The Ultimate Elegance of Roy Halston.

Starting my blog with some nostalgic mood and an exquisite treat for every design lover: several images of the king of the ease of 70s glam – ROY HALSTON.

In the fall of 1975, Halston designed bunny ears, bunny suits and masks for models to wear to “Magic, Fantasy and Dreams,” a costume benefit ball for the Skowhegen School of Painting and Sculpture. The costume appears in the famous photographs by Helmut Newton, a lasting image of the 70s that all of us are familiar with.

Halston was known as the first designer to fully license himself as a Brand onto itself. His influence was beyond style to reshape the business of fashion creating designs that were accessible to women at a variety of income levels. He also became influential in uniform design, changing the entire feel of Braniff International Airways’ staff uniforms.

Halston’s friends and clients included some of the most alluring and well-known women in the world, including Liza Minnelli, Marlene Dietrich and Diana Vreeland.

He was also a long-time and central figure in the night-life scene of NY’s Studio 54.

When asked for his tips for getting into Studio 54, Andy Warhol replied, “Always go with Halston or in Halston.”

-“Halston and Warhol were collectors of one another’s work. Halston would display Warhol’s pop-art prints in his 63rd Street Manhattan townhouse, while Warhol would use Halston as a subject in many of his stark polaroids and screen prints.”

Mhairi Graham for AnOther, “Halston and Warhol”

-“Creating a signature perfume was Halston’s first major brand extension after being acquired by Norton Simon Inc in 1973. Peretti’s groundbreaking bottle was originally inspired by a bud-vase pendant she found in a flea market, and Halston was so enamored of it that he fought tooth and nail—and even paid $50,000 of his own money—to produce it.

The fragrance was a wild success straight out of the gate. Within two years, it had racked up $85 million in sales and become the second top-selling perfume in history after Chanel No. 5.”

April Long for Town and Country, “The Real Story Behind the Making of Halston Perfume”

In spite of all the achievements, Halston was fired from his own company in the 1984, mostly because of his drug use and increasing failure to meet the deadlines. He continued to create exclusive designs privately for some of his friends, until his death related to lung cancer and complications of AIDS, in California in the 1990.