Designers have been getting in front of the camera long before reality shows ruled the networks. One grand example: the star-studded two-part “Love Boat” episode titled, “The Fashion Show,” which aired on Oct. 3, 1981. It featured industry vets Geoffrey Beene, Bob Mackie, Halston and Gloria Vanderbilt — in addition to pianist Bobby Short and the most famous of cinematic Eves, Anne Baxter. In February of that year, WWD was on set and chronicled the making of that epic episode, the plot of which involved a fashion show, clashing models and a cosmetics magnate.
While Halston naturally brought his own entourage to the shooting, including model Pat Cleveland, Beene was content with the leggy girls the show provided. “They know how to move without posing,” said Beene, in a ribbed cardigan, shirt and tie. “Too many models in New York are busy ‘wearing’ the clothes, they forget it is the attitude which makes them look good.” Then, WWD reported, “Mackie took his turn before the camera, introducing models wearing his Glydons lingerie, Halston and Vanderbilt had a little tête-à-tête, while Beene hung around, less conspicuously, in the background.”
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In another scene, a passenger asked if Beene made bathing suits, to which he replied, “No.” The swift reply? “Pity, if you did, you could call them string beans.”
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The original episode was to be musically driven, starring Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey and Ann Miller, but then came a musicians’ strike and producer Doug Cramer made the fateful switch to fashion. Cramer, who’s also responsible for “Dynasty” and “The Brady Brunch,” let slip to our reporter that Ralph Lauren declined to appear — “He didn’t think it was right for his image, though in fact the men in the show wear Polo shirts” — as did Calvin Klein, who “wouldn’t do it when he heard Halston would.” He denied reports that Giorgio Armani rebuffed him, “insisting it was vice versa.”