Who knew in 1976, when PR guru Ronni Cowan introduced costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorléac to Broadway and film actress Lesley Ann Warren, to do her nightclub costumes for Studio One’s Backlot Cabaret in West Hollywood, that it would result in the creation of spandex pants that later, through Good Guys Wear Black, Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, would become a nationwide sensation.
In a short matter of time, the concept and patterns were bought by a European manufacturer and the look soon became history. By the time Dorléac did the 20th Century Fox television musical special of The Valley of the Dolls in 1981, he was buying them off the rack in every shade of pastel and primary colors imaginable, for less than it had originally cost him to make them.
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When Jean-Pierre Dorléac Designed Spandex Pants For A Nightclub Costume, Who Knew They Would Start A Fashion Phenomenon…
Los Angeles, CA, March 30, 2015 – On January 24, 1977 Time magazine ran a full-color picture of Lesley Ann Warren in a purple spandex outfit with boots as an announcement for her soon-to-open show at Studio One’s Backlot Cabaret. With input by producers Jon Peters and Barbra Streisand, direction and choreography by Ron Fields of Broadway Cabaret fame, and chatter by funny gagwriter Bruce Vilanch, the show had created a lot of buzz.
Actress friend June Lockhart sent the Time’s editor a telegram asking, “Who designed that stunning outfit for Lesley Ann Warren on page 74 of this week’s Time? With a costume like that she’ll be a knockout.”
Acclaimed costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorléac pulls out all the stops from 1973 to 1985 in his authentic chronicle, The Naked Truth, that covers never-before-told Hollywood stories, including the beginning of the end of classic glamour.
This often funny and quite fortuitous success story is filled with splashy tales and entertaining confrontations involving glamour, politics, graft, sex, scandal, and candid accounts of the glitter and tinsel capital’s assets being sold off by the new capitalist.
About the Author
Jean-Pierre Dorléac is no stranger to the film industry. His award-winning costume designs can be seen in Somewhere in Time, The Blue Lagoon, Heart and Souls, Battlestar Galactica, Quantum Leap, Knightrider, Airwolf, The Lot and numerous other award winning productions.
For more, please visit: https://www.jean-pierredorleac.com
The Naked Truth
by Jean-Pierre Dorléac
Publisher: Monad Books
ISBN: 0974551111
Release date: May 4, 2015
Available nationwide at independent and major book stores, Amazon.com and www.jean-pierredorleac.com.
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D. Donovan, eBook Reviewer, MBR: “The Naked Truth is hobnobbing with the stars, autobiography, and Hollywood history and politics in one book, and will delight any who want a personal, lively exposé of the industry’s heyday. The chatty tone sets the stage for a rollicking good leisure read; so if it’s serious analytical history that’s sought, look elsewhere. Just because it’s ‘the naked truth’ doesn’t mean that Jean-Pierre Dorléac has gone light on its entertainment value: lively storytelling devices the norm, here: not the exception.”
