Halston, America’s Most Important Fashion Designer: TV Series Review
On May 14th, Netflix dropped its highly anticipated series amongst fashion lovers and those fashion-adjacent, Halston. Despite disappointing reviews from almost every major media outlet, the series immerses the audience in the world of Roy Halston Frowick—the first fashion celebrity designer the world had almost entirely forgotten about, until now.
For anyone obsessed with fashion, Halston and the 70s era of fashion history is an iconic part of American fashion. The “untold story” of Frowick has been told tenfold. Documentaries have been made and books have been written. It’s a cautionary bedtime story that is known all too well amongst the upper echelons of the industry: greed, drugs, and ego will ruin you.
Regardless of Frowick’s niece denouncing the show, the biopic is pretty historically accurate. But it is obviously sensationalized, as many shows tend to be. There are many instances where Halston is painted as being a hateful and horrible person and fails to capture the magic of garments he was known for creating and his charm. The series heavily focuses on Halston selling out, without putting forth the reality of his radical changes to the American high fashion industry—effectively putting it on the map.
Halston is a fictional series aiming to clue into the man behind the myth. It largely revolves around the speculation of the nature of his close relationships with Elsa Peretti, Liza Minnelli, Joe Eula, David Mahoney, and Victor Hugo—and should be treated as such, a larger-than-life show about American excess. It’s also notable to point out that if a casual viewer never knew Halston as one of the most influential American fashion designers of all time, they will not finish the 5 episodes knowing this fact either.
Monotonously calling himself Halston, the designer’s 70s counterpart is often cited as being the great late Yves Saint Laurent. Recognized for his patronage to the iconic Studio 54 during its heyday and redefinition of American fashion, Frowick lost everything—including the rights to design under his name. Many have pointed to a conceited attitude, cocaine addiction, a billion-dollar J.C. Penny deal, and a tumultuous 10-year relationship with Victor Hugo as the culprit for his demise.
Ewan McGregor in all ways is Halston, the resemblance and characterization are uncanny to Frowick’s friends and acquaintances still alive today. In spite of the questionable casting of a straight man to play a gay man, McGregor’s acting stands out. McGregor cut, draped, and built the dresses on-screen, practicing with the series’ costume designer, Jeriana San Juan, and her team of seamstresses. Krysta Rodriguez and Rebecca Dayan captivate as the illustrious and renowned Liza Minnelli and Elsa Peretti, respectively.
Based on the book Simply Halston by Steven Gaines, the show details Halston’s battle with addiction to drugs, fame, and his untimely early death caused by AIDS. The series showcases Halston’s rise to fame as the cut-throat industry that championed him tears him apart just as swiftly: metaphorically, emotionally, monetarily, and psychologically.
Many hilariously witty and sarcastic lines that stand out include:
“God bless Jackie Kennedy… F*ck Jackie Kennedy.”
“Well I’m hard at work making the sun brighter, but until I get my rainmaking machine working, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Let me get this straight. Givenchy says yes, but Halston says no?”
“If everyone can have something, then what’s the point of having it.”
“Balenciaga didn’t do a fad and neither will I!”
“She was wearing Calvin Klein.”
“An egg salad sandwich just walked into my office.”
“I don’t design tampons but I’m sure you’ll ask me to at some point…”
The entertainment business does not have a great track record of portraying the fashion industry, and Halston certainly did not change this. For it is nearly impossible to create a persona out of someone who is themselves creating a persona in real life. Documentaries about fashion have proven to be the best way to get inside the elusive world. While the series is pleasing enough to the eye to watch, it is simply a forgettable series. Certainly not warranting a 10-piece capsule collection by a corporation that owns the rights to a man’s name who died not being able to use it and capitalize off of his life.