1932-1990 Halston

ultramarine

chaos reigns
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Hum ... I was browsing the archives and all I could find were blurbs and mentions about this GREAT american designer (I think he was one the most important/influential american designer worldwide .. dont you think?)

So ... even tho his private life was a mess, his stuff is beautiful .. no idea who's designing for the house now or if it stills showcases at NY FashionWeek ... by some cross reference I think I infer Randolph Duke worked for the label .. any input?

Errrm .. scratch that ... was looking for some images to post and in firstview noted that Bradley Bayou did the SS 05 collection.

Hum ..post pics! Chat!

I mean .. this guy was a major influence on Jackie O!
 
Images from Salon.com

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So much great work, such a sad ending!

The bias cut caftans... the ultrasuede trench... the pillbox hat... the halter-neckline...

Halston had many interesting cuts and had very expensive fabric from extra-large looms made for his bias cut designs.

We will always remember him for being a great party animal and for dressing Liza, Liz, Jackie and so many more famous faces, for walking around with the "Halstonettes" dressed in his designs:lol: for being one of the first designers to lose the right to use their name through licencing:cry: a great American designer who is recalled far too infrequently...

I love his clothes for the combination of luxury and ease... rich-looking garments that never look fussy, always looking cool, chic, sexy and comfortable.

I didn't know his label continues... is it any good?
 
dropping in just to say "i adore Halston"

thanks for the thread ultramarine :flower:
 
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Roy Halston Frowick, also known as Halston. (April 23, 1932 - March 26, 1990)
The first international fashion superstar, Halston was a master of cut, detail, and finish. He dressed and befriended some of the world's most glamorous women. Jackie Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor, Babe Paley, Silvana Mangano, Lauren Bacall, Martha Graham, Bianca Jagger, and Liza Minnelli were just some of the women who wore Halston.
Roy Halston Frowick was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the second son of a Norwegian-American accountant, with a passion for inventing. Roy developed an interest in sewing from his mother. As an adolescent he began creating hats and embellishing outfits for his mother and sister. Roy graduated from high school in 1950, then attended Indiana University for one semester. After the family moved to Chicago in 1952, he enrolled in a night course at the Chicago Art Institute and worked as a window dresser.
Frowick's first big break came when the Chicago Daily News ran a brief story on his fashionable hats. In 1957 he opened his first shop, the Boulevard Salon, on Michigan Avenue. It was at this point that he began to use his middle name as his professional moniker.
With the help of a lover twenty-five years his senior, celebrity hair stylist André Basil, Halston further developed his career by moving to New York later in 1957. Basil introduced Halston to milliner Lilly Daché, who offered him a job. Within a year he had been named co-designer at Daché, become the new best friend of several fashion editors and publishers, and left Daché's studio to become head milliner for department store Bergdorf Goodman.
When Jacqueline Kennedy attended her husband's inauguration as President of the United States in January of 1961, she was dressed in a jacket by Oleg Cassini and a pill-box hat by Halston. The hat was perfectly suited to Mrs. Kennedy's rather large head. Halston's unadorned and simple creation was copied by women across the world.
Simplicity was the trademark of Halston's creations. By the mid-1970s ethnic peasant looks were being created by all the European designers, but Halston, who hated the fussiness and non-American qualities of such designs, bucked this trend. At a 1973 fashion show at Versailles, where American designers were invited to showcase their work alongside top French designers, Halston stunned the fashion world by the awesome purity of his dresses.
The Halston look was based on minimal and conceptual art principles: cashmere sweaters, shirtwaist dresses, simple elegant pants, rather than "fancy dress." Even his evening wear was glamorous and sexy in its very simplicity. His color palette was ivory, black, and red, but he understood the principle of accent and emphasis, using fuschia, electric blue, and deep burgundy.
Halston's best known garment was the Ultrasuede shirtwaist dress that he introduced in 1972. It was one of the most popular dresses in America in the 1970s. Its success stemmed from its plainness, Halston's color choices, and the convenience of being machine washable.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Halston was known not only for his fashions, but also for his participation in New York's nightlife. He was one of the faces of the infamous New York nightclub Studio 54. One of the most famous events in the decadent history of Studio 54 was Halston's birthday party for Bianca Jagger in 1977.
In the early 1970s Halston became enamored of a Colombian window dresser named Victor Hugo. Through Hugo he met and befriended his perfect art-world counterpart, Andy Warhol.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Halston threw himself whole-heartedly into a celebrity lifestyle and was frequently featured in the gossip columns. During this period, he was seen partying with his friend Liza Minnelli at the gay holiday resort Fire Island. Patricia Mears reports that he took full advantage of the drugs that were available at the nightclubs he frequented.
The Halston label became part of Norton Simon Industries in 1973. In 1975 he added menswear and perfume to his empire. The perfume was known simply as "Halston" and came in a bean-shaped bottle designed by Elsa Peretti.
However, his partnership with Norton Simon Industries did not bring the riches Halston had hoped it would. Refusing to allow his name to be put on anything he did not design himself, he found it difficult to meet the level of productivity expected of him. His signature was seen on everything from spectacles to the uniforms worn by Avis car rental employees, but he increasingly felt under pressure to produce even more.
In 1982 NSI asked Halston to design a range for the downscale J.C. Penney department stores. He agreed, but the decision had unanticipated, severely negative consequences. Bergdorf Goodman dropped his collections and formerly faithful friends and clients defected to other designers. Halston's relationships with his bosses and colleagues deteriorated until finally he was locked out of his offices after throwing a tantrum.
His career shattered and his health failing, Halston retired from the fashion world. In Simply Halston, Steven Gaines notes that "Halston would live the rest of his life in self-imposed exile, an Elba of his own creation. The man who was only as good as the people he dressed ended up not dressing anyone."
Halston was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988. He died of AIDS-related lung cancer in San Francisco, California on March 26, 1990.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halston"
 
