Roy Halston Memoir pt. 2

                                     The Fall of an American Fashion Designer: Roy Halston

Couture. “Designer Spotlight: Roy Halston Frowick.” Adore Mrs. Couture

Every celebrity once was a rising star in the world. Roy Halston became a rising star right when Jackie Kennedy started wearing his Pillbox hat, and his career kept growing as his ultrasuede collection became a sensation during the disco era. It seemed that nothing could go wrong for Roy Halston, and his designs meant he was only going up from there. Roy Halston built his empire based on his own talent and securing high clientele. However, every celebrity is presented with a challenge to overcome in their lifetime, and for Roy Halston, his was drugs, partying and over consuming alcohol. Halston was faced with the challenge to not let his usage of drugs, however as his business boomed, the drugs, alcohol, and parting threatened everything Roy Halston had built.  

The High Life 

In 1979, Halston was designing new collections everyday. Each design was becoming a new trend in the streets and in the office. Halston expanded on the idea of workwear for women to wear in the office. He designed a new collection of professional workwear for women that ranged from the color of sky blue to hot pink but still had his signature flair. Halston wanted to represent women in the workforce through fashion, but add a touch of femininity to his collection. The collection contained “skirt suits with an asymmetric collar” to attract attention from across the business table (Ilchi). By 1983, Halston’s business was generating $150 million in sales and was becoming one of the first male American designers to design his own clothing line from nothing but the money in his own pocket (Ilchi). A year later, he was inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame, which is an Oscar but for fashion designers (Ilchi). Halston was on cloud nine, but a deal with JC Penny in 1983 was about to bring him down to earth. 

FIT. “The Halstonettes.” The Museum at FIT

His Fall Back to Earth 

The deal with J.C. Penny Co. was meant to make Halston $1 billion in department sales. However the retailers dropped his line, and he lost more money than expected. Halston was  not on board with signing on with JC Penny because he believed his clothes were not meant to be in department stores. On the flip side, Halston knew he was spending too much money on drugs and alcohol and was soon going to be bankrupt if he did not sign with someone soon. Halston signed the deal in 1982, and the “exclusive stores that had been carrying his clothes dropped him immediately” (Thomas). Since Halston lost control of his own life and company, he was fired from his own company in 1984, and he “lost the rights to design under his name” (Ilchi). This is because Revlon bought the name of Halston and started selling his products to other companies in order to make money. Revlon “actually paid the famous designer not to participate in the business or its designs” (Thomas).Halston was still allowed to design clothes, however he was not allowed to sell them under the name of Halston Enterprises. 

When Halston lost his company and all his friends, was when he realized he needed to gain back control of his life and fight for his company. In the end, Halston lost everything, but before he died, he designed clothes for small theatres and dance performances. In 1990, Halston passed away from AIDS-related cancer at the age of 57 (Ilchi). After his death, his company was sold multiple times with the name changing after every new owner bought the company. 

During the 1980s, the American fashion world changed forever because of Halston. He was an icon that set the bar high for women’s clothing. Without Halston, his clothes did not hold any meaning and lost their charm. Even though Halston had no personal experience on business and contracts, he did have the creative mindset to design the best collections in the 80s. People like to think that Halston never waned as his styles have lived on forever and he was the image of the disco era, however Roy Halston slowly became a fallen fashion designer that never got his happy ending. 

Ilchi, Layla. “Who Is HALSTON? Everything to Know about the Iconic Fashion Designer and 

His Legacy.” WWD, 21 May 2021, wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/who-is-halston-fashion-designer-netflix-show-1234818275/.

Thomas, Barbra. “The Rise and Fall of the Halston Name.” Los Angeles Times, 9 July 1999, 

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-09-cl-54187-story.html

“The Enduring Legacy of 70s Disco DESIGNER HALSTON.” The Guardian, Guardian 

News and Media, 5 June 2019, www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/jun/05/halston-70s-disco-designer-rise-fall-bianca-jagger-iman-studio-54.