Boutique
She Brought the English Scene to New York Susanne Bartsch came to New York in 1981 after a decade in London. While still on a tourist visa, she opened an influential boutique on Thompson Street in Soho, featuring the work of young, cutting-edge English designers and milliners, such as David Holah (later of Body Map),…
Queen of the Night
Born in Switzerland, Susanne Bartsch moved to London as a teenager, where she became part of a vibrant music and fashion scene. Inspired by London club nights, she later began organizing spectacular events in New York City, which became famous for bringing together uptown and downtown, gay and straight, fashion and art. In 1989, drawing…
Love Ball and AIDS Benefits
The Love Ball (1989) was a pioneering AIDS benefit that brought together the fashion industry elite and raised $400,000 in a single night for the Design Industry Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA). Bartsch went on to organize other AIDS benefits, including Love Ball 2 in New York City and the Ballade de l’Amour in Paris. Ultimately,…
Designers
Fashion Designers on the Dance Floor Many fashion designers attended Bartsch’s events, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, and Thierry Mugler. Recalling nights at the Copacabana, Scott Ewalt says, “There were so many fashion designers on the dance floor that we used to say if a bomb went off, the entire industry would…
Mr. Pearl
Mr. Pearl, the South African born corsetier and tight-lacer, created many of Bartsch’s looks in the 1980s and 1990s. She introduced him to Thierry Mugler, and by the 1990s, Mr. Pearl was working for many of the top fashion designers in Paris, including Lagerfeld at Chanel, Galliano at Dior, and Christian Lacroix. “I really liked…
Art Projects & Makeup
Susanne Bartsch has lived in the Chelsea Hotel ever since she first moved to New York in 1981. This part of the exhibition space is designed to evoke her much-photographed apartment, from which she has organized numerous projects involving art and transformation. “There are certain people, like Leigh Bowery and Susanne Bartsch, who make fashion…