published on in blog

Studio 54: heady daze of disco decadence in pictures | Art and design

Studio 54: heady daze of disco decadence – in pictures

Infamous New York nightclub Studio 54 was an unholy marriage of disco and depravity. Hasse Persson photographed the likes of Calvin Klein, Truman Capote and Andy Warhol there

Sat 14 Mar 2015 19.00 EDT Last modified on Thu 26 Mar 2020 10.43 EDT

  • Calvin Klein, Brooke Shields, Steve Rubell and Andy Warhol take to the DJ booth, 1979

    Hasse Persson: “[Club co-owner] Steve Rubell used to bring people into the area where the DJs played, and sometimes they could select the music. Music played a great role in Studio 54 – they had the two best DJs in the world at the time. Calvin Klein [in the white shirt] often came to Studio 54 with Brooke Shields.”

  • Truman Capote and fashion editor DD Ryan and friends

    “Truman Capote was very friendly with Andy Warhol and Steve Rubell. He was there often, and he liked drugs. It was always a combination of alcohol and drugs when he was part of it. The man on the right is Bob Colacello, an editor at Interview magazine – he worked with Andy Warhol for 20 years. The woman in the centre is DD Ryan, who was at the time the most feared fashion editor, at Harper’s Bazaar.”

  • The dancefloor on Halloween 1978

    “I wasn’t so much interested in famous people as trying to capture the feeling and excitement of being in the place. When the light was very low I would keep the camera shutter open for up to 30 seconds: it became almost like a still picture film. That way I could capture a lot of movement in the images.”

  • High fashion model Potassa de la Fayette, Salvador Dalí’s favourite transvestite, is handled on the dancefloor, 1978

    “She was probably the most famous transvestite in the world at the time, and Dalí’s favourite model. As Dalí got older he looked for new, exciting people to use as a model, and she was one of them. She had a fantastic presence on the dancefloor – a person like that would make the evenings sparkle.”

  • Halston, Andy Warhol and Bianca Jagger, backstage, 1977

    “These three were regulars. They were there for different reasons: Halston for the fashion, to see how street kids in Harlem dressed. Andy Warhol was making deals for stories for his magazine, Interview. I never saw him dance, but I always saw him with a camera or tape recorder in his hand. He didn’t like people to touch or greet him, so these objects would hold them back. Bianca was still married to Mick Jagger, but he was on the road most of the time, and I think she felt alone. She loved to dance and she wanted to meet people.”

  • Halloween party, 1977

    “If you were dressed like this you always got in to Studio 54 and never had to stand in line. Steve Rubell loved people who dressed up. He called his secret formula a ‘tossed salad’: homosexuals, lesbians, transsexuals, famous movie stars, Brazilians, street kids from Harlem and the Bronx, and Eurotrash. I think I was part of the Eurotrash quota. I once asked him why he wanted so many homosexuals, and he said, ‘Women love to see men dancing.’”

  • Friday night, 1978

    “I don’t know if that was real plastic surgery – it could have been. But if you came in as a couple dressed like this, you were safe to get in. The whole place was like a happening, Steve Rubell was looking for the right mixture to make this a magic night. The place existed for about 1,000 nights, from 1977 to 1980, and every night was magical.”

  • Scene from a party night, 1978

    “Once you were inside, people felt like they were artists. Everyone was equal, and everyone felt like a star. I think this person had done some kind of performance: he was probably a drag queen, and was calling himself Miss something. Here he’s very tired. Let’s say he’s resting.”

  • Calvin Klein (left), Brooke Shields and Steve Rubell pictured at a Calvin Klein party, 1978

    “Steve Rubell was the one who hand-picked a thousand people every night: there were no bouncers, just him pointing to people in the queue. If you had a polyester shirt you were out. He wanted famous people too – but being famous didn’t meant you were guaranteed to get in. He wanted a certain style of famous people.”

  • Halloween 1978

    “Every night was a unique experience: every night you left smiling. At the time cocaine was very popular -- it was like a health food. And then there were poppers, and quaaludes, which when mixed with champagne made you feel very loose. But at the same time it felt innocent.”

  • Fashion artist Victor Hugo on a stretcher on the dancefloor, 1978

    “This is Victor Hugo, Halston’s boyfriend at the time. He used to come to Studio 54 in an ambulance, with the full lights on, and he had friends carry him in on a stretcher straight on to the dancefloor, where he started to dance. He was also very lightly dressed.”

  • Halloween, 1978

    “I think this is the same horse Bianca Jagger turned up on for her birthday in 1977. If you came on a white horse, with almost no clothes on, you were guaranteed to get in. What was interesting is that women felt secure enough to dance nude in the place. This is after the feminist movement of the 70s: if a woman wanted to be nude that was her privilege, no one would ever touch her or say anything. They were like queens on the dancefloor.”

  • Ladies’ room, 1977

    “This may sound unusual today, but if you wanted to make love with somebody, people were making love on the balconies, and they were making love in the bathrooms. This was taken in the ladies’ room. In the very, very far left you can see me – I didn’t know that I was in the picture.”
Topics

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJmiqa6vsMOeqqKfnmS0orjLnqmyZ2JlfnZ7zJqpaGlkZMC1wcOipmZtZGK1pq3DsmSdmaqaerCyjJ2grJufYrGmr8CdnKeblWK2r3nPopqtraKawA%3D%3D