42 EMMYin the
Runway
Rebel
A CNN documentary recalls the
meteoric rise — and tragic end —
of a very American designer.“Yes,” Halston confesses, a smile creeping across his movie-star
handsome face.
In fact, Halston was famous for many things: his popular jersey halter
dress and ultra-suede shirtdress showed his proclivity for chic, modern,
minimalist garments. Halston perfume, which came in a novel teardrop
bottle, once rivaled Chanel No. 5 in sales. Even people who didn’t follow
fashion knew of him. Frequently photographed at Studio 54 with friends Andy
Warhol, Bianca Jagger and Liza Minnelli, he was the picture of urbanity — his
eyes shielded by omnipresent sunglasses, a cigarette dangling from his
sensual lips.
And then it came to an abrupt end.
The film — premiering August 18 on CNN, with an encore August 24 —
presents the meteoric rise of this defining American designer, who died of
AIDS in 1990 at age fifty-seven. It also serves as a cautionary tale. By the
end of his life, having sold his brand and lost control of his enterprise, he was
blocked from creating new designs under his name. “It’s a business story at
the heart of it,” says Courtney Sexton, executive producer and vice-president
of CNN Films.
“Here is a story that people really don’t know the depth and breadth of,”
producer Roland Ballester says. He zeroed in on Frédéric Tcheng to direct,
confident that Tcheng, who directed the doc Dior and I, wouldn’t get bogged
down in the glamour and glitz that have obscured Halston’s legacy as a
visionary and a risk-taker.
Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, Halston became a milliner to the starsat Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman. He fabricated
the pink pillbox hat that Jacqueline Kennedy donned
for her husband’s inauguration, but she accidentally
dented it. As a result, Halston says with a chuckle in
the film, “Everyone who copied it put a dent into it.”
He went on to create relaxed, liberating women’s clothes that radically
changed how the world viewed American fashion. When French and American
designers faced off during the landmark 1973 Battle of Versailles Fashion
Show, Halston’s ethnically diverse models upended the historically rarefied
atmosphere as they danced down the runway.
The documentary benefits from Ballester’s friendship with Lesley
Frowick, Halston’s protective niece, who opened her archives and introduced
the filmmakers to her uncle’s models and friends. “It took a lot of convincing
to get them all on board,” Tcheng says. “The Halston circle is a very tight
circle.”
The effort paid off. Halston’s devotees enthusiastically describe his
genius at sculpting clothes: sometimes he’d construct a fabulous garment
with only one seam. “He would just throw a piece of fabric on the floor and cut
through it, pick it up, throw it on you, and, pff, it’s a dress,” says former model
Pat Cleveland.
Tcheng also excavates darker notes. For instance, actress-writer Tavi
Gevinson reenacts scenes in which an owner of the Halston brand destroys
archival footage and sells off patterns. Yet the designer isn’t presented as
a victim; he’s seen as someone always stepping into the future, even at the
cost of his very name.
“The way that the Halston story unfolded, which was so dramatic, it felt
like a thriller,” Tcheng says. “What I wanted to capture was the complexity and
mystery of a person. Nothing’s black and white — everything’s in-between.”
—Ann FarmerWhile researching Halston, a new documentary about the iconic American
designer, an archivist stumbled across Roy Halston Frowick’s 1971 appearance
on the game show What’s My Line? As celebrities try to guess the mystery
guest’s occupation, one inquires, “Are you famous for hotpants?”DUSTIN PITTMAN