Halston For Your Today, Halston For Your Everyday, Halston For Your World
Last month, Netflix took on the monumental role of creating a miniseries about one of America’s first great designers, Halston. Premiered May 14, Netflix’s “Halston” is a five-episode miniseries detailing the rise and fall of the American milliner turned designer. Ewan McGregor, widely known for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel Star Wars films was cast as Halston, and let’s just say, the force was most definitely with him in this role. Alongside McGregor, the cast includes Rebecca Dayan as Elsa Peretti, Gian Franco Rodríguez as Victor Hugo, and Krysta Rodriguez as Liza Minnelli, just to name a few. The miniseries was a hit, receiving reviews of 7.6 out of 10 on IMDb and 68% on Rotten Tomatoes. The trailer, released on May 3, gave me goosebumps, as did the show itself. Netflix isn’t the first place we’ve heard Halston’s name this year however, as it was announced earlier this year that he will be a featured designer in the Met Museum’s upcoming Fashion Institute Exhibit, “In America.” So, who was Halston? One of America’s first couturiers and a pivotal personality in the success of American fashion.
Born Roy Halston Frowick in 1932, Halston seemed destined for greatness even as an infant, as he was named the highest scoring city boy in the class between the ages of 24 and 36 months in the Healthy Baby Competition at the Iowa State Fair. He grew up in Indiana and began his education at Indiana University, then continued his studies at the Chicago Institute of Art. From there, Halston became a milliner, opening his first salon at the Ambassador Hotel in Chicago in 1953. Five years later, he moved to New York City to work under Lilly Daché before becoming head milliner at Bergdorf Goodman. In 1961, Halston became a household name with Jackie Kennedy’s inauguration pillbox hat, which he designed. Soon after America’s most fashionable first lady wore a Halston kidskin turban, which made the cover of Vogue in August of 1962, marking the first of many Vogue covers in which the designer would be featured.
As his clientele increased, their want and need to wear hats decreased, so Halston expanded into womenswear. In 1966, he began designing couture and read-to-wear collections under Halston Ltd. Halston debuted his first ready-to-wear collection at Bergdorf Goodman, which in the show seemed widely under-appreciated and misunderstood, but Vogue reported it as a smash, to which he told them, “I have always had ambition, I have always had energy, I have always had success” marking his territory in the American fashion scene. The same year, he met Liza Minnelli, becoming her designer and long-time friend, a friendship heavily focused on in the show.
In 1968, Halston left Bergdorf’s and moved into a multi-floor building on the Upper East Side, with dramatic interiors to match the designer’s spirit and personality. In episode one of the miniseries, “Becoming Halston,” he describes his new Upper East Side boutique and studio as “Halston. Rich, textural, and cool.”
The team he brought to his new workspace included Joe Eula as his illustrator, Elsa Peretti as fit model, and Joel Schumacher as window designer and junior partner. In the show the three were described as “merry misfits, each and every one of them.” Upon his move to the Upper East Side, Halston created his Ultrasuede collection, making his mark as the designer doing everything everyone else wasn’t. The end of episode one personifies its name, as we see the designer slick back his hair, put a pair of dark sunglasses on with a black turtleneck, tan his face, and “become Halston.”
Episode two, “Versailles” picks up in 1973, a monumental year for not only Halston but American fashion as well. In October, Halston worked closely with David Mahoney and sold his business to Norton Simon conglomerate, expressing his excitement in the Los Angeles Times saying, “I couldn’t be more pleased and proud of the whole merger. It’s the first time that a major business has been interested in the creative aspects of fashion.”
Also in 73, Halston was invited to participate in “The Battle of Versailles,” where American designers Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Anne Klein, Bill Blass, and Stephen Burrows would go head-to-head against their French counterparts, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Unargo, and Marc Bohan for Dior, in a charity fashion show to raise money for the restoration of the Palace of Versailles. Halston was reluctant to participate, and the miniseries highlights his close relationship with fashion publicist Elanor Lambert, who secured his spot at the show. Lambert founded New York Fashion Week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and the Met Gala, and she wanted the rest of the world to take American fashion as seriously as she did. She described it as, “The fashion event of the century.” In three weeks, Halston prepared 19 designs, and created five more looks while in France at the Palace of Versailles as he completed his 24-look collection. Despite the high stress of having to create an additional five designs and the high tensions between him and de la Renta, the crowd was wowed when the Halstonettes came on the stage. The Americans dominated the French during the Battle of Versailles and secured America a spot in the world of fashion.
