Lady's After Hours

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with fashion designer and artist Hylan Booker. Born and raised in Detroit, Hylan Booker came to the UK in 1958 as a G.I. in the US Air Force. In his downtime, he studied at the Swindon School of Art, before enrolling at the Royal College of Art in London, where he studied alongside Ossie Clark. Booker launched his own line after graduation in 1966, quickly becoming one of the most talked-about collections in Swinging London. In 1968, he was tapped by the historic House of Worth to design its couture collection, becoming the first Black to hold such a role at a European couture house. Through the 1970s, he freelanced for many British fashion companies and established a cosmetics line for women of color, before returning to the United States in 1980. After designing menswear in New York, Booker moved to Miami in the 1990s, where he established his own couture line of exquisite evening gowns. After closing his line in the wake of 9/11, Hylan switched his

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with photographer and filmmaker Denis Piel. Born in France and raised in Australia, Denis Piel began shooting advertising work in the 1960s, establishing his own studio before discovering a passion for fashion photography. After moving to Europe in the early 1970s, he shot for many of the hippest young fashion magazines, like French Elle and Honey. In 1979, Piel moved to New York, where his work brought him to the attention of Alexander Liberman, the legendary art director of American Vogue, who contracted him to shoot exclusively for Condé Nast. Over the next eleven years, Piel shot more than a thousand editorial spreads and celebrity portraits for the American, German, Italian, French, and British editions of Vogue, while also photographing for Vanity Fair, Self, and GQ. In the middle of the decade, he established a film production company and began shooting commercials, most famously for Donna Karan. After he left Condé Nast to concentrate on directi

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with artist and illustrator Richard Ellescas. From Southern California, the Filipino-Chinese-Native American Dick Ellescas found his way to art and illustration through the kindness of a series of mentors, before studying at the School of Visual Arts, Chouinard Art, and Art Center College of Design, where he later taught. His artistry led him to become a muralist in the Army and a designer of movie intros, before developing a successful freelance illustration career that lasted decades. In the 1970s, Ellescas’ skillful mixture of Art Déco, Art Nouveau, and psychedelic art became a mainstay of magazines and album covers—his romantic art the ideal accompaniment to classical music and opera. Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown once wrote, “Los Angeles’ Dick Ellescas specializes in glamorous women, brilliant color – and we gasp (pleasurably) when his work arrives at the office.” Those glamorous women included Barbie, as he was the artist behind her illus

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with movie critic and author Molly Haskell. A legendary film critic, with her first book, ‘From Reverence to Rape: the Treatment of Women in the Movies’ (1973) Molly Haskell fundamentally changed the way we look at women in film and basically started the whole field of feminist film theory and criticism. Starting her career in the mid-1960s at the French Film Office in New York, writing press releases about French films and translating for visiting directors, Molly began reviewing in the late 1960s. Over the next five decades, she went on to write for New York Magazine, Vogue, Ms., Viva, The New York Times, The Guardian, Esquire, The New York Review of Books, Film Comment, and many other publications, in addition to writing five other books. From a traditional Southern background, Molly forsook the expected path of a housewife, instead choosing a career and a marriage built on a shared passion for film—she was married to fellow film critic Andrew Sarris

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms in conversation with illustrator and graphic designer Barry Zaid. Canadian self-taught artist Barry Zaid had had a long, fruitful career that has taken him all over the world. While living in London in the mid-to-late-1960s, his stylized 20s-inspired art and graphics were a vital part of the nascent Art Deco revival; they can be seen on the cover of ‘The Beatles’ First’ and the book that gave the movement its name, Bevis Hillier’s ‘Art Deco.’ Barry then brought his inimitable illustrations to New York and Push Pin Studios, where he worked under graphic design legends Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast. In the late 1970s, Zaid became the creative director for Celestial Seasonings Tea, where he created their iconic packaging. Over the decades, Barry worked for every major magazine and newspaper, from the Globe & Mail to Seventeen, Sesame Street to New York, Esquire to Ladies’ Home Journal. Zaid has designed hundreds of logos, packaging for a range of products,

