23 May,2021 09:45 AM IST | Mumbai | Shweta Shiware
Halston’s iconic tie-dye kaftan as seen in the series
Before Voguettes, there were the Halstonettes. It was a term of endearment used in reference to designer Halston's superstar entourage including Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minnelli, Angelica Huston, Bianca Jagger and Pat Cleveland. The iconic American designer and regular at Studio 54, once famously said, "You are only as good as the people you dress". If you haven't binge-watched Halston, the new Netflix series starring Ewan McGregor, yet, you can still celebrate the man with these defining '70s styles that are so-Halston even today.
The Jackie Kennedy pillbox hat: The former First Lady wearing a Halston-designed pillbox hat for her husband's presidential inauguration in 1961, not only established her as an eternal style icon, but paved the future for Bergdorf Goodman's head milliner, Roy Halston Frowick, soon to be known as
simply Halston.
Tie-dye caftan dress: The caftan dress with its free-floating silhouette and graphic tie-dye aesthetic found instant success in a market saturated with boxy, geometric designs. In an interview for Variety magazine, Jeriana San Juan, the series' costume designer, said: "He [Halston] had this way of interpreting tie-dye that wasn't your hippie style. He used batik and he used tie-dye to highlight a woman's body and her bone structure."
Ultrasuede shirt-dress: Halston's first ultrasuede (lightweight polyester with a suede-like feel) design was a trench coat, and he would go on to design a shirt-dress - earlier called "model number 704" according to the Museum at FIT website. Vogue described it as "the uniform of the moment", and the design continues to enjoy cult status. Halston became synonymous with ultrasuede - so much so that a 2010 documentary about him was called Ultrasuede.
Backless, halter-neckline dress: Another highlight of Halston's fashion career coincided with the '70s disco era, courtesy Studio 54.
