Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston (2010) Movie Script

1
Smith: The '70s
had everything...
Sex, drugs, disco,
and great fashion.
When I was a kid,
I used to read about halston
in magazines
reigning over studio 54
surrounded by beautiful models
in a cloud of cigarette smoke.
To me,
he was the coolest.
- He was everything
the '70s was.
Halston is everything
the '70s was.
It was chic.
It was fun.
It was a little bit naughty.
- He was a great designer,
one of the greatest
American designers ever.
And the clothes
still stand up today.
- Halston had such
an amazing sort of presence.
He looked like kind of
movie star version
of what a designer is.
- I grew up in Hollywood,
and nothing was as glamorous
as halston.
- He looked
like a matinee idol.
He lived like a pasha.
- All the girls
were around him.
They were kind of sitting
at his feet, you know?
And I was wondering,
who is this guy
that they seem to be worshiping?
- He was the party.
It was the celebrities that
were hanging around with him.
- They danced all night
and then they slept in the day,
and the next night,
they did the same thing,
all dressed up again.
Halston was an extremist.
I mean, his designs were large.
He was large.
His fun was large.
His partying was large.
It's unfortunate
how it all ended.
- His influence
was tremendous,
but he is a bit forgotten.
Smith: My name is
Whitney Smith,
and I always wanted
to make a film
about that glamorous,
decadent time.
So over the next few years,
equipped with a series
of unfortunate haircuts,
I set out in search of halston.
Smith: My first stop
was halston's best friend
and confidant
the one and only
Liza minnelli.
As she was closer to him
than anyone,
it seemed like the perfect place
to begin.
- Like my puppy.
My puppy is a Hollywood puppy.
She never barks.
Uh, so is this a halston
you're wearing?
- This blouse is, yes.
- The blouse is?
- And, um, these are pants
that he designed
a long time ago.
- Mm-hmm.
- They're stretch velvet.
They're wonderful.
- Beautiful. Can I feel?
- Sure.
- Very soft.
- It is.
- What was, uh, halston like
as a human being?
His kind of flair?
- He was daring
and unstoppable.
Unstoppable.
An all-American kid
from the midwest.
He made it in New York
because he understood
what people needed and wanted.
He'd say,
"you can't just do something.
You gotta really...
You gotta disturb 'em."
- How do you mean disturb 'em?
- Well, he used to say,
"you gotta fuck 'em up."
- Good for him.
You know,
he knew what he was doing.
He had an eye.
He cut the skirt differently.
It flared beautifully.
And he was the first person
to be considered by Europe
a real American
fashion designer.
- And what was it like,
you know, when you would
hang out with halston,
you know, during a...
- Wonderful.
- Yeah.
- I don't know.
We... we just were so close.
He was my big brother.
I loved him.
I trusted him.
He protected me.
He was my family.
This house
that we're sitting in,
I saw this apartment,
and I thought, oh, my god,
this is way too big.
I wouldn't know what to do here.
- Mm-hmm.
- And I brought halston over,
and he said, "it's perfect!"
I said, "it's perfect?"
- Uh-huh.
- "What are you talkin' about?"
- He said,
"don't worry about it.
You go off to Tahoe
and do what you have to do."
And they designed
the whole apartment.
I came home, and Mark and I
walked in the front door,
and the whole place
was candlelit.
There were candles on... little...
You know, the votives...
On every table.
The lights were perfect.
We walked into
the most beautiful apartment
I had ever seen in my life.
And he'd gone
to all that trouble
and then left
so that we could discover it
ourselves.
It was just beautiful.
And then, of course,
it was on the cover
of "architectural digest."
- Was it?
- Yes.
- Really?
- Absolutely. Big spread.
- That's great.
So towards the end, you know,
you were the one person
to really stand by his side.
- Oh, well, no,
a lot of people did.
- Did they?
- Oh, sure. Elizabeth Taylor
and all... you know, every...
- You seemed like
his most loyal friend.
- No, I was his closest friend.
- Closest friend.
- Not his most loyal.
All his friends were loyal
who were real friends.
You know, everybody I know
loved him so much.
And when he died,
I gave him a, uh, memorial.
- What did you sing
at the memorial?
Did you sing?
- No.
- Oh, you didn't?
- It wasn't about me.
It was about him.
It was for him.
