In 1973, a show at the iconic Palace of Versailles in France pitted American designers against French designers. The face off marked a turning point for American designers who were consistently up against the history, heritage, and prestige of the French fashion industry.

The American designers, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, Halston, and Stephen Burrows, the sole black designer in the group, went up against ves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro, and Marc Bohan of Christian Dior.

In a bold move, 10 of 30 the American fashion models were black. The models included Pat Cleveland, Bethann Hardison, Billie Blair, Jennifer Brice, Alva Chinn, Norma Jean Darden, Charlene Dash, Barbara Jackson, China Machado, Ramona Saunders, and Amina Warsuma.

In her book The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History, Pulitzer Prize winning fashion critic Robin Givhan takes a look at the legendary fashion show and how race played a role in helping American designers to define themselves on the world stage.

(Models on stage at Versailles in Stephen Burrows Collection. Image credit: Charles Tracy.)