Halston Revisited
I do not really have the fondest memories of my days as editor of "Interview" magazine, the German edition, in Berlin.
Published by a dubious guy from Eastern Berlin (who actually had cooperated with the so called STASI back in the days) and financed by a Russian oligarch, the magazine lacked all kinds of credibility and caché; I left after eight months.
Two details I will remember forever: The hold loop sound you listened to when calling the central offices - Leonard Cohen grumbling, "First We Took Manhattan, Then We Took Berlin". What a lovely dream to never come true.
And the print of a famous photograph hanging poster-sized in the main conference room: Taken by Robin Platzer maybe at Bianca Jagger´s famous birthday party, when she entered "Studio 54" on top of a white stallion, or maybe taken at any other given night at that infamous club, as all nights there used to never end. And it seemed there always gathered more or less the same group of people - as on the picture above, from left to right:
Diana Ross kissing Halston, Bianca Jagger talking to Andy Warhol, Liza Minelli and new husband Jack Haley in the backround (in a different picture out of this series you see a very young Michael Jackson as well).
There was no doubt I would watch the new Netflix show about Halston as I always admired an era that ended well before I grew up and entered fashion world - but would forever leave its massive footprints regarding my personal taste.
But I have to say that I am not that impressed by the show.
Ewan McGregor does a great job impersonating the designer with his questionable personality, his pains and gains and his unquestionable influences. Rebecca Dayan sets a monument for the late jewelry designer - and also quite influencal - Elsa Peretti. Two smaller performances by Vera Famiga and Kelly Bishop (the sexy mum from "DirtyDancing") were remarkable and the decor was exquisite.
BUT to watch a lost soul with an abusive drug habit and a destructive sex life did not really touch me.
And, frankly, his designs were never as good as he personally felt about them. It just happened to be the right moment to copy street styles.
The perfect moment to going discount within a cheap department store happened almost twenty years later when Karl Lagerfeld did a capsule collection for Highstreet label H&M; in Halston´s case it destroyed his glamorous image forever.
Watch maybe one or two episodes of the show - and then go straight to Vogue´s podcast about the phenomenon Halston; to listen how openly and funny Tom Ford talks about his personal memories of those days is much more entertaining.
