Halston 1932-

HALSTON 1932-

designer

Casual and Sexy

As the 1971 and 1972 winner of the Coty American Fashion Critic's top award (Winnie), Halston was the premier fashion designer of the early 1970s. Halston established himself as one of the guiding forces in fashion by adapting the classical look of sportswear to the active life of American women. As one critic commented, Halston's "special brand of casual but sexy has become one of the most recognizable and individual looks in American fashion."

Life

Roy Halston Frowick was born in April 1932 in Des Moines, Iowa, the second of four children. Halston's first attempt at fashion design came in the way of a homemade red hat which "was a smash and really flattered my mother." After World War II Halston attended the University of Indiana for two years before enrolling at the Chicago Art Institute as a fine arts major. While a student he designed window displays by day and sewed hats by night on a secondhand sewing machine in his small apartment. Soon he talked the hairdresser at the Ambassador Hotel into displaying his hats. They were so well received that the twenty-one-year-old designer opened a millinery salon in the hotel. Halston stayed in the Ambassador until 1959 when he took the position of head milliner at Bergdorfs.

The Pillbox Hat

One of Halston's first customers at Bergdorfs was Jacqueline Kennedy, who needed hats to wear while accompanying her husband, John F. Kennedy, on his presidential campaign. Halston designed the celebrated beige felt pillbox that Jacqueline Kennedy wore to her husband's inauguration in 1960 and most of the other hats she wore as first lady. In recognition of his hat designs Halston received a Coty Special Award in 1962.

The "Total Look."

In 1968, convinced the time was right to strike out on his own, Halston left Bergdorf's and founded Halston, Limited. By year's end he introduced a line of ready-to-wear clothes that won him another Winnie in 1969 for the "total look" he had displayed in his first solo collection. By the mid 1970s the fashion world was tired of the 1960s exotic look and embraced Halston's look of casual elegance.

The Look

Halston's designs emphasized the "casually chic look" of sweaters, soft wide-legged jersey pants, and simple, longish shirtdresses. His hallmark became the cardigan sweater loosely tied around the shoulders. Instead of doing up women to look like gypsies, peasants, or harem girls, he dressed women in tie-dyed chiffon or velvet pantsuits and slinky floor-length halter dresses. Other signature looks from Halston include the one-shouldered evening gown, tunics over pajamas, and the strapless columnar dress tied in a knot at the bustline.

Branching Out

Halston diversified his business and design interests as the decade wore on. Following the trend first set by Coco Chanel in the 1950s, Halston designed cosmetics for Max Factor, luggage for Hartman, and in the 1980s clothes for J. C. Penney. This last move was especially controversial. Bergdorf's, for instance, closed its Halston Boutique in response.