- Yeah, it was very touching.
Yeah, well,
thank you so incredibly much.
I mean, it was a great honor...
- Okay, well,
I'll tell you what.
Now you have some good areas
to go look at.
- Absolutely. Okay.
- Go do some research.
Find out about stuff.
And find out about
the solid stuff.
Fuck the gossip.
- I don't worry about
the gossip, no.
- No, this is a great American
who changed fashion in amer...
- Absolutely, yeah.
- He put us on the map.
Really, I urge you
to not go for the trashy stuff.
You know, like you said.
The... this stuff.
Look behind that.
- Yeah.
- You gotta fuck 'em up.
It was true.
- So, mom, what do you think
from my past
inspired me to do this film?
- From your childhood...
Childhood influences?
- Sure. Yeah.
- Well, let me see.
You used to watch
"smokey and the bandit."
[Jerry Reed's "when you're hot,
- I know you loved the '70s,
but I don't quite understand
what it was
about a fashion designer,
although,
now that I think about it,
you've always been interested
in fashion.
In fact, when we lived
in Washington,
you were voted
best-dressed list.
- In 1989.
- 1989.
- Great year.
- Mm-hmm.
I hope it's a big success.
Here's to you.
- Thanks, mom.
- So you can take care of me
in my old age.
Smith: While down south,
I find out there was
a halston archive
buried somewhere in the depths
of Nashville, Tennessee.
So I decided to investigate.
- We're gathered today
in the home of lipscomb center
for spiritual renewal.
As we commit ourselves
to the spiritual formation
of our students,
long view,
or as the center's director
Carl mckelvey calls it...
Smith: Scrapbooks,
boxes with, like,
weird reel tapes and...
A "vogue" cutout.
More scrapbooks,
press clippings.
Smith: I don't think
anyone's been through this
since the '80s.
This is all that remains
of his life and work.
- It's a bit strange and ironic
that someone who represented
the excess of the '70s
would end up here
in a Bible college.
- When we first acquired
halston borghese,
I don't think we were really
totally aware
that we had the archives.
- Sorry.
I don't want these doors open.
- All right,
you want to start again?
'Cause I don't have the time.
Is that it?
- We'll be in and out.
- I kind of stumbled
on the archives.
All I saw is this inventory
that said I had, I don't know,
58 boxes or something.
- Mm-hmm.
- But it didn't say
what was in the boxes.
- Yeah.
- You can tell
we do this a lot, can't you?
- Do you?
- Yeah.
I do fox on... on what?
Monday again?
- Now how did it end up
at lipscomb university?
- Well, my mother lives
in Nashville, Tennessee.
- Did you talk to f.I.I.
Or any other schools?
- Yes, f.I.I. Had some halston.
- Mm-hmm.
- Um, and really couldn't take
all the... the entire archives.
- Mm-hmm.
- But I realized
that I had a resource...
- Yeah.
- That I wanted to make sure
was preserved.
I wanted to give it...
- To a university
that, um, would appreciate it.
- Mm.
- And I wanted some place
that it could be
the cornerstone
of their fashion, uh, institute.
- Oh, that's great, yeah.
We went
and traveled down there,
and, uh, we were, you know,
really blown away
by the whole presentation.
We opened some boxes...
- Well, then you know... you know
what that experience is like.
- Absolutely.
- It was the same thing
that happened to me
opening those boxes.
- That's good, so I...
Well, that's all we needed.
That'll be great.
I'm glad you told the story.
- Oh, that was easy.
- See, wasn't that easy?
- That was so easy.
- See, I told you
it would be painless.
- Oh, dear.
- So, wanderer,
in Hollywood cinematic terms,
you're, like, the...
The wiseman guiding me on this
incredible journey of discovery.
- Okay.
- If that's all right.
- Absolutely.
- So, like, um,
so what were designers doing
before halston came along?
What was going on fashion-wise?
- Fashion-wise, halston, uh,
came along at a time
when fashion was changing.
Until 1961,
with the arrival
of Jacqueline Kennedy
in the white house,
fashion was not Democratic.
Halston had been a milliner
at Bergdorf Goodman
making hats
for the covers of "vogue,"
creating images of fantasy
and also images
of practicality in hats.
His salon at Bergdorf
was the place when women
still had to wear hats.
