He was an internationally renowned designer, but today he is unknown to the general public. Roy Halston (1932-1990) managed to create a brand and global empire synonymous with luxury and sex, surrounded by the most famous actresses and models of the time he lived: the New York of the 1970s and 80s. Several failures, in addition to his known drug excesses, made him lose control of his firm and spent his last days away from the world of fashion until his death from AIDS at the age of 57.
To regain his memory and entertain Netflix viewers, Ryan Murphy regains his exciting life in the miniseries of the same name, Halston, which debuts on the platform this Friday, May 14 with actor Ewan McGregor as the protagonist.
Born into a middle-class family in Iowa in 1932, Halston learned to sew with his grandmother when he was just a child. His first creations already pointed out what the future of the model would be: hats and garments he modified for his mother and sister.
In 1952 he moved to Chicago, where he studied at arts school while working as an escape artist. Only a year later, he opened his first hat shop, which attracted the interest of actresses such as Kim Novak, Gloria Swanson, and Deborah Kerr.
In 1957 Halston took the leap to New York, where his hats caused sensation, first in Daché and then at the Bergdorf Goodman department store. Here he designed the pillbox hat Jacqueline Kennedy wore at the inaugural ceremony of the presidency of her husband, John F. Kennedy. And when the hats went out of fashion, it went into female fashion.
The key to the success of his designs was his masterful combination of simplicity, comfort, glamour and sophistication. To dress all those women who joined the world of work, but also wanted to have a closet for their social life, he bet on a minimalist, elegant and sensual prêt-à Porter, changing the tight silhouette of female fashion for broad and vaporous designs. Nightdresses and caftanes were some of their identity signs, in addition to male inspired foresuits or fluid pants. As the dressmaker explained to vogue, he got rid of "all the extra details that didn't work: ties that didn't tie, buttons that didn't button, zippers that didn't close. I've always hated things that didn't work."
After opening his store on Madison Avenue in 1968, Halston expanded his empire to furniture, airline uniforms or perfumes. Among her favorite clients were her muse and friend Liza Minnelli and Bianca Jagger, as well as Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor or Anjelica Huston. The spectacular parties and the many orgies they celebrated, in the company of Andy Warhol or Studio 54, added to his legend.
To give a few examples, in 1977 Bianca showed up on her birthday at the famous discotheque practically naked on a white horse. Warhol said that in 1978 cabaret actress came to the designer's house saying, "give me all the drugs you have." Among them were cocaine, marijuana or quaaludes.
Halston had an intermittent relationship for a little more than a decade with Venezuelan artist Victor Hugo. The couple met in 1972 while Hugo worked as a makeup artist and Halston would end up hiring him as a shopkeeper.
After several misguided business decisions, in 1984 Halston lost control of his firm, which ended up in Revlon's hands. Diagnosed shortly after AIDS, he moved to San Francisco, where he died in 1990.
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The Trust Project
