Halston: America's First Fashion Superstar

The life America’s first celebrity designer Roy Halston Frowick (known simply as Halston), is portrayed in a five-part Netflix series dropping May 14, starring Ewan McGregor.

Ewan McGregor put on the iconic black turtleneck, slicked back his hair and donned oversized dark sunglasses to turn into the most influential figure in the history of American fashion. Halston was famous for both his iconic minimalist creations and his hedonism and ecxess.

The darling of Hollywood A-List and American high-society

On January 20, 1961, Jackie Kennedy arrived at the White House for John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inauguration in a wool Oleg Cassini coat and pillbox Halston hat, a defining moment for 29-year-old designer Roy Halston Frowick. His muse and best friend, Liza Minelli, introduces him to Hollywood and his high-fashion brand that is a seductive blend of contemporary luxury, minimalist aesthetic and freeing silhouettes attracted the 70s’ icons, including Bianca Jagger, Lauren Bacall, Margaux Hemingway, as well as Elizabeth Taylor.

An innovative and influential designer

Halston invented the casual chic fashion and easygoing luxury with his minimalist, clean designs and his signature machine-washable Ultrasuede shirtwaisters. The perfectionist designer quickly became the American Dior and Saint Laurent. “Thanks to him, American designers became worthy of interest. Before his rise to success, American fashion was only about copying what was happening in France”, says Roland Ballester who produced a documentary on Halston. The designer was also visionary, hiring black models among the “Halstonettes”, a select group of models who followed him everywhere. The name Halston became the image of a world-weary elegance and languid luxe.

A tale of excess

Through Halston, it’s also the story of The USA in the 70s, an era where women had emancipated their bodies and wanted to celebrate them, but also an era of hedonism, sex, drugs and excess. The enigmatic designer was a frequent guest at the iconic Studio 54, where he partied with Andy Warhol and Elsa Peretti. He also went to extremes in his personal life, with promiscuity, sex and drugs. Halston was the star of fashion in the 70s but he ended up losing control of his business and he prematurely died in 1990 at the age of 57 from AIDS-related complications. Despite his undoing, the revolutionary designer is still one of fashion’s greatest visionaries, and his legacy influenced the American fashion industry and designers such as Tom Ford, Diane von Furstenberg and Calvin Klein.