Ian Schrager Called Out Michael Kors For Being A Studio 54 Poser On Instagram

by Stephanie Maida · October 9, 2019

For New Yorkers of a certain age, the surest way to boost clout is to regale people with stories about your wild times at Studio 54. It really doesn't matter if you were actually there or not, but you just better hope Ian Schrager isn't around to fact-check.

Poor Michael Kors learned that the harsh way this week, when Interview Magazine posted an excerpt of his interview with Andre Leon Talley on Instagram. A photo of the fashionable duo was shared with Kors' quote about Studio 54, in which he recalled, in rather convincing detail, "Everyone was having sex in the balcony. The most shocking thing, when you think about it, is that a lot of people were so high on quaaludes that you would see them fall down the stairs and go directly onto the dance floor, and not even consider that they had just fallen down two flights of steps. People were rubber."

Schrager, the famed hospitality icon who co-founded and co-owned the hottest nightclub in history, took to the post's comments with a bizarrely aggressive call-out, basically calling the designer a straight-up poser looking to capitalize on Studio 54's rep. "I don’t believe Michael Kors was ever at Studio 54," someone claiming to be Schrager wrote from the official account of one of his latest ventures, Public Hotels. "I certainly don’t remember him as he made no impression. This is nothing more then [sic] an obvious exploitation by a garment center person to sell some clothes that has nothing to do with Studio or what it was about." Signed, Ian Schrager.

Made no impression? Garment center person? Ouch, Ian! There must be some underlying drama between these two (perhaps Schrager doesn't appreciate Kors' new Studio 54-themed collection), though he does have a point: you didn't have to be a regular to know that everyone was having sex on quaaludes in any given shadow of the club.

However, thousands of people passed through those very exclusive doors, and we're sure Schrager didn't know all of them by name. Michael, if it's any consolation, we believe you.