New Years Eve, 1978

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Brooke Sheilds and Mariel Hemingway on New Year’s Eve 1978. “They’re watching a performance by Grace Jones at three o’clock in the morning,” Yokobosky says.  “It’s hard to believe, because they were both teenagers. Grace Jones performed four songs. [She] came out in this big gold lamé outfit, and then she had 10 dancers that worked with her who were just wearing G-strings. They had done a whole set where it was a big cobra snake onstage, and Grace walked in under the Cobra mouth. So they’re reacting to her performance.”

Beyond the Velvet Rope

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A 1979 ad for Studio 54 jeans by Gordon Munro and Peter Rogers, with jeans designed by Norma Kamali. “That was during the designer jeans moment,” Yokobosky says. “Gloria Vanderbilt had her fashion show at Studio 54 for her jeans. Calvin Klein said a man came up to him at 4 a.m. in Studio 54 and said, ‘Have you ever considered designing jeans, blue jeans?’ And then Studio 54 decided that they should make Studio 54 jeans. Peter Rogers had written that great tagline, ‘What becomes a legend most’ for Backglama mink. And now for this he wrote, ‘Now everybody can get into Studio 54,’ a riff on people not being able to get past the velvet rope.”

Valentine’s Day

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Valentine’s Day 1979. “Studio 54 was really well known for doing these big scene parties,” Yokobosky notes. “For other Valentine’s Day parties, the invitation was, you got a box in the mail, and then it had a gold arrow and it had a little scrolled red paper that invited you to come to the party. So they could do these elaborate invitations. When you walked into this particular one, they had a hallway, and on both sides of the hallway were 38 monitors showing scenes from Hollywood movies of people kissing. So you walk through this kind of kissing hallway before you got to the party room.”

Yves Saint Laurent

A Chinese-inspired sketch by Yves Saint Laurent from September 1978. The drawing — dedicated to Studio 54 co-founder Steve Rubell — is part of a series the designer made to clelebrate the launch of opium perfume. “They had a big party on a junk boat in lower Manhattan, but then the big after party was at Studio 54 and all the celebrities were there,” Yokobosky says. “Cher, David Geffen, Halston, Yves Saint Laurent, and all of his models.”

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Opening Night

Studio 54 opened on April 26th, 1977. To kick off the festivities, they commissioned the Alvin Ailey dance company for the choreography, with costumes designed by Antonio Lopez. “He was working as a consultant for Fiorucci, which was a big fashion place in the 70s,” explains Yokobosky. “People often called [it] the day time Studio 54, ‘cause when you walked into Fiorucci, they had all these moving lights and people would be performing in the windows. I got in touch with Antonio Lopez archive and they found an envelope. There were the original sketches for all the dance costumes that night. We’ll be showing those for the first time ever.”

“This photograph shows you one of the outfits which was a ribbon skirt that he had designed,” he added. “We don’t know what the original music was that night, but they say that the Alvin Ailey Dance Company performed to disco music.”

One-Year Anniversary

Liza Minnelli and Halston on the one-year anniversary of Studio 54. “They had a performance by Issey Miyake, the fashion designer,” says Yokobosky. “Afterwards, Halston gave a talk about how Studio 54 was great for New York City and how it helped to revitalize New York nightlife,  and Liza Minnelli was quoted as saying that it brought glamor back to New York City. It gave us all the reason to dress up again. And so they said those things, Liza sang a song, and then they kissed for all the photographers.”

Behind the Scenes

Studio 54 manager Michael Overington. “Studio54 did frequent renovations,” Yokobosky notes. “They did a big renovation every year to freshen it up and change it up. So I just wanted to show a little behind the scenes.”

Silver Boots

“I have a whole section in this show of fantasy costumes,” Yokobosky says. “A lot of people thought that they had to wear designers to go to Studio 54, but actually some people created their own outfits, like the man with the red balloons and this guy with the silver boots. It gives you a sense of how creative and how much dedication people put into making the costumes to go there.”

Scavullo on Tina Turner

“Francesco Scavullo took all the covers of Cosmopolitan magazine in the 1970s,” Yokobosky says. “And he also did a long series of books. They had an after party for his book, Scavullo on Men, and Tina Turner came. Scavullo was known for not taking his camera to Studio 54. He said, ‘I work in the studio. I don’t take a camera when I go out at night.'”

Giorgio and Steve

“Giorgio de Sant’Angelo was a big fashion designer in the late Seventies,” says Yokobosky. “He did swimsuits for Cheryl Tiegs [and] costumes for Lena Horne’s The Lady and Her Music on Broadway. He was very close friends with Calvin Klein and Valentino. And this is just one of these great moments where Steve Rubell is hanging out with Georgio.”

Iman the Star

Iman in 1978. “Iman came to Studio regularly,” says Yokobosky. “She always turned out great. I told her I was having this photograph in the show and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it was such an amazing time. We all wanted to dress up to go to Studio 54 ‘cause lighting was so good.'”

“Because they worked with theater designers for the lighting —and the way the light hit the dance floor — it was really like when you walked onto that dance floor, you really felt like you were the star,” he adds. “And because they had left in the balconies, people were there watching people dancing on the floor. So Iman was just talking about how it was so glamorous every evening.”

Marisa and Valentino

Marissa Berenson and Valentino. “They were coming from a party for Steve Rubell that night,” Yokobosky says. “She was wearing this amazing Valentino dress. It’s a little bit risqué because you have a little side boob going on. A lot of the dresses during the late Seventies just kind of skimmed the surface, or they just revealed maybe a little bit more than what you might have seen in another era. It was very sexy, very loose, [and] very glamorous. So when I was going through all this photographs, I was like, ‘Oh my god. Marisa looks so amazing. I have to have that in the show.'” 

Richard Gallo

Performance artist Richard Gallo, who frequented Studio 54. His black sequined fishnet body suit with a coat made out of a packing blanket has been remade for the exhibit.

White Horse Magic

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In what is the most iconic photo of Studio 54, Bianca Jagger rides a horse on her birthday in 1977. The Studio was closed on Mondays, but they opened up exclusively for the celebration. “There was a Broadway show called Oh! Calcutta! in the Seventies, and it was considered scandalous because most of the performers were nude onstage,” Yokobosky says. “So Ian went over to visit the cast and asked two of the performers if they could come over to the studio. They painted them makeup that looked like they would have had clothes. And they walked out with a horse.”

“At some point, Bianca asked the young woman to get off the horse,” he adds. “She was this red Halston dress, and she locked up onto the horse and it became this crazy photo frenzy. That was the picture that went around the world and sealed the deal that Studio 54 was the place to go.”