roy Halston, Liza Minnelli and friends attend the fashion show to benefit the restoration of the Chateau of Versailles, five American designers matching talents with five French couturiers at the Versailles Palace on November 28, 1973 in Versailles, France. (Photo by Fairchild Archive/Penske Media via Getty Images)
The idea of a showcase featuring some of the best in American and French fashion attracted a whoโs who of high-profile stars, including Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minelli (who took the stage during the American show) and Andy Warhol.
The French Performance Was a Production
American born-French entertainer Josephine Baker in costume rehearses on stage before her performance during the โBattle of Versaillesโ fashion competition in Paris on November 29, 1973. (Photo by Reginald Gray/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images)
On the night of the show, the French took the stage first, with a 40-piece orchestra, more than $30,000 worth of props and performances from well-known Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and legendary performer Josephine Baker along with their designerโs collections. American model Bethann Hardison remembered the French designerโs elaborate presentation that lasted for more than 2.5 hours.
โThey had everything. You just couldnโt believe all the entertainment they had,โ she said. โIt was like a circus. The only thing they didnโt do was shoot a man out of a cannon.โ
The Americans Met the Moment
After the French showcase, it was Team USAโs turn to take the stage. Although they walked to music on a cassette tape instead of a live orchestra, they met the moment, with the Black models showing off their rhythm as they floated down the runway. Although their show was only 35 minutes, they left the audience โ who gave them a standing ovation โ wanting more.
Making Fashion Ready-to-Wear
Battle of Versailles (Photo by Reginald Gray/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images)
While the French showcased classically tailored clothing conceived with a wealthy client in mind, the American designers were looking toward the future and embracing a growing shift towards ready-to-wear pieces that were accessible to a wider audience. The designers werenโt afraid to add color and pattern to a collection that was made for time.
The Power of Diversity
Models dressed in gowns take the stage during the fashion show to benefit the restoration of the Chateau of Versailles, five American designers matching talents with five French couturiers at the Versailles Palace on November 28, 1973 in Versailles, FranceโฆArticle title: โOne night and pouf! Itโs gone! (Photo by Fairchild Archive/Penske Media via Getty Images)
Filmmaker Deborah Riley Draper captured the magic of the Battle of Versailles in the documentary, โVersailles โ73: American Runway Revolution.โ In an interview with CBS, she emphasized the importance of this groundbreaking moment in fashion history.
โWhat America was able to do was to demonstrate that diversity and inclusion on the stage was the most powerful weapon they could have,โ she told CBS in an interview.
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