A Studio 54 feud has erupted in 2019.
Studio 54 co-founder Ian Schrager has slammed fashion designer Michael Kors for reminiscing about the legendary 1970s disco in a new Interview Magazine story. Schrager’s accused Kors of being a disco poseur.
For its 50th anniversary issue, Interview Magazine had “fashion royalty” Kors and former Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley “reminisce about their wild nights at Studio 54, the inspiration for Kors’ latest collection.”
Recalls Kors of the club: “Everyone was having sex in the balcony. The most shocking thing, when you think about it, is that… A lot of people were so high on quaaludes that you would see them fall down the stairs and go directly onto the dance floor, and not even consider that they had just fallen down two flights of steps. People were rubber.”
But when Interview promoted the story on Instagram this week, Schrager posted a fiery comment that said: “I don’t believe Michael Kors was ever at Studio 54. I certainly don’t remember him as he made no impression.
“This is nothing more than an obvious exploitation by a garment center person to sell some clothes that has nothing to do with Studio or what it was about.” Ouch.
The comment ended with “Ian Schrager” but came from the verified account of Schrager’s Public Hotels brand. Schrager — who co-founded the club with Steve Rubell and participated in a revealing documentary, “Studio 54,” last year — no longer owns the brand. MGM acquired the Studio 54 name and trademark in the US in 1997 to launch a Las Vegas version of the club, while Kors struck a deal to license the name and logo with MGM Resorts International and licensing company Venturesome. Additional recent Studio 54 brand collaborations have included a Sirius XM channel, and an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum scheduled for next year.
Kors claims in the piece, “Instead of going to my high school prom, I went to Studio 54. When I walked in, I thought, ‘I’m Dorothy and this is Oz.’” He added of using the club as inspiration for his latest line: “I always loved the logo. I have the invitation from opening night.” (Kors’ new clothes indeed include logoed gear such as a “Studio 54 Glitter Print Cashmere Sleeveless T-Shirt” for $690, and a “Studio 54 Cotton Long-Sleeve T-Shirt” for $490.)
Kors countered he never met Schrager — he was a high school and college kid at the time. The designer told us, when reached for comment: “I started going to Studio 54 during the summer of 1977 as a suburban Long Island kid and continued to go when I moved into Manhattan late that summer as a student at FIT. My friends and I were young students, not celebrities. We were never in a VIP room and did not meet Ian or Steve. From my experience, the most amazing thing about Studio 54 was the mix of people, from struggling students out to have a great time to the rich and famous. My collection celebrates that magical moment that I have so many fabulous memories of.”
A rep for Schrager did not immediately comment.