……………………The Versailles fashion show in Paris without a doubt was and is to this day the most important fashion show that ever took place…..Elanor Lambert, who was an American publiscist, came up with the idea to have a fashion show pitting five American designers against the leading five French designers. The French really didn’t know that much about the Americans and considered them copyists and second rate. She had meetings with the French and they decided it should be a benefit to repair the Place of Versailles which had fallen into a horrible condition. This would assure the turnout they wanted. There is a documentary that explains what happened [The Battle of Versailles], but my story is about Jac. She was just starting in the business. She went to Paris once and worked for Givenchy among others, and came back to the US. Her agency immediately sent her out on go sees with the understanding she was new and already a hit in Paris. She quickly got bookings to do shows….Bill Blass, Steven Borrows, and Anne Klein being just three of them. She heard that models were being booked for this enormous event in Paris, but had no idea if she was one of the models. She was at a booking with another model, and the subject of Versailles came up. The model asked Jac if she were booked and Jac replied she didn’t know. The model said, “well you must call your agent and find out”, but Jac was too shy and embarrassed to call and find out. What if she wasn’t and had to tell this model she wasn’t booked! The model insisted she call her agent Gilles McGill and ask her. Jac was shaking when she made the call. She asked to speak to Gilles [a tough broad who was once a well known model herself]. In a very low self deprecating voice she asked Gilles if she was booked for the Versailles show. There was a moment of silence on the other end, and Gilles said to Jac, “you stupid girl, each model needed three votes out of the five designers to get accepted, you got FOUR votes, you’re going!”. She was so excited to be going back to Paris, and to Versailles! Little did she know what a horrible time it would be……..however with all of the terrible conditions the American segment was a huge success. They out shown the French ten fold. The French segment was 2 1/2 hours of over produced boredom. It looked old and it was old. There is nothing worse in the fashion industry to be boring and OLD!. The American show with all five designers was 35 minutes of sensational, fast past gorgeous clothes on beautiful models with fantastic American 70s music….”Love Unlimited”…..Jac was in FOUR of the Five segments. The only one she didn’t do was Steven Borrows who she was working with in NYC, but the way it was planned she couldn’t do it. Ocsar was the last to show and needed one more model. He wanted Jac, but Jac was in the Bill Blass segment so he had to ask Bill if it was alright for Jac to do his segment! You wouldn’t believe the cat fights and screaming that was going on before the show, but Bill said yes. The two pictures above are to the left, Jac in an Oscar chiffon white gown. and tow the left Jac in a white Bill Blass very fitted suit with a long skirt and a hat with a veil. She carried a walking stick and was supposed to be very haughty. She opened the segment with model Carol Brant on an empty stage. She was supposed to play an uppity aristocrat and left Carol standing alone who then walked off….Jac walked to the center stage, and with a hand jester brought out the other models and then she walked off the stage. Bill Blass fell in love with her from that moment on, and had a huge larger than life hard poster of Jac standing alone at the front of the stage with her walking stick planted in the floor. He kept this poster there for years. Jac soon became his fitting model. He called her his Carol Lombard.