So halston was assigned
by Mrs. Vreeland
to help Jacqueline Kennedy
with her inaugural wardrobe,
and...
- Sorry, if I can interrupt...
But Diana vreeland...
Who is she exactly?
- Well, I'm gonna talk
about halston.
I don't want to talk about
fashion of Diana vreeland.
I don't want to do history,
and so let me talk.
Don't interrupt.
- Okay.
- Diana vreeland
was a fashion editor at "vogue,"
and she was a great catalyst
for fashion.
Mrs. Vreeland and halston
together, I think, suggested
that Jacqueline Kennedy
not wear a fur coat,
but wear a cloth coat
and then the pillbox hat.
Halston created
the famous pillbox hat.
It was a total turnabout
from what the former
first ladies would wear
to the inaugural.
And with that uniform,
that opened
the world of fashion.
So what halston stood for,
even from the beginning,
was American simplicity.
It was a time when fashion...
[Cell phone alert playing
Daniel decatur Emmett's
- Excuse me, Andre.
Careful of the...
- You should be telling him
be careful
about his cell phone ringing.
I mean... I mean,
tell him about the cell phone.
Something about...
- Shit.
You're from the south.
- Oh, am I confederate...
Did confederate soldiers
march or some shit?
- It's "Dixie."
- Oh, "Dixie." Oh, god.
You would have that
on your cell phone.
As we live and breathe.
Can I have another cappuccino,
please?
Um,
then with Jacqueline Kennedy,
then he decided
to leave Bergdorf Goodman
and go on his own
and do ready-to-wear
with a few investors
and partners,
one of them being
a former "vogue" editor
Frances patiky Stein,
he opened up his own business
on the Upper East Side
in a town house
that became the first
modern couture establishment
in America.
- Was he the first American
haute couturiere?
- No.
- Couturier?
- Before halston,
there was Norman norell
who was the master,
mainbocher...
- She has to go sit down.
She's distracting.
Tell her to go sit down.
- Sit down.
You're ruining everything.
Narrator: It was
only just a few years ago
that when one thought
of fashion designers,
names like givenchy and Chanel
came to mind.
But now for the first time,
an American designer
has appeared on the scene
and threatens to eclipse
even the best
of the French masters.
- Minimalism he invented.
The one-note look.
Before that, people were wearing
dressmaker suits,
all of the great
American designers,
and never thought
to just fall back
on some elegance and simplicity.
Halston's favorite phrase
was "less is more."
A girl would
come into a luncheon
in a halston cashmere twin set
and a skirt and a harness belt
around her waist,
a bangle or cuff
from Elsa peretti
or a silver vase
with a little orchid in it.
Cashmere... I mean, the idea
of 6-ply cashmere,
I'd never heard of.
Halston knew his business
from inside out.
He absolutely knew
what the fabrics were.
Hammered satin...
He knew where the best
hammered satin came from.
- Mm-hmm.
- He knew everything
about making clothes.
When he showed his collections,
there was such innovation.
He had an American sensibility
that had never been seen before.
- And it was innovative,
modern, unique, original.
I was working with...
At the time,
and I thought it was fabulous.
The clothes really worked...
Casual chic.
- What can I do
to get to the heart of halston?
Who should I talk to?
- Elsa peretti.
But I don't know
if Elsa peretti's
gonna talk to you.
- Why?
- I don't know.
Did she say she would?
- No.
- No.
- Well, how do I talk to her?
- It might be difficult,
but Elsa peretti and halston...
She was the one who created
the simplicity of the jewelry.
She was almost his muse.
There you go over to Tiffany's,
and you'll see all
of Elsa peretti's candlesticks,
her bone stuff,
her diamonds by the yard.
It was all done
in collaboration with halston.
She and halston
were very, very close friends.
Narrator: He receives
for lunch every day upstairs
on the third floor,
amidst the down-filled,
ultrasuede furniture
the tropical plants,
the rock music,
and the scented candles.
At a typical lunch
one day last week,
he's guests were
photographer Barry berenson,
socialite Mrs. Douglas...
Artist Victor Hugo,
fashion illustrator Joe eula,
and Andy warhol superstar
pat ast.
- Joe eula the illustrator
was very close to halston,
and they were like brothers,
and Joe eula, halston, and Elsa
was like a triumvirate
of great talent
and great personality.