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms is back with a conversation with writer, actor, narrator, Zen Buddhist priest, and countercultural icon Peter Coyote. As the narrator for many of Ken Burns’ documentaries, Peter Coyote has been described as the “voice of America,” yet his life and career are far most interesting and diverse. He came to screen acting and fame in his 40s, leading a wild and colorful life of adventure on the edges of society before that. Coyote was a founding member of the Diggers, a San Francisco anarchist collective. Once the Diggers evolved into the Free Family, Coyote went on to live on several communes. Drugs and the downfall of the counterculture brought Peter Coyote to Zen Buddhism in the mid-70s, which shifted the tenor and direction of his life and career, bringing him into the arts and eventually back into acting, something he had first attempted in the mid-60s as part of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. After re-starting his acting career in 1978, among his first films

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with Sally Ann Parsons. Sally Ann Parson is the grande dame of the Broadway, dance and theatre costume worlds. Now in her 80s, she has been involved with the theatre since she was a small child—first as an actress, then as a costume designer for downtown dance troupes and ballets and, since 1980, the owner of a costume workshop. Parson-Meares is a Premier Broadway costume shop known for its excellence in artistic and fantastic costumes, and still after 45 years, New York City’s largest. Among the many Broadway hits for which she has supervised costume-making are “Hamilton,” “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Wicked,” “Cats,” “Phantom of the Opera,” and “Starlight Express.” Additionally, Parson-Meares has created costumes for the Metropolitan Opera and other opera houses, numerous ballets, Disney on Ice, and the Rockettes. In 2016, Sally Ann was the first costume maker to receive a Tony Honor. To sign up for my newsletter, visit https://laurakitty.substack.c

After a two-year break, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms is back with a conversation with artist Steven Thomas. After studying at the Chelsea School of Art in the mid-60s, Steve started his career in Swinging London, modelling, painting the façade of Chelsea boutique Dandie Fashions, and designing album artwork for bands, including the Rolling Stones. In the late 1960s, a girlfriend introduced him fashion illustrator-turned-fashion designer Barbara Hulanicki and her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon of Biba, which began a very fruitful and inspirational collaboration. He began working with Biba first on smaller projects, like a makeup poster, then a children’s department at the Kensington Church Street store and the Biba concession at Bergdorf Goodman, and finally, when Biba took over a whole department store on Kensington High Street, Steve and his partner Tim Whitmore were hired to create all of the designs for the entire Big Biba store, including interiors, signage, giant display items and graph

After a two-year break, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms is back with a conversation with fashion designer Stan Herman. Stan Herman is a living legend in the American fashion industry. At 97-years-old, Stan been designing and working in the New York fashion industry since the early 1950s. After becoming a youthquake fashion star as head designer for Mr. Mort in the late 60s, starting in the 1970s, he became the designer of choice for corporate uniforms. Through his uniform designs for many different airlines, McDonald’s, FedEx, Amtrak and more, as well as his many-decade career selling robes and loungewear on QVC, he is the most worn designer ever. Even now, in his late 90s, he continues to design uniforms for FedEx, JetBlue, and other major corporations. From 1991 to 2006, Stan was also president of the CFDA, where he was integral to bringing New York Fashion Week to the tents at Bryant Park. This conversation took place in September 2024, soon after the release of his memoir, Uncross You

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with leather artisans and costumers Whitaker Malem. The British leather-making duo Patrick Whitaker and Keir Malem having been loving, working, and living together for over 35 years. Its more than likely that you are well acquainted with their work, even if the name Whitaker Malem rings no bells. If you’ve ever watched Die Another Day, The Dark Knight, Hobbs and Shaw, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Troy or Aquaman, then you’ve seen Whitaker Malem’s expert leatherwork. They started their career in fashion—their unusual, molded leather bustiers and jackets soon becoming a favorite of magazines, pop stars and musicians. They also collaborated on runway pieces for Alexander McQueen (both his own label and Givenchy), Hussein Chalayan, and Tommy Hilfiger. Since 2002, Whitaker Malem have helped costume 26 films—their work integral to the creation of superhero and warrior bodily forms. Additionally, they have collaborated with pop artist Allen Jones for over 3

