Things to see: Halston, the movie
Frédéric Tcheng has done it again. If you loved Dior & I, you have to see HALSTON, which opens in the UK on Friday. It’s the story of legendary designer Halston’s rise and downfall, with a brilliant cast of characters retelling the story.
Alva Chinn, Pat Cleveland and Liza Minelli were my favourites, along with a coterie of hard nosed New York business types relaying the excesses of Roy ‘Hall-ston’ Frowick (his name was originally pronounced Hal-ston, but he rebranded himself with the fancier ‘Hall’ sound). Look out for Elsa Peretti too; methinks someone should make a documentary about her next.
I also loved all the 70s and 80s New York footage, his incredible modernist townhouse, the technical descriptions of his designs and the story of the ‘Battle at Versailles‘. In 1973, five American and five French mega-designers showed their collections at a fundraider for the Chateau de Versailles. Apparently, the French designers hogged all the time and resources leaving the Americans with the scraps, but Halston still stole the show. It looked spectacular!
The only slightly weird part of the film is having a narrator in the guise of Tavi Gevinson as a fictional archivist, piecing the story together. I don’t think this bit was well executed, or even necessary. As Halston says, sometimes less is more.
WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
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