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Before the AIDS epidemic took hold in the Eighties, summer weekenders on Fire Island reveled in a freeing environment that some say was like no other.
Day trip, road trip, field trip - as the pandemic slogs along, any kind of trip will do.
As a salute to the Fourth ofJuly weekend, WWD dipped into its archives to resurface some snapshots of surf and sun on Fire Island in the Seventies - specifically, the summer of 1976. That's when former WWD staffer André Leon Talley photographed fellow fashionminded New Yorkers kicking back one weekend on the 31-mile island.
In an interview earlier this week,Talley recalled that he started visiting friends on Fire Island while working for WWD, but those jaunts were work-free reprieves. But as a few of these photographs reveal, Talley had somewhat of a working weekend in August 1976, attending the second annual Pines Conservation Society fashion show. While the inaugural one was televised, the follow-up was not and only two of the 25 featured designers - Donna Karan and John Anthony - made a cameo at the Botel pool. "Stay-at-homes" included island regulars Stephen Burrows, who spent the afternoon cutting his friends' hair, and Calvin Klein, who visited neighbors in search of saffron oil needed for a dinner for two.
"Fire Island was fun. It stood for fun with a capital 'F' and freedom with a capital 'F.' People were free," Talley said. "I had never seen anything like it because I came from the South. It was an eye-opening moment of liberation to see a community where people can just be themselves. I mean gay men in particular. There was a gay women's section on the island, but this was mainly gay men."
Reminiscing about those carefree weekends, Talley described a liberating, accepting and happy environment where all were welcome. While drugs and explicit sex were the norm for some, that was not his game. "I was an observer of the scene. As you can see from the photographs, they are innocent pictures. I was never taking pictures of people having sex in the bushes or things like that. For me, it was a very innocent time and a very wonderful time," he said. "It was just a great place...