(Photo Credits: Screengrab from Netflix’s Official YouTube Account)
“His name built an empire. His style defined an era.”
Netflix has an upcoming limited series from Executive Producer Ryan Murphy called HALSTON.
The miniseriesfollows the meteoric rise and fall of gay American fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick. You probably know him today by his mononym Halston.
Dubbed as the first American celebrity fashion designer, Halston is best-known for designing the iconic pillbox hat worn by the former First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Kennedy to the inauguration of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, in 1961. Later, Halston would be famous for defining the fashion of the 1970s disco era but at the time, he was an “up-and-coming New York milliner.” According to CNN, Halston “apparently spent hours sandwiched between two mirrors, shaping Jackie’s hat into a perfect, simple dome.”
In the late 1960s, Halston launched his own apparel line which included both his ready-to-wear and couture collections. His line reportedly also “included hats, scarves, furs, leather apparel, shoes and jewelry” and in the 70s, his clothes were worn by practically “every fashionable woman in the country,” says The New York Times. Halston’s fashion shows, which was described by his close friend Andy Warhol as ”the art form of the 70’s,” were often graced by the likes of Liza Minnelli, Elizabeth Taylor, Martha Graham, Bianca Jagger, and Candice Bergen to name a few.
Somewhere along the way, his life, as Netflix put it, started to spin out of control especially when he “signed an agreement with J. C. Penney in 1982 to design lower-priced clothes.” Halston wanted to dress America, but the Penney deal proved to be the beginning of his downfall.
Halston passed away on March 26, 1990 in San Francisco at the age of 57 due to Kaposi’s sarcoma, an AIDS-related cancer. To learn more about Halston, read here.
HALSTON will premiere on Netflix this coming Friday, May 14. It stars Ewan McGregor who plays the role of the legendary designer Roy Halston Frowick, Rory Culkin as Joel Schumacher, Krysta Rodriguez as Liza Minnelli, Gian Franco Rodriguez as Victor Hugo, among many others.
Happy viewing!
I remember when Halston III debuted at JCPenny. I was at university then and a much older guy who I was seeing said: “That’s the end of Halston.” At the time, I didn’t have a clue as to what it meant. Now, looking back, I completely get it. Much like Ralph Lauren, now. The big, obnoxious polo player symbol on his clothing has cheapened his brand. His classic polo shirts (circa 1990s) were manufactured with thick, refined cotton, and made only in the US and Japan. Somewhere in the early 2000s, production moved all over the world, including China, Vietnam,… Read more »