Roy Halston was one of the few American original designers. Even though his originality never matched that of the American couturier Charles James, he can be thought of as a sort of arcehtype.

g_warhol.jpg
 
Bravo! It is amazing how little info and awareness there is of Halston these days. I welcome any thoughts and pictures! Thanks for the thread!
With all the new talk of Warhol and the Factory days due to Sienna Millers' "Factory Girl" movie, let's not forget the big part Halston grew to play in the scene. (Also YSL in later days)
 
great inspiration

i LOVE halston! one of my fav sources for inspiration
here's a pic of a halston late 1970s blue snake print maxi dress i find adorable :heart: :heart:

View attachment 226118

(pic via ebay / atriptothestars)
 
He was the first to really show such easy shapes and and let his designs be informed by comfort while still being stylish. He took off where Vionnet and Fortuny left off in that regard. His clothes also were technical wonders often using no more than one seam.

Unfortunately excessive licensing of his name washed out his allure and his legacy was reduced to being a reckless party boy who died of AIDS. It's pretty sad, it wasn't until I had to research one of his dresses recently at a costume museum that I really paid him any attention.
 
I think hes the only american designer who truly stands out as a major fashion figure ... his stuff was perfect ...
 
Does anyone have some pics of Halston they could post? I have a hard time finding very many and I always liked his style: Tan, tux, slicked backed hair, ect...! he was a very impressive guy! :wink:
 
Halston truly was an amazing designer and a genius. Completely agree about the vionnet comparison in regards to the bias cut. He was not afraid on any level of being different. I have a lovely vintage Halston dress :heart:
 
Halston Pic

@ Boomer: here's some halston pics for you :D

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View attachment 226267


#1 courtesy of bacfilms.com, halston with studio 54's steve rubell
# 2 showing halston in 1979 with Martha Graham, Betty Ford, Elizabeth Taylor, and Liza Minnelli, all wearing gowns designed by him. pic courtesy of fashionencyclopedia.com
 
^wow, i've never actually seen any of these pics before, thanks for posting!
 

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