- Andy Warhol Polaroid Recreations/ ‘Halston’ on Netflix cast images
Just mention the name “Halston,” and immediately, images of the style icon come to mind, surrounded by his entourage of beautiful friends and lovers at the notorious Disco playground that was Studio 54. Suppose any designer defined fashion in the 1970s and early 80s. In that case, it’s Halston, born Roy Halston Frowick, and the upcoming Netflix mini-series about the visionary designer promises to be a wild ride as it depicts one of the most decadent eras in fashion.
Halston is among the giants of the fashion world. At the start of his career he designed hats, but his creative prowess for creating sleek, streamlined dresses turned him into the preferred label for the high-end, Disco-drenched nightlife scene of New York City, then the world.
Halston would have turned 89 this month; sadly, he passed away in 1990, one of the many casualties of the AIDS epidemic that has robbed us of millions of beautiful souls. Before he died, though, his talents were utilized to the fullest. One of his most prominent protégés and muses was the incomparable Liza Minnelli. The music legend, in the early days of her own rise to the top instantly became a dear friend and confidant to Halston as the two collaborated many times to create some of Minnelli’s most memorable looks.
To honor the magic of Halston and his meteoric rise from a hatter to haute couture genius, the Netflix limited series follows the legendary fashion designer (Ewan McGregor) as he leverages his single, invented name into a worldwide fashion empire. Halston quickly became synonymous with luxury, sex, status, fame, the high life in New York, and global fashion impact — until a hostile takeover forced him to battle for control of his most precious asset… the name Halston itself.
The series is Executive Produced by Ryan Murphy, so you know it will be gorgeous, juicy, and salacious (with a few hot booty shots.) Murphy has no choice in telling the story any other way, as Halston’s real-life was a fantasy come true existence of excess; money, fame, drugs, jet-setting, and high-profile celebrity friendships.
The story wrote itself, and now the magic of Ryan Murphy, I trust, will bring it to life unabashedly. I love Murphy’s work and though some may challenge the accuracy of detail in his mini series, undeniably his take on the Versace murder, Fosse & Verdon and the feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford has given us some of the greatest moments in recent television history.
Halston, the limited series, makes its global premiere on Netflix, Friday, May 14, and I cannot wait!