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with pop artist, painter and sculptor Allen Jones. Allen was born in Southampton in 1937 and grew up in the London suburbs. He studied painting and lithography at Hornsey College of Art between 1955 and 1959, after which he entered the Royal College of Art alongside what was to become the first generation of British pop artists. After teaching art and exhibiting for a few years, in 1964 he moved to New York for a year, before going on an extended tour of the United States by car. This trip proved to be incredibly influential in his career—connecting him with the American pop art scene, helping him develop a more hard-edged painting style, and introducing him to fetish imagery. In 1970 he premiered his most controversial works—sculptures of pneumatic female mannequins as furniture: a chair, a hat stand, and a table. The feminist backlash made him into a household name. One of Britain’s most famous living artists, at 85, he continues to paint everyday da

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks author, journalist, activist and founding editor of Ms. Magazine, Letty Cottin Pogrebin. From Queens, Letty grew up in a conservative Jewish family. At age 20 in 1960, she became the director of publicity for the publishing company Bernard Geis Associates—later rising to vice president. There she was instrumental in making books like ‘Valley of the Dolls’ and ‘Sex and the Single Girl’ into mega-bestsellers. In 1970, she wrote her first book, ‘How to Make it in a Man’s World’; after its success, she left her job to focus on writing and raising her family. She was a founding member of the National Women's Political Caucus, through which she met Gloria Steinem; in 1972, they founded Ms. Magazine together. Letty was an editorial consultant for the 1972 TV special ‘Free to Be... You and Me’ for which she earned an Emmy. Throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s and up to today, she has continued writing books—centering on subjects around the family, raising children, b

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with author, screenwriter and TV producer James Fritzhand. Originally from Brooklyn, James Fritzhand published his first novel in 1971, ‘Son of the Great American Novel.’ He then went on to publish seventeen further novels, across many genres and using several pseudonyms—from showbiz roman a clefs to sagas to gothics to adventure novels and more. In the early 1980s, Fritzhand became a television screenwriter—writing for many of the major prime time soaps of the era: ‘Falcon Crest’, ‘Flamingo Road’, and ‘Hotel’ (which he also produced for a season). Around 2000, he retired from showbusiness and moved to northern California, where he lives a quiet life with his partner of 46 years. Jim and I talk about growing up in Brooklyn in the 50s and 60s, discovering himself as a writer, how he went from literary fiction to popular fiction to TV writing, meeting his partner in a gay bathhouse, AIDS, the quiet life, losing everything in the Tubbs Fire, and his passi

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with art director and author Steven Heller. An incredibly creative and prolific individual, Steven is the author, co-author or editor of over 200 books on graphic design, illustration and political art. I interviewed him in the fall, around the publication of “Growing Up Underground: A Memoir of Counterculture New York,” which details his teens and early 20s working in the counterculture press. At 17 he became the art director at the counterculture weekly, the New York Free Press. He then went on to work for Screw, the East Village Other, Rock, Gay, Mobster Times, and Evergreen Review, before being poached at age 24 by the New York Times to be the art director of the Op-ed page. Steve was an art director at The New York Times for 33 years; 3 years on the Op-ed page, before moving to the Book Review. He became a senior art director in 1980. Steven is the co-founder and co-chair of the MFA Design Department and co-founder of the MFA Design Criticism, MPS

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with aerobics instructor and actress Bess Motta. Bess Motta was born and raised right outside Los Angeles, and began acting in school plays at a young age. After high school, she went on to star in “The Great American Backstage Musical” on stage in San Francisco and London—arriving back from her British sojourn thirty pounds heavier. Needing to lose weight for auditions led her to join a gym and try aerobics; within months she had lost the weight and was leading sixteen classes a week. She was elevated to fitness fame as one of the instructors of “20 Minute Workout,” and began traveling the country to lead workouts and host fitness competitions in malls nationwide. In addition to teaching fitness for forty years, Bess has continued to act—her most famous role being Ginger, Sarah Connor’s roommate in “The Terminator.” In 2016, Bess returned to the stage to star as Judy Garland in the west coast theatre premier of “The Boy from Oz,” for which she won the

