Night Fever guest · Season 2, Episode 3
Susanne Bartsch
The party impresario who never stopped throwing the ball!
Timeline
Late 1970s
Moves from Switzerland to New York.
1980s
Becomes the city's most extravagant party promoter, filling the Copacabana and the Roxy with costume balls.
1990s–2000s
Her nights become the crossroads of fashion, drag and club culture.
2010s–2020s
Subject of documentaries and museum-level fashion attention; keeps hosting Bartschland nights.
What they are doing now
Still throwing parties in New York - and mentoring the performers who fill them.
Scenes & rooms
Connected to
In the episodes
38 mentions across all episodes - S1E1 2 · S1E3 3 · S2E3 15 · S3E1 8 · S4E8 7 · S6E3 3
- S1E1 · Dianne Brill · 2 mentions in this episode
Her former employer was Itza's previous boss
FashionNightlife and fashion host
- S1E3 · Lisa Edelstein · 3 mentions in this episode
Was with Michael Schmidt at the Gaiety, which got them into Area. Links to her Night Fever episode
FashionNightlife and fashion host
- S2E3 · Susanne Bartsch · 15 mentions in this episode
The guest: Swiss-born party host, boutique owner and Love Ball founder, the 'Empress of the Night'. Links to her Night Fever episode
FashionFashion icon and boutique owner; subject of the 2015 Museum at FIT show of her looks
- S3E1 · Patricia Field · 8 mentions in this episode
Nightlife host whose crowd, as told on the show, blocked the stage at the Grand Street ball and got thrown out by Myra. Links to her Night Fever episode
FashionNightlife and fashion host
- S4E8 · Richie Rich · 7 mentions in this episode
Saw Richie roller-skating at Webster Hall, booked him for her parties and made him her assistant at the Chelsea Hotel. Links to her Night Fever episode
FashionQueen of the Night, famous for her looks
- S6E3 · Chi Chi Valenti & Johnny Dynell · 3 mentions in this episode
Chi Chi says the Love Ball idea came from reading Nations; Johnny remembers her coming over at the House of Field ball saying they had to do a ball
On the scene timeline
1980 · 30 West 21st Street
Danceteria stacks four floors of nightlife
Rudolf Piper and Jim Fouratt's club gives a coat-check job to Madonna, a booth to Mark Kamins and a stage to the Beastie Boys.
1981 · Thompson Street, SoHo
Susanne Bartsch opens her SoHo boutique
The Swiss transplant imports British designers - Leigh Bowery, Vivienne Westwood, BodyMap - and turns her fashion shows into parties.
14 May 1985 · 126 East 14th Street
The Palladium opens with art on the walls
Rubell and Schrager's comeback, designed by Arata Isozaki with work by Haring, Scharf and Basquiat.
1986 · Harlem and downtown
Harlem's ball scene meets downtown
Voguing crosses from the uptown balls into the downtown clubs, five years before Paris Is Burning puts it on screen.
1990 · US daytime television
The Club Kids invade daytime television
Michael Alig's crew take their looks onto Geraldo, Donahue and Joan Rivers, turning going out into a national spectacle.
2015 · Museum at FIT
Susanne Bartsch: FASHION UNDERGROUND opens at the Museum at FIT
Her wardrobe enters a museum while she is still hosting on Tuesdays. Nightlife becomes archive and living practice at once.
2015 ·
Susanne Bartsch: Fashion Underground
Her 2015 FIT show of 128 looks, entered through a club alleyway
1981 · New York
New York
Where she came for Valentine's Day in 1981 and stayed
1988 ·
AIDS crisis
Losing half her address book by 1988 made her start the Love Ball
2015 · The Museum at FIT
The Museum at FIT
Showed 128 of her looks in 2015
1981 · Hotel Chelsea
Hotel Chelsea
Susanne has lived there since 1981, the last one standing, working the hallway
1989 ·
Love Ball
Her AIDS benefits in the house-ball format: Roseland 1989 and 1991, Paris, the Playboy Mansion
2019 · Boom Boom Room
Boom Boom Room
Where Sister Dimension came as a pickle for her Halloween 2019