‘Halston’ Is A Fashion Historian’s Treasure Chest

Halston, a new five-part docu-series, is streaming on Netflix. Created by Ryan Murphy and costume designed by Jeriana San Juan, it is a visually appealing presentation of the classic American rise and fall story. The series explores the life of Roy Halston Frowick from his childhood in Des Moines, Iowa to becoming the fashion designer who defined the quintessential woman of the 1970s. Weaved through his many fashion accomplishments are drug-induced spazz sessions that led to poor business decisions and ultimately Halston’s demise. Aside from the highs and lows,, the casting and set design are fantastic. And if you geek out on fashion history like I do, you may enjoy these facts and backstories. 

1.) Politics meets fashion. 

Before designing dresses, Halston found early success in hat design working as a custom milliner for Bergdorf Goodman. He soon became a trendsetter after First Lady Jacqueline O. Kennedy wore one of Halston’s signature pillbox hats at her husband’s inauguration.

According to Halston, Mrs. Kennedy actually dented his original design. "Funny thing about that pillbox hat," Halston said during a 1966 interview, per Vogue. "It was made too small for her…but Mrs. Kennedy wore it anyway. When a gust of wind threatened to topple it from her head, she dented it hanging on to the hat. The Seventh Avenue copycat hat makers reproduced the design by the thousands so accurately that each pillbox had a dent in it." (Sounds like fast fashion.) 

Decades later, First Last Michelle Obama wore a full-length, smoky-colored Halston dress with the plunging neckline to the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011. 

2.) Halston’s lover Ed Austin was a fashion designer, too. 

In the show, we see Halston try to pick up Ed Austin in a bar, where he is drinking alone. Austin refuses at first, saying he never accepts drinks from strangers, but eventually relents. At the time, Austin was an assistant buyer in the menswear section of a department store. Soon after they met, Austin became manager of Halston's boutique and dresser of its windows. Before Halston's company was sold, Austin was also an assistant designer and vice president.

Ed Austin then became a designer in his own right—and the only Black designer to have a couture business on Madison Avenue through his company Austin Zuur. He went on to work at Givenchy and Yves St. Laurent in Paris, before moving to Texas to work as a Costume Designer.

3.) Halston’s best friend and fit model Elsa Peretti was a long-time jewelry designer for Tiffany Co. 

In the series, we meet Elsa as Halston is establishing his first studio in NYC. She developed a close friendship with the designer, and became an invaluable style whisperer and co-creator. She honed her sculptural aesthetics making jewelry to compliment his collections, and even masterminded the teardrop-shape bottle for Halston’s first fragrance. The series shows Peretti and Halston fall out over credit due for the getting the job at Tiffany Co. Despite how she landed the position, her designs were an undeniable success. In 2012, the company reported that Peretti’s jewelry accounted for 10 percent of the company’s sales worldwide. She believed in timeless pieces saying:

“Jewelry is not fashion. It has to last and can’t be discarded when something new comes along. ”

— Elsa Peretti

Many of Elsa Peretti’s Tiffany Co. pieces are featured throughout the series, including her infamous mesh bra and human bone cuff, which can still be purchased today in gold, silver and rose gold. 

4.) Eleanor Lambert was the original fashion publicist. 

Eleanor Lambert is widely recognized as the original fashion publicist. Over the span of her 75-year career, she worked passionately to legitimize New York and the United States as international fashion centers. Tired of American fashion designers not receiving the attention they deserved from the press and simply copying the designs of the French, Lambert planned the biggest public relations stunt in American fashion history. In November of 1973, five American fashion designers—Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, Halston, and Stephen Burrows—gathered at the Palace of Versailles to show against the five French designers considered the best in the world: Yves Saint Laurent, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro, and Marc Bohan of Christian Dior. The star-studded audience included everyone from Andy Warhol to Josephine Baker and the Princess of Monaco. While the French came with their elaborate sets, the Americans arrived with Liza Minnelli and 36 models in tow, and ultimately won the rightful place in fashion.

Known as the “Empress of Seventh Avenue,” Lambert established the International Best-Dressed List (1940), she founded the Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award (1942) and formed the Met Gala (1948). She formed the New York Dress Institute’s Couture Group (1953) and established of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) in 1962.

5.) The Halsonettes 

The models that often appeared in Halston’s entourage were known as the Halstonettes - a term coined by former Vogue Editor Andre Leon Talley.

6.) Black models ripped the runway at the Battle of Versailles. 

The 1960s and 70s was a turning point for Black models, because it began carving out a space for Black folks o say, in the words of James Brown, “I’m Black and I’m proud.” Only 10 of the 36 models were Black, but never before had so many Black models collectively worked the catwalk. From the Ebony Fashion Fair star model Pat Cleveland to Billie Blair; Alva Chinn, Ramona Saunders, Norma Jean Darden, Charlene Dash and Barbara Jackson dazzled the day of the show. They rang in a new era for models of color and what they hoped would be an inclusive new fashion industry in the making.

This Made 2 Measure documentary does a great job capturing commentary from the models who walked that night. 

7.) Stephen Burrows was the youngest and only Black designer at the Battle of Versailles.

Stephen Burrows is featured in episode two. We see him walk into the airport in Paris with fashion designer Bill Blass at the same time as Halston and his entourage. Unlike the other four designers, who had been introduced to fashion editors by Eleanor Lambert,  editors talked Burrows up to her. In fact, it wasn’t until after the Battle that Lambert signed Burrows on as a client. 

Burrows became well known in the art and disco communities, and was beloved for his space age color blocking designs and “lettuce edge” cuts. His designs had a vibrant unisex aesthetic that was particularly important at the Battle of Versailles. Using Black models was a must for Burrows and  he was responsible for the larger presence of Back models and even had his models walk to Al Green’s “Love &. Happiness”

Robin Givhan writes, “Burrows was an exciting young designer. His fresh sensibility had nothing to do with Paris; nothing to do with what the magazines were showing. It was straight from the street, the dance clubs, the neighborhoods. And it was deliciously hip.” 

Today, he’s the only designer from that night still living. Netflix, we need a documentary-series on Stephen Burrows. Would you watch?

BOOK - A must-read!