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms speaks with artist and illustrator Emanuel Schongut. Manny Schongut has had a long and diverse career as an illustrator. From upstate New York, Schongut studied and taught at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute before becoming a freelance illustrator. During the 1960s, Schongut became known for his distinctive book covers, often for science fiction and crime novels, that brought together watercolour and pen-and-ink in intriguing graphics. In the early 1970s, he was represented by Push Pin Studios, the legendary graphic design and illustration firm founded by Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast. Taking a more traditional figurative tack, Manny’s work appeared in New York magazine, the New York Times, Vogue, Town & Country, Redbook, and many other publications. Starting in the 1970s, Schongut began working on children’s books—so far, he has illustrated over twenty, and been the author of five of those. Based in San Francisco since the early 1990s, 86-year-old Manny continu

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms is back this week with a conversation with former model and artist Pat Runningbear Evans. One of the most memorable models of the late 1960s and 1970s, Pat Evans was born and raised in Harlem. After she shaved her head, her modeling career became highly successful with Pat starring in ad campaigns, editorials and on the cover of three legendary Ohio Players albums. Unwilling to put up with the way Black women were treated as models, she moved into designing – creating handmade leather clothes that were worn by superstars like Isaac Hayes. Pat also worked as a makeup artist for yet more superstars, Aretha Franklin among them, before founding her own modeling agency. A religious experience led her to close her agency and move to the country in the early 1990s, focusing since then on her spiritual experience and on making traditional Native American clothes, moccasins, and objects. She lives a quiet life away from fashion industry but kindly took the time to rem

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms is back this week with a conversation with art collector, muse, journalist, and editor Joan Agajanian Quinn. Joan Quinn has been a major force in the Los Angeles art scene for 70 years, as a collector, promoter, advocate, and friend to generations of artists. While amassing a large “accumulation” of art, her passion and collecting zeal also made her a muse for artists—what started as some artist friends painting and sculpting her portrait in the seventies, has now grown into a collection of over 300 portraits of Joan. In the late 1970s, Andy Warhol asked her to become West Coast editor of Interview magazine; a role she later held with several other publications. From the mid-1980s until 2020, Joan hosted public access TV shows where she interviewed artists and creatives. Now in her 80s, Joan is still actively engaging with artists and the art world. Part of her collection was featured at an exhibition at the Bakersfield Museum of Art earlier this year. Calle

After a little hiatus, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with the president of the Estate of Richard Bernstein, Rory Trifon. Known for his saturated, highly glamorous covers for Interview magazine, Richard Bernstein was born in New York in 1939; he passed away from AIDs-related complications in 2002. Richard created the cover for every Interview magazine up until Warhol's death in 1987—a prodigious volume of work that serves as an archive of 1970s and 1980s celebrity culture. In the late 1970s, Richard Bernstein became friends with Grace Jones, helping to mold her visual identity as she first emerged as a singer. The duo continued to work together for many years. Richard was also an early innovator in digital art. Rory is Richard's nephew and the one entrusted with maintaining and carrying forward his legacy. In our conversation, he provides a short biography of Richard, his artistic career and relationship with Andy Warhol. We then speak about what is like to run an artist’s estate, w

Returning for a new season, fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms meets with fashion designer, actress and model Edina Ronay. Born in Budapest to a family of successful restaurateurs, Edina Ronay fled to London with her parents after the war. There her father opened a restaurant and then founded what became a very successful and influential series of guidebooks, starting with Egon Ronay's Guide to British Eateries in 1957. As a teen Edina became an actress, appearing in a number of cult British films. She was a key member of the hip London scene and dated Michael Caine before she met her husband, photographer Dick Polak. With him, she lived in Morocco and Formentera, until they returned to London to act, model and have children. In the early 1970s Edina began selling vintage clothes. This led to her starting a knitwear label based on vintage knitting patterns, which eventually grew into her own fashion label. Edina Ronay showed at London Fashion Week and was sold all over the world. Throughout