Halston

Roy Halston Frowick (1932-1990) was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He grew up to become an icon of New York City nightlife and fashion and his clothing helped to define 1970s’ American style.

Early Days

Halston began his career in fashion in 1952, working as a window dresser while attending night classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. The following year he started designing hats for a hair styling salon in the Chicago Ambassador Hotel. He later had a shop on the city’s North Michigan Avenue.

In 1957, at the age of 26, Halston’s hat making talent was discovered by famous New York milliner Lilly Daché, who invited him to move to Manhattan and work for her. Before long, he was one of Daché’s top designers and was managing her wholesale business. After spending only a year with her, though, he went to work for Bergdorf-Goodman, a prestigious department store on Fifth Avenue, where he became the first in-house milliner to design under his own name.

Halston & Jackie

Known for his minimalist designs, Halston’s friends and clients included women such as Rita Hayworth, Liza Minnelli and Marlene Dietrich. The young designer even caught the attention of Diana Vreeland, editor of Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, who called him, “probably the greatest hatmaker in the world, an absolute magician with his hands.”

It was Jacqueline Kennedy, however, that brought him international stardom. Halston designed many of the style icon’s hats, including the pillbox she wore to her husband’s 1961 inauguration (above).

The First Lady was not fond of hats and often wore her hair in the large bouffant style popular in that era. The pillbox style offered her a simple, off the face design that could work with her hair styling. Legend has it that she had quite a large head, which happened to be the same size as Halston’s, so he would always try her hats on for size before sending them to her.

Moving from Millinery to Fashion Design

Throughout the early 1960s, Halston was known as being one of New York’s premier milliners and attracted celebrity clients from around the world. He is pictured here doing a hat fitting with Italian film star Virna Lisi.

In 1966, as hats were becoming less popular, Halston began to design clothing as well. He launched a ready to wear line for Bergdorf-Goodman before officially leaving the millinery industry and establishing his own clothing label in 1969.

By 1973, HALSTON Ltd had generated around $30 million. Halston was the first designer to fully license himself as a brand and his influence reshaped how business was done in the American fashion industry.

A Life Cut Short

Known for being a star of New York City’s Studio 54 social scene, Halston regularly threw wild parties with Andy Warhol and Truman Capote. He is pictured above at the first anniversary party of the infamous Manhattan nightclub with Bianca Jagger and Liza Minnelli.

Sadly, the talented designer struggled with a serious drug addiction. After multiple sales of his label to different parent companies, Halston stopped working completely and went into a self-imposed exile. He passed away from an AIDS related illness in 1990, at the age of 57.

The designer’s legacy, HALSTON, continues on as a luxury lifestyle brand, creating women’s ready-to-wear and dresses under Chief Creative Officer Robert Rodriguez.

If you happen to be in the Houston area this year, you can see some of Halston’s original millinery designs and sketches at the Rienzi Museum. Their exhibition, Hats Off: Halston Hats from the Masterson Collection, will run until 3 January 2021.

About the Author

Amy Fowler is the creator of the bespoke, California-based Millinery by Amy Fowler label. She also runs Humboldt Haberdashery, an online millinery supplier.

See Amy’s full bio HERE.