May 3rd, 2019, 12:35 PM

My Mother, The Ungaro Muse

By Koko Dama
Antonia for VOGUE Mexico, 1980's. Photo via Antonia Vasquez
From hard living conditions to menial jobs, Antonia Vasquez's rise to fashion notoriety was an unlikely one.

Antonia Vasquez grew up in Concord, California, in a home of abuse and poverty to a single mother with eight children. At a young age, she was shifted in and out of the foster care system and felt stuck. At the age of 15, she contacted her estranged father in Ozone Park, Queens, took a risk, packed up her things, and flew to New York City. Living in a tiny studio apartment with her father, Vasquez realized she had to find a way to get on in her life.

With no support from her father, she dropped out of high school and went to beauty school so she could find employment. At 18, she was hired as a hairdresser at the well-known Jean Louis David hair salon in the prestigious Henri Bendel store in New York. One afternoon, she was working on a client, John Casablanca, the owner and founder of The Elite Modeling Agency. With a towel on his head, he looked at Vasquez and said “you should model.” Soon after, Vasquez began put a portfolio together and returned to meet with John Casablanca. He then told Vasquez that her look was too "exotic" and wasn’t right for his agency.

Vasquez, of Russian-Mexican descent and a size four, which wasn’t considered sample size for the fashion industry, believed her name was the only thing that made her seem different. During the 1970s and '80s, blondes and fair skin were much more common in the modeling industry. Vasquez wasn’t going to listen to him. She went to John Casablanca’s competitor, The Wilhelmina Modeling Agency, where Wilhelmina told her that it was going to be tough for her, followed by “I like you, you have spunk.” Without hesitation, Vasquez replied: “Send me to Europe.” Europe was known in the '70s and '80s to be much more accepting of diverse casting and Vasquez was not one to give up. After overcoming her difficult childhood, this didn't seem unachievable to Vasquez.



Ungaro Campaign 1983. Photo via Antonia Vasquez.

Wilhelmina made a phone call to the Riccardo Gay agency in Milan, Italy. At 19 years old, Vasquez quit her job as a hairdresser, bought a one way ticket, and with only 500 dollars in her pocket, left for Milan. Now in Europe, she needed to build a work portfolio, or tear sheets (pages torn out of magazines) so the magazines would consider booking her. After Milan, her next move was Germany, where she spent months doing catalog work. Vasquez hustled one catalog casting after another to make enough money to finally be based in Paris.

Now based in Paris, Vasquez was lucky enough to be able to do both print and runway. The '80s, according to Vasquez, were the greatest time in fashion as “[runway] shows were full of energy” and showed the best models, such as Pat Cleveland, Mounia, Billie Blair, and more. She says that today’s show lack the “same spunk and attitude we had back then.”

One of Vasquez's favorite stories about the models of the time was of Pat Cleveland walking in a West Berlin show for a well-known German fur designer, Wolfgang Yoop. She said how Cleveland arrived late and “no one told her not to go into the 'T' at the end of the runway, as it was fake and made of paper.” She walked to the end of the runway and fell through. Shock and silence fell onto the audience for several moments. All of the sudden, she reached up with her hands in the air as if she meant to do it, and climbed back onto the runway, turned, smiled, and did her iconic strut to the backstage. Vasquez describes how afterwards, “The audience went crazy. She made it look like it was planned, though in the moment it was scary.”

Ungaro Campaign 1983. Photo via Antonia Vasquez.

When reflecting on any favorite moments, Vasquez told the story of shooting a cover for Women’s Wear Daily with Karl Lagerfeld in Paris. At the time, she was wearing a black shiny patent leather corset that Karl had designed, with tiny hooks that closed the corset in front, and the top of it tucked right underneath the breasts. She remarked on a particular moment while shooting, “I heard John Fairchild of WWD ask Karl what the idea was behind this corset. Karl replied, 'You can't make headlines with hemlines anymore.'” She considered Lagerfeld to be one of the greatest innovators in fashion.

Vasquez met Emanuel Ungaro on a go-see for his prêt-à-porter show. It wasn’t until her agency asked her to do showroom work for him for his private clients that they began to work closely together. It was this time, she says, that Ungaro would teach her the “Haute Couture attitude.” Vasquez described how, with experience, she was able to show her personality and attitude through the Ungaro couture. She wanted to embody the look of beauty, grace, confidence, attitude, sensuality- and to “look like you had all the money in the world.” She continued, and said that she learned to take on this persona that every woman at the time wanted to be when she put on his designs. “It was all in the attitude. It’s a presence I would turn on, and I worked it,” she said.

Antonia in French Vogue, 1980's. Photo via Antonia Vasquez.

After that, Vasquez became a high fashion model in the industry. Emanuel Ungaro designed all his collections on her for three years. When asked about Ungaro’s creative process, Vasquez shared that she had a little room next to Ugaro’s studio where she would wait for him to call her in. She tells of how she worked in “a black bra, opaque stockings, and heels” and would stand on a small platform in front of a three way mirror. Lined along the walls, one could view his stunning illustrations and throughout the studio, one could always hear classical music playing. As if flowing along to the music, he would pull from a stack of fabrics and start draping, pinning and cutting.

Ungaro found a lot of inspiration from books on Asian Emperors and classical paintings. “I watched as they became his works of art, as they transformed the women that wore them,” Vasquez said. As his idea began to come to life, he would step back and direct a seamstress on the adjustments to be made. Vasquez pointed out Ungaro’s attention to detail and focus on every detail “from lace, to buttons, the type of fabric and how it was placed to compliment the form of the body. He was genius at what he did.” The studio was not only a place for solo work, but also for collaboration, as he would bring in his brother, a textile designer to create fabric: “The room was filled with concentration, creativity, and performance.”

Antonia for Cosmopoliton, 1980's. Photo via Antonia Vasquez 

After working a few years in the modeling industry, Vasquez found herself wanting to explore other opportunities. Vasquez and Emanuel Ungaro are still friends and she has a few original Haute Couture pieces made by Ungaro that he gave to her as a gift. She says that one of the problems with the fashion industry is that, “You are good as your last collection.” Like a cycle, with each new season, the “stress and demands of the creative process, and performance, all begins again.”

Speaking about this process she told of a time in Milan, and was suddenly called back to Paris. Like any profession, she says, there are moments where the pressure gets to you, and for Ungaro, the most important thing was that he surrounded himself with the best, he had high standards, and he truly loved what he did. One time, Ungaro said, “no one can do Haute Couture like the French Couture, we are the best in the world.” Later in life, she visited Ungaro and asked why he stopped designing. He said, “People want designer underwear and sheets, there will never be the greatest time in fashion like the 1980’s. We were a great team.”