Halston
(1932-1990)
Halston was born Roy Halston Frowick in Des Moines, Iowa in 1932. He studied at the Indiana University and at the Art Institute of Chicago. His fashion career started as a milliner designing hats for Lilly Dache. During that time he decided to take his middle name,
Halston as his professional name. In 1959 he moved to NewYork and worked as a hat designer for Bergdorf Goodman.
In 1961 he designed the pillbox hat that was worn by Jacqueline Kennedy at the inauguration of her husband, John F. Kennedy. He designed most of the hats Mrs. Kennedy wore as First Lady. In recognition of his hat designs Halston received a Coty Special Award in 1962. In 1966 Halston launched Bergdorf Goodman’s first ready-to-wear collection. During the late 1960s and 1970s, Halston established a reputation as a designer of knitwear, wide-legged jersey trousers, turlenecks, long slinkyhalter-neck dresses, cashmere dresses for day and evening, sweater sets, and boxy, square jackets and coats.
Halston opened his own firm in 1968 and called it, Halston, Limited. He introduced a line of ready-to-wear clothes that won him another Coty Ward in 1969 for the “total look: he had presented in his first collection. He also tie-dyed chiffon and used matte jersey in may of his collections. In 1976 the designer created his first perfume, the enormously successful Halston. Halston’s designs had the unadorned cut and practicality of American sportswear: easy, simple, and ageless.
He marketed a synthetic fabric that he called “ultrasuede,” which had a soft fine feel and look of real suede. He designed a plain “ultrasuede” shirtdress; a dress designed to look like a shirt, completed with collar and buttons. He expanded to a variety of products including sheets, shoes, and fragrances. Halston designed cosmetics for Max Factor and luggage for Hartman. In 1971 and 1972 he was awarded the Coty American Fashion Critic’s Award.
In 1972, he formed another company to sell a ready-to-wear line together with two partners and headquartered in New York’s Seventh Avenue. Halston and his partners sold both the Halston business and the Halston trademark to Norton Simon Industries, a large multi-brand corporation in 1973. It was the first time a deal like this had been made by a fashion designer. By 1978, Halston was designing four ready-to-wear, four sportswear, and two made-to-order collections per year. In addition he had lines of furs, shoes, swimwear, robes, intimate apparel, men's wear, luggage, and uniforms for both Avis Rent A Car and Braniff Airline employees.
In 1982, Halston signed a multimillion dollar deal with the J.C. Penney discount chain to create products under the Halston label. In 1988 while he was trying to buy his company back from Revlon then the new owner of his trademark, he tested positive to HIV and died on March 26, 1990 of complications from AIDS.
