Charles Suppon (1949-1989) was an American fashion designer. Suppon was born in Collinsville, Illinois in 1949, and studied in Chicago. He came to New York and began working for

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and ...

as an assistant on the recommendation of

Chester Weinberg Chester Weinberg (1930-1985) was an American fashion designer. While he was very highly regarded for his design work in the 1960s and early 1970s, he is now mainly known for being the fashion industry's first high-profile AIDS-related death. Earl ...

, before leaving in 1976 to work for Intre Sport. He designed both menswear and womenswear, specializing in sporty clothes such as easy-fitting dresses and men's mohair sweatsuits. Suppon debuted his solo womenswear collections in 1977, booking over $1 million in orders for the Spring collection and over $5 million for the Fall 1977 collection. The following year he was one of two winners of the 1978 womenswear

Coty Award The Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards (awarded 1943–1984) were created in 1942 by the cosmetics and perfume company Coty, Inc. to promote and celebrate American fashion, and encourage design during the Second World War. In 1985, the Coty Awa ...

alongside

Bill Atkinson Bill Atkinson (born March 17, 1951) is an American computer engineer and photographer. Atkinson worked at Apple Computer from 1978 to 1990. Atkinson was the principal designer and developer of the graphical user interface (GUI) of the Apple ...

. In 1979, he began creating performance costumes for Peter Allen, starting with the one-man revue ''Up in One''. In 1984, Suppon left fashion to act as Allen's personal manager and collaborator on the musical ''

Legs Diamond Jack "Legs" Diamond (possibly born John Thomas Diamond, though disputed; July 10, 1897 – December 18, 1931), also known as Gentleman Jack, was an Irish American gangster in Philadelphia and New York City during the Prohibition era. A bootle ...

'', which eventually opened after many delays on Broadway in 1988. Suppon also co-authored, with

Harvey Fierstein Harvey Forbes Fierstein ( ; born June 6, 1952) is an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for his theater work in ''Torch Song Trilogy'' and ''Hairspray'' and movie roles in ''Mrs. Doubtfire'', '' Independence Day'', and ...

, the book of the musical. Allen and Suppon worked on the project in Australia before bringing their outline and songs back to Allen's talent manager

Dee Anthony Dee Anthony (April 9, 1926 – October 25, 2009) was an American talent manager who started in the business with fellow Bronx native Jerry Vale. After meeting Tony Bennett in 1954 at a nightclub in Yonkers, New York, he ended up representing t ...

, who had harsh words to say about the involvement of a "fashion designer from Brooklyn" in writing a musical, and showed his work to

Bob Fosse Robert Louis Fosse (; June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987) was an American actor, choreographer, dancer, and film and stage director. He directed and choreographed musical works on stage and screen, including the stage musicals ''The Pajam ...

who was also deeply critical. The musical, the only one Suppon worked on, failed to be critically well-received, and closed after 64 performances. The critic John Simon commented in ''New York Magazine'' in January 1989 that perhaps the main reason to remember it would be for being the only musical whose book had been "co-scripted by a ready-to-wear designer." By the time ''Legs Diamond'' was in production, Suppon had been getting sicker and sicker, and in March 1989, he died at home in Manhattan.

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

reported the cause of death as a brain tumour, while Suppon and Allen's assistant, Bruce Cudd, told ''The New York Times'' it was lesions on the brain. In 2021, the designer Louis Dell'Olio, who jointly won the 1977 Coty with

Donna Karan Donna Karan (, born Donna Ivy Faske), also known as "DK", is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels. Early life Karan was born Donna Ivy Faske to mother Helen "Queenie" Faske (née Rabin ...

, and with her, had been a close friend and contemporary of Suppon, stated that his death was AIDS-related. Some of Suppon's archives from his time at Intre Sport are held by

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suppon, Charles 1949 births 1989 deaths People from Collinsville, Illinois American fashion designers AIDS-related deaths in New York (state)