Talking About: Halston
Halston stars heavyweight actors such as Ewan McGregor (who plays iconic fashion designer Halston), Bill Pullman and Vera Farmiga, but what dazzled the Tonic crew was the Netflix series’ fashion finery, exquisite detail and powerful drama. It has generated controversy – Halston’s family have distanced themselves from it – but that doesn’t stop it from being a dollop of sartorial goodness.
Carlotta Moye Let’s get to the obvious question. What did you think of Ewan as Halston?
Rachelle Unreich I loved him so much. He was so much velvety-voiced goodness in this – all languid gestures and wild charisma, and he still managed to make the character sympathetic even though Halston is terrible some of the time. He made me love Halston. I know he doesn’t look like him, but he did evoke his essence for me, a kind of brooding confidence.
CM I loved him, but I thought he was a tad too old for the role. Still, his character was en pointe.
Megan Morton I thought Ewan’s performance was close to flawless. You could see he reached very deep into his own addictions which is why he is getting such hot and cold reviews. I couldn’t take my eyes off him: predictable one minute, horrible the next but always hovering on that sense of mad, wild genius and despair.
RU Did it bother you that it was a straight man playing a gay character? Some people have taken issue with this.
CM I don’t mind a straight guy playing gay; he nailed it.
RU Did you know much about Halston before this? I knew his name was synonymous with a certain kind of glamorous halterneck dress which had sophistication and modernity. But I didn’t feel like I knew his oeuvre the way I know other designers.
CM I didn’t know he was so much a part of the Studio 54 scene, which I loved seeing. So many drugs! I thought he was a bit straighter, but he became a mess. But don’t get me started on Elsa Peretti. She was spot on and her clothes divine.
RU The women in this show were so compelling. Liza Minnelli was the emotional heart of the series.
MM What joy! What sadness! What absolute visual pleasures. Halston, for me, was so perfectly timed to remind me of everything that is good about potted orchids! I know a lot of us were gah-ing at the clothes and jewels but mic drops everywhere with the spatial relations and orchids.
RU But did you like his apartment? That was a home to be depressed in.
CM I thought his apartment was sad.
RU He spent $150,000 on orchids a year!
CM And that on coke in a week!
MM I loved the apartment. It was such a metaphor for how troubled he was and especially telling when the perfumer came in and pointed out that he liked a flower – the orchid – that was fragrant-less.
RU You’ve reminded me about that whole perfume exchange. I found that so emotional. And you hardly ever see a portrayal of how powerful the scent-memory connection is. I want to design a perfume! But instead of tobacco and jockstraps and orchids, like Halston, mine would be tea and horses and frangipani, although that actually sounds like a terrible combination, come to think of it.
CM Mine would be fresh cut grass, fresh linen and tobacco.
RU What scenes were your favourite? Mine was the expression on his face when he’s waiting for reviews for the Martha Graham show, for which he designed costumes. Really fine acting.
MM The best piece of acting was when Adele (Vera Farmiga) the perfumer put her head in Victor’s jockstrap and inhaled. I thought it so brilliant … you really understood the mood in that one split second.
RU Oh, and the Battle Royale between the designers at Paris airport – Bill Blass and Anne Klein and Halston all trying to out-pose and out-entourage each other. Even Liza could barely get her vogueing in.
MM But back to the interiors, there was a pair of exquisite silver candlesticks that Elsa gave him which were always very prominent. Apparently these were his most favourite thing in his life. I liked in the series how during the demise and rise of their relationship, the candlesticks moved but never left his dining table. They were the only ever-constant adornment on his table.
RU And I loved the salon-type setting that he began showing his collections from. I wish that we still had those. You walk through a Moroccan tent and see fabulous models in Halston! And then you say, “I’ll take one in every colour!”
MM A lot of my interior friends didn’t love the beach house. I loved it so much I found myself in the middle of really dramatic scenes stopping and rewinding so I can have another gawk! What I loved the most, is how you saw it being decorated slowly; it wasn’t done straight away, even though he clearly could have financed it. It was done piece by piece and for me that showed his real style and finesse for atmospheres and rooms.
RU We clearly watched this differently because I can barely visualise the scenes in the beach house.
MM He used the beach house to show his love. It wasn’t used for trophy entertaining. It was really for those he loved. It eventually became a really superb home decorated in every corner … like all homes should be: with love and over time. And of course, lots of orchids in terracotta pots!
CM The yellow striped awning and outdoor dining were gorgeous; I want that setting in my life.
MM In so many biopics you are asked if you can accept genius – can you turn a blind eye to bad behaviour? In the instance of Halston, I was so ready to separate the man from his art and the art from the man.
RU I felt sorry for him more often than I condemned him. And he would often have these moments of clarity when he realised he’d acted terribly.
CM I can’t forgive the disrespectful way he acted towards those around who were only wanting to help. But a little bit of arrogance helps sometimes.
MM His style has been used as a footprint for so many designers today. But at the end of the day, what he gave us was the most flattering shapes and contours; a real love and understanding of the female form.
RU I loved that creatively, the series finished with his Martha Graham costumes as a kind of swan song. It was wonderful to see him acknowledged for his brilliance and those costumes really made me gasp with their innovation and beauty.
MM The ballet scenes were so beautiful and powerful. I love how he felt obliged to use his talent … those scenes were sublime.
RU I’ve been telling my friends to watch it for the incredible visuals – his red office! – and as a cautionary tale for how you can be an incredible talent but your crappy choice in partners can really bring you down. Friendship, more than anything, can be a saviour.
MM I tell everyone to watch because whether you are there for the flowers or the clothes, at the end of the day it’s all about love.
CM Love of fashion. Love of creativity. Love of friendships. Love.
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