Unfortunately, it's too late.
You waited too late.
You started too late.
Joe eula has gone on
to the great beyond.
You should have talked
to Joe eula at his bedside.
You would have had
a great story.
Working on a collection
had to be extraordinary.
I can imagine what it was like
at 6:00 in the morning.
They're still doing fittings,
and Elsa's standing there
being draped.
Joe eula's sketching.
Halston's designing.
The people are running
in and out of the rooms.
Halston worked
with such passion.
- Let's see you turn in that.
Let's see. All right. Okay.
- It's so soft.
I can't believe that...
- You're in chiffon.
- Oh, halston, wait till you
see me. I'm so beautiful.
- How do you feel when you,
say, walk into a restaurant
in New York,
and a lady comes in
looking smashing
in a halston outfit?
- I'm very proud.
I'm just very proud,
if somebody looks good in it.
Smith: I had zero luck
in tracking down
the elusive Elsa peretti.
I did however get a lead
on the designer
who come consider to be
halston's heir apparent.
- There could have been
no zoran.
There could have been
no Donna karan or me
or many other people
without that man
plugging into the aesthetic
of American fashion.
And anybody
that doesn't admit it should.
This man has a body of work
that's undeniably untouchable.
Before we start,
I just need one thing...
- Yeah, sure.
- And then we're going to talk.
I'm all yours.
- Yes?
- Could you bring me
three excedrin?
- Thanks.
What are you looking for?
- Well, I was looking...
You have a picture...
This is a halston, right?
- It is.
And that's ultrasuede.
- That's ultrasuede.
- It's ultrasuede.
Ultrasuede is a polyester fiber
that has been
synthetically made.
It was made in Japan,
introduced originally
by issey miyake.
It was halston
who had the brilliance
and the insight...
- Mm-hmm.
- To say, "oh, my god.
We have a synthetic that
acts like a luxury fiber"...
- Ahh.
- "But it's so practical."
Because he did have
this brilliance of marrying
practicality with luxury.
You can pop all of this stuff
in a washer
and just hang dry it,
and it dried perfectly
with the nap coming down
and no distortion to it.
- Uh-huh.
- And he did
that famous shirtwaist.
- Shirtwaist.
- It was a shirtwaist dress,
and it sold
more than any other dress
every in history.
He gave birth to ultrasuede.
Revolutionary.
The chic
and the change in fashion
was overnight.
Everything was obliterated.
Nothing looked tasteful anymore.
Everyone flocked.
Everyone wore
cashmere separates.
Everybody looked incredible.
Besides having
a serious, res... deep, deep,
deep respect for this man,
he also gave me
my first job in this industry.
I wasn't in the front
saying, "divine."
- Mm-hmm.
- I was in the back
working and making muslins.
- What'd you learn from halston
while you were working there.
- He, one evening,
took a pair of scissors,
threw a bolt
of purple silk chiffon
on the floor... on the floor...
Knew exactly where it was
going to go in dimension,
and cut into cloth,
and he cut a dress out
with no seams.
There are no seams.
It wraps around the body
in once piece,
and the top part just catches
at the top of the neck.
And as a woman walks...
- Mm.
- It opens from down there,
and she becomes...
She sort of becomes naked
in this vapor of chiffon.
This was
the most incredible thing
I've ever seen in my life.
Do you know anybody that
can look at a piece of fabric
and think in three dimensions
and cut it right there
on the floor?
I don't.
- Hi, how you doing?
Smith: A must stop
on my search
is the costume institute
which resides
in the heart of the met.
In addition to throwing
the gala of the year,
the institute preserves
the works
of the greatest designers.
- Well, here we are.
- Hi, Harold.
- Whitney, how are you?
Pleasure to meet you.
- Well, thank you so much
for your time.
- So much of what
made halston a genius
is unseen in terms
of the actual clothing.
He was no creator
of new forms of dress.
They're very simple shapes...
A tank top neckline
or a dolman sleeve.
But where they're different
is the way that the actual
garment is constructed.
Unlike a normal caftan,
which is cut
on the straight grain
and, you know, all...
Everything aligns like this,
well, what he's done
is he's played with it.
Everything is on the bias.
Everything is
at a 45-degree angle.
It then cleaves to all
the high points of the body...
The top of the hip line,
the bust, the shoulder.
