Ewan McGregor stars as legendary fashion designer Halston in new Netflix limited series.
Halston is set to showcase the luxurious world of fashion and hedonism during Studio 54’s heyday. Created by Daniel Minahan, the story has been in the works for 20 years, first beginning its life as a feature film before morphing into a television series. And now it will finally come to life as a limited five-episode series on Netflix.
Born Roy Halston Frowick, the fashion designer rose to international fame and acclaim in the 1970s. He quickly made a name for himself with his minimalist designs. Halston’s pieces often favoured ultrasuede and cashmere, both new sensations in the disco scene. The designer also had quite a reputation on the social scene, typically seen rubbing shoulders with the likes of Liza Minelli, Andy Warhol and Bianca Jagger. Notably, he also designed the pillbox hat worn by Jacqueline Kennedy at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.
Series director Daniel Minahan said in a Netflix interview,
“We all put a lot of ourselves into Halston,
“I think Ryan has a very unique relationship with this material because he grew up in Indiana as Halston did, and then he worked building an empire as a gay man in a corporate world as Halston did, so he was really generous with his experience. A lot of that made it into our scripts.”
While those who knew the real Halston may have raised their eyebrows about Ewan McGregor’s casting in the beginning, any doubts have since been swept away by early screenings. André Leon Talley, the author of The Chiffon Trenches said,
“That Scottish man pulled it off,
“The way he pivots with the cigarette dangling between his two fingers and says ‘Bah-len-ciah-aaaaa-gah,’ so it’s almost musical with the ‘B’ floating on air, it was so perfect.”
Source: The New York Times
Halston will no doubt be full of drugs, debauchery, and plenty of colourful characters. The series hits Netflix on May 14.
Check out the trailer below:
Subscribe to FIB’s Weekly Alchemy Report for your weekly dose of music, fashion and pop culture news!