Halston
Fashion is the last thing I’m interested, as an individual. I try to look presentable, but style and labels mean nothing to me. The experience of watching “Halston,” however, means a lot to me. This is an engrossing, intelligent documentary on one of the great American fashion designers of the 20th Century, and it is a film to get lost in. Frédéric Tcheng’s film begins with a mystery- in 1984, as Ronald Reagan is re-elected, and it’s morning again in America, where is Halston? The answer is where we get to throughout the film’s 105-minute running time, and it’s not really a surprising one, as sad as that is.
Halston was the toast of the American fashion world during the late ’60s and ’70s for his simple, elegant designs for women. He was a simple man, and he had a humble background. He also had an eye for what worked in fashion, and he was the label to wear for many celebrities at that time. He was hot on the New York party scene, especially at Studio 54 at its heyday. He was also a demanding, exacting artist who wanted to be in charge of every detail of his growing empire. In the early 1980s, however, Halston made a deal that would alter his trajectory, and that of his company, forever, by designing clothes for J.C. Penney. It was a big deal both financially, and creatively, but it also was the beginning of the end for Halston as a fashion giant, although his increasingly difficult-to-manage behavior was another part of it.
Director Frédéric Tcheng has structured his film as a mystery, starting with Halston’s seeming disappearance from the public sphere in 1984, and moving back to the beginning of his rise. It’s a great way to start this film, and Halston’s story takes it from there. I don’t have any interest in the fashion world at all, but the story Tcheng here is a very human story that sucks the viewer in because of his subject’s natural charisma and talents. This is a quintessential rags-to-riches story, and it’s enjoyable to watch every step of the way. It also hits you in some unexpected emotional ways for a film that basically follows someone flaming out. And yet, we feel sympathy for Halston, because his story is, ultimately, a sympathetic one to watch. This is the power of documentary filmmaking at its strongest, and I’m grateful for having seen it.
