By Pamela Pollack-Fremd
SPOKANE, Washington — Creative people have magnetism, a force, an affect all their own. Antonio Lopez, a fashion illustrator and trend setter, was that kind of person. Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex, Fashion & Disco, a documentary directed and written by James Crump and produced by James Crump and Ronnie Sasson, introduces us to a time in New York City and then Paris when the fashion business was transformed after World War II by sexy, colorful illustrations filled with change and diverse beauties.
Lopez was born in Puerto Rico. When he was seven, he immigrated to New York City with his family. He began to study fashion illustration, but left school to work for the Women’s Wear Daily. He worked there for a short period of time and then began to work for The New York Times. Those who knew him said Antonio Lopez was all about beauty; he was driven by beauty. Lopez was also a magnet to young beauty. In the 1960’s Bethesda Fountain in Central Park attracted a teenage gang. Grace Jones, Jane Forth, Patti D’Arbanville, Jessica Lange all became the subjects of his drawings. Photographer, Bill Cunningham and makeup artist Corey Tippin were friends and lovers and collaborators of Lopez. Juan Ramos was a romantic and creative partner. All of these people played, partied, and created together a revolutionary fashion world.
Admirers said that Lopez had a loud and distinctive breathing pattern when he was drawing. They said it was like magic people were drawn to him, and he usually had an audience when he was drawing. Music, movement, dancing and pleasure surrounded him when he worked. It was a gay, bisexual liberated environment. Lopez’s work also appeared in Elle and Vogue Magazine. He was generous with his time and ideas and always influenced by what was going on around him in the street. His art explored bisexuality and racial diversity. In the 1970’s Lopez and his gang went to Paris. They were successful and influential in France too. Lopez eventually got AIDS as did many of his close friends. He died prematurely in 1987 at the age of 44.
This documentary introduced me to a world I was not at all familiar with. There are interesting interviews with friends of Lopez from that era who survived. However, overall it is a sad movie. It opens in San Diego on Friday, Oct. 26, at Landmark’s Ken Cinema, 4061 Adams Avenue.
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Pollack-Fremd is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.