The true, very sweaty story behind John Travolta’s famous ‘Saturday Night Fever’ suit

nypost.com:

Saturday Night Fever” will take center stage Saturday when it hits the block at Julien’s Auctions with a high sale estimate of $200,000.

But, despite the hefty price tag, this garment’s origins are as humble as that of Tony Manero, the blue-collar disco king played by Travolta.Fever” costume designer Patrizia von Brandenstein ventured to a men’s boutique on King’s Highway in Bay Ridge — not far from 2001 Odyssey, the discotheque in the 1977 movie — to find the perfect disco gear.“I felt strongly that we wanted a white, three-piece suit: dressy, inexpensive and polyester,” she told The Post. “There was a producer who thought a black suit would be more elegant.

But heroes wear white; it’s as simple as that. The pastel suits were nice and pretty, but John’s character is very much a hero.

Plus, it needed to be something that a boy who works in a paint store would be able to afford. I think the suit sold for $150 or $200.”Von Brandenstein even brought Travolta and director John Badham to south Brooklyn so that they could see the threads in person. “It looked like a mom and dad taking their son shopping for clothing,” said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s, which is doing the auction in conjunction with Turner Classic Movies.“We were quite the entourage,” the costume-designer remembered of their afternoon jaunt. “High school had just let out, John was wildly popular from his TV show [“Welcome Back Kotter”] and we saw a big crowd outside of the store.