Halston

Born Roy Frowick Halston on April 23, 1932 in Des Moines, Iowa, Halston was a product of America's heartland. He led a classic Iowa childhood playing in soap box derby races, fishing, visiting farms, and the like. Halston took an interest in sewing from his mother, and from an early age he showed a special interest in making hats.

Halston attended Indiana University in 1952 for one semester.

The family moved to Chicago in late 1952 where Halston enrolled in a night course at the Chicago Art Institute and took a day job as a window dresser. Halston continued to design hats and finally obtained his break when a small story on his fashionable creations appeared in the Chicago Daily News. It was at this time that his middle name Halston, would become his professional moniker. His hat sales took off and he began designing for a celebrity and show biz clientele.

In 1957, Halston opened his first major shop, the Boulevard Salon, on the second floor of 900 Michigan Avenue.

In 1959 Halston left Chicago for NYC to work for the famed French milliner Lilly Daché, where he proved to be a hardworking and dedicated employee. He was named co-designer at Daché after only one year. Following that Halston accepted a position at Bergdorf Goodman, a fashionable New York department store, where he charmed his clients and made a grand name for himself. After two-years at Bergdorf he succeeded in becoming the store's first designer to have his name placed in the hats he designed. He became adept at courting and manipulating the press at Bergdorf's.

Halston would make his own for his mother and sister (his first hat appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar in 1960).

In 1962 he designed the famous pill box hat worn by Jackie Kennedy at the President's Inaugural making the Halston name a household word. Later that year he was bestowed the Coty's Fashion Critics Award.

In 1966 Halston designed his first ready to wear collection for Bergdorf Goodman and while there Halston continued creating magic with his hat creations. Women's Wear Daily heralded him as "New York's Top Milliner".

He opened his own salon in 1968 and became the toast of New York's fashion society. His close circle of friends and clients would come to include some of the most alluring and fascinating men and women in the world, among them Liza Minnelli, Barbara Walter, Martha Graham, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Andy Warhol and Elizabeth Taylor.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1978 Tony Award as Best Costume Designer for "The Act."

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 355-356. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.