Episode two ended with Halston’s meeting his long-time partner, Victor Hugo, who introduced him to cocaine for the first time. Episode three, “The Sweet Smell of Success,” began in 1974 and detailed Halston and Hugo’s relationship. In that year, the designer moved to a townhome on East 63rd Street, which he described as “a New Yorker’s dream,” which soon became the regular party spot for Halston and his close friend, Andy Warhol.
In July of that year, the U.S. Olympic Committee announced that Halston, alongside Montgomery Ward would design and supply the uniforms for the American team at the 1975/1976 Olympic games. In 1975, he released a widely successful fragrance line, with a bottle designed by his close friend and model, Elsa Peretti.
The mid-seventies were Halston’s golden years, releasing a line carpets, sunglasses, and partnered with Braniff Airlines to design the company’s uniforms, seats, and in-flight amenities. During this time of exponential growth, he developed the tagline, “Halston for your today, Halston for your every day, Halston for your world.” As he rose to stardom, so did the famous New York City discotheque, Studio 54. When the club opened in 1977, Halston naturally became a regular and could be found there nearly every night it was open. In 1978, Halston moved his business from the Upper East Side into the 21st floor of Olympic Tower. Riddled with decadence, the designer told Vogue, “It’s going to be the greatest workspace in the world.”
As he partied his way through the late seventies in episode four of the series, “The Party’s Over,” the designer fell victim to drug and alcohol addiction. In 1980, Studio 54 was forced to close its doors after an IRS raid. In the episode, it was reported that a woman wearing Calvin Klein was found dead in an air vent after attempting to sneak into the exclusive club, but the real story behind the Studio 54 dead body was a man dressed in black-tie. The Calvin Klein detail is an important one, however, as the two designers were competing for the same market in the late 70s and early 80s. Calvin Klein beat Halston to the denim market, which proved to be a devastating blow. After Studio 54 was shut down, many of Halston’s close friends reevaluated their party lifestyle. Liza Minnelli went to the Betty Ford Clinic, Victor Hugo was diagnosed with HIV, and Halston and Elsa Peretti’s friendship soured. In addition, the death of Halston’s mother was a tremendous loss for him.
The loss of his close friends and mother paired with Halston’s drug and alcohol abuse put the designer under a lot of stress, and this stress was reflected in his business. In 1982, however, Halston signed a deal with JC Penney to create the Halston III Lifestyle Collection, which many believed would be his saving grace. The Tampa Tribune described the paring as, “the most significant licensing-design agreement in the history of the fashion industry.” Despite the new deal however, the sky was still grey for Halston, as Bergdorf’s, alongside other high-end retailers dropped his collections a year later. Also in 1983, Norton Simon was outbid, and Esmark Inc. acquired Halston Ltd.
In the fifth and final episode, entitled “Critics,” we see the demise of Halston. Carl Epstein, who took over for Mahoney when Halston Ltd was bought out by Esmark, revealed his overspending. In 1983, the show reported that Halston spent $40,000 on orchids, $354,000 on travel expenses, and $750,000 on test fabrics. These numbers did not add up to the work the designer was producing for Esmark, and, in 1984, he left his namesake after unsuccessfully trying to buy back his company. He told the Sydney Morning Herald, “The game plans had all changed, and I was invited by them to leave Olympic Towers, so I left.”
After leaving behind the disco days in Studio 54, many of his longtime friends, The Halstonettes, and his own brand, Halston spent the late years of his life traveling the west coast. The designer died in San Francisco in 1990 from AIDS related Kaposi sarcoma cancer.
Netflix’s “Halston” reflects on the good, the bad, and the ugly of Halston’s career as a designer. Despite his rocky ending in the fashion world, Halston remains one of America’s most celebrated and influential designers of the 1970s.
Article by Katie Harkey, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Cubie Chang, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
