ANTONIO LOPEZ

I discovered some work by Antonio Lopez a few years ago and was attracted to his enigmatic sketches and pics as a Fashion Illustrator and photographer. By coincidence, as I was diving deeper into his career and private life, I read that the Danziger Gallery on Rivington Street in NYC was hosting an exhibition on his photographic estate. It was the first one to focus exclusively on Antonio’s photographs. As he never sent the negatives back for re-printing, each print is unique!

I would like to share his decades-spanning profile – because he was and is unique in his genre.

In the 1960s, Antonio Lopez left the FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) as a student to take a job as a Fashion Illustrator for WWD. Back then was still very much the time of the ladylike look (think Christian Dior’s “New Look” silhouette from 1947). The NY Times fashion editor, Carrie Donavan, discovered his work and offered him to freelance. For an illustrator, being published in the NY Times was reaching the top in your career! Juan Ramos, fellow fashion student at the FIT, became his art director and together they embarked on a professional and romantic relationship. By the age of 22, Antonio received over 1000,-$ an illustration, an enormous amount at the time.

Let’s not forget that the civil rights movement also characterizes this decade of change. It did not go unnoticed in his illustrations. He was the first to work with a mixed race model, Jane Forth. Soon she was seen as the “Face of the Seventies“ by Life Magazine (July 4 1969 issue). As both Juan & Antonio started to enjoy the very active, blossoming nightlife in Manhattan, they became famous. It was also a good publicity stunt: Antonio a fashion star-illustrator whose face and image became known beyond his work. This was quite unusual in these days when illustrators were faceless artists working hard behind closed doors in the offices of newspapers and fashion magazines.

Soon Europe became interested. French Elle invited Antonio to sketch the collections in Paris. He and Juan fell in love with the “City of Light” and decided to stay the following 6 years. As Paul Caranicas explained, “They were pleased with how seriously Elle regarded them as artists and how their work was showcased as such: they could use black models without feeling the pressure of prejudice.” That was a big statement on the fundamentally different approach towards models in Europe and the United States. Antonio, being himself a man of colour (he was born in Puerto Rico), championed this refreshing new move and introduced women of all ethnicities in his work.

A nice anecdote of their Paris years is Antonio meeting Karl Lagerfeld and soon the two embarked on a creative association. Antonio and his entourage hung out a lot in “Club Sept” that became the epicentre of disco for the European fashion scene.  It’s also here he met and launched the careers of then unknown young versatile women like Jerry Hall, Jessica Lange, Pat Cleveland and Grace Jones. In a very natural way, he could take them out of their comfort zone, let them do things they had no idea they were capable of. You can sense this form of theatrical energy in his photos and drawings. These girls highlighted the sensual styles he favoured. He transformed the concept of models. We saw no longer beauties but strong personalities. He was drawn to women with (complicated) character, the atypical type. He saw the potential of what a girl could become and illustrated her in this way. As Jerry Hall said : “He drew me, not as I was, but as I should be”. Nowadays he would be named an important fashion influencer. He was a visionary.

When I think of Antonio Lopez, I see the fancy, funky, flashy, daring movements of his 60s, 70s and 80s models. They look so carefree. Of course, in reality, their lives were less so. But see it as a form of escapism which is always a good vibe momentum to cherish. It uplifts our daily life.

In 1976, Antonio and Juan moved back to NY. There was a proper cultural shift going on in the Big Apple and I suppose they wanted to take part in it. Unfortunately by the beginning of the 1980s, a dark shadow started hanging over his successful life. He was tested positive for HIV in 1984. He tried every treatment available and was determined to fight it till his last breath. In his work of these last years, you can see the connection with death. He abandoned colour, using only black and white, as he approached the last stage of his life. He died of AIDS in 1987, only 44 years old. Even towards the end, he kept on sketching because he realized being an illustrator defined his life.

Today his legacy lives on. Decades later, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, the duo behind Opening Ceremony, created “Memento”, a new collection for Kenzo The overuse of amazing colours and prints references Antonio Lopez, who was a close friend of Kenzo. A documentary “Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex, Fashion, and Disco” will be released this fall. Written, produced and directed by James Crump the film covers his colourful lust for life and features his powergirls. I’m sure it will energise and inspire us! Stay tuned!To be continued…

TeDe