Roy Halston Memoir

                              The Beginning of an American Fashion Designer: Roy Halston 

        

                                                         

                    Netflix. “Halston.” Netflix

A dramatized television show can only say so much about a person's life, especially when the writers focus on the stories that would make the show more neat. Inspired by Netflix's limited series Halston, I decided to dig a little deeper in the life of Roy Halston and discover the true life of Roy Halston. 

Roy Halston did not come from a family of money or was given the money to start his own line, but rather he built himself into a designer from the ground up by working with hair and clothing. He was born on April 23, 1932 in Des Moines, Iowa and studied at Indiana University and the Chicago Institute of Art (Ilchi). In 1953, Halston opened up his own milliner shop at the Ambassador Hotel in Chicago, but five years later he moved to New York to work under more famous milliners such as Lilly Daché and Bergdorf Goodman. Because of Halston’s unique taste in hair and clothing, he started to become more independent and develop his own reputation in fashion. Due to his creative side and passion for design, he sketched out the pillbox hat in 1861. His hat became fastly famous because Jackie Kennedy was seen in many public outings wearing Halston’s pillbox hat. 

                                                                

                    Fig. 1 Tramz, Mia. “Decoding Jackie O’s Signature Style.” Times Magazine 

In 1966, Roy Halston created his own fashion line under the name of Halston Ltd. His first line was the “ready-to-wear” collection, which included designer scarves, hats, shoes, and jewelry (Ilchi). Roy Halston had his first first runway show at Bergdorf Goodman; however the show was not successful as the WWD review critics viewed him as “great milliner who is not yet a great designer of women’s wear,” adding, though, that he has “showmanship and so the show came off.” The negative reviews did not stop Halston from exploring more designs and experimenting with new apparel. Soon his designs paid off when his ultrasuede collection came out in 1970. This collection contained shirts, dresses, and jackets made from Haslston’s ultrasuede material and was worn by many famous women such the famous model Elsa Peretti. Ultrasuede was a material that was not popularly used by many designers. Roy Halston was the first to try out ultrasuede, which was a form of suede but only softer and more reflective in light.  Not only did ultrasuede become a popular material, but Halston also designed the halter top and incorporated the halter look into his shirts and dresses. Halston became one of the first American fashion designers in the 20th century to build himself into a millionaire and redefine the 70s and 80s fashion. Roy Halston was also the first American fashion designer to destroy his entire reputation as a designer and also lose his own name in the process. 

                                                                     

                Dogwoof Films. “The enduring legacy of 70s disco designer Halston.” The Guardian 

    

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/. 

Tramz, Mia. “Ways Jackie O Influenced Fashion.” Time, Time, 19 May 2014, 

time.com/104581/jackie-onassis-style-icon/. 

“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.