It's an incredibly
flattering way
to create volume,
constructed in a way
that nobody had thought
of constructing a dress before.
If that was folded metal,
it would be
extraordinary sculpture.
I really regret that he himself
never talked about
the making of things.
He always talked about
the women who were wearing it.
- You are as good
as the people you dress.
Elizabeth Taylor,
Jackie onassis,
Bianca Jagger,
Betty Ford,
Candice Bergen.
- He had the matrons
and Marisa berenson.
The it girl of the moment
was wearing halston
at the same time
as Kay Graham.
And it's the same clothing.
Who does that anymore?
- I had one time...
58 of 'em showed up
in the same dress,
which was an ultrasuede dress,
which we sold
a few hundred thousand of.
But it was one of those dresses
that worked for everybody.
- Now how important
are the beautiful people
to a designer like yourself?
- Beautiful people
attract attention.
They're in the newspapers,
so therefore, they are
your best advertisement.
- When you won
the academy award for "cabaret,"
what were you
wearing that night?
- A yellow halston dress.
Simple tank top, long dress
with a yellow cardigan,
because my father's
favorite color was yellow.
He knew that I thought
it was good luck.
Every time I went onstage,
he dressed me.
I perspire onstage.
I mean, my hair
gets soaking wet first.
He came backstage,
and he went,
"well, you're shiny,
so you might as well
be shiny all over."
- Yes.
- And he started doing
beads and sequins for me.
Some of those clothes
have become so famous.
Minimalist, simple,
but so chic.
- Mm-hmm.
- Whitney, Cathy's here.
- Hi, Cathy.
- Hi, how are you?
- I'm good.
- How are you? How are you?
- We'll make this short
and sweet.
- Okay.
- As painless as possible.
So tell us about
the 1973 fashion show
in versailles.
Wasn't this the first time
an American designer had
been asked to show in Europe?
- Yeah.
In America,
everything was dominated
by Europe...
- Mm-hmm.
- And by couture.
American designers
really were not known.
- So the versailles show
put him on the map
internationally?
- Yeah, very much.
It was a big social thing.
It was at versailles.
Parties galore.
It was arranged
that five European designers
would show
and five American designers...
Bill blass,
Oscar de la renta,
Anne klein,
halston,
and Stephen Burrows.
- That it happened at all
was kind of a miracle.
- Yeah.
- The French didn't consider
America anything.
They were very theatrical.
They had scenery and staging.
It was really kind of corny.
- Was it?
- Yeah.
- Excuse me.
- Sure.
Anything I can do to help?
I'll try something on.
- The French marshaled
all of their effort
and the best ballet dancers,
camels and horses on the stage.
They... they got everything.
The Americans rolled into Paris
without the kind of sets
and the kind of grandiose things
that the French had planned,
and what made it work
was the clothes were so simple.
The models were great.
They had black models.
This was the first time
you were seeing all this.
- I was singing a song
called "au revoir, Paris."
We all waved, "good night!
Thank you, Paris!"
The curtain went down.
You heard...
And the curtain went up,
and the... they went bananas.
They were impressed.
- I don't know.
They just went crazy.
They call it
"the battle of versailles."
We seem to have made
the whole evening.
- Oh, I remember
Saint Laurent throwing
his book in the air
at the end of the show.
He said, "we've learned
something tonight."
- So the Americans
whipped the French again.
- Well, we didn't whip 'em,
but we did it like Americans
and like halston...
Clean, direct,
to the point...
- Mm-hmm.
- And effective.
- Succinct.
- Effective.
Yeah.
- Hi, how you doin'?
So we're looking
for the halston star
like the walk of fame
in Hollywood,
except they have a walk of fame
for the great designers,
and they have stars
on the sidewalk.
So we're going to pay our
respect to this great American.
Actually,
I think it starts here.
I think we missed it.
Hi. Hi. Quick question.
Do you know where
the halston star is?
- Haliston?
- Halston.
- Halston?
- He has a star from
the, like, famous designers.
- Oh, yeah, that's right here.
- Okay, where...
- They look
like manhole covers.
- It's these, um,
luscious manhole covers
that are also the stars.
Stephen Burrows.
- There it is.
"The '70s belonged to halston."
What was it like to work
with him in the '70s?
It must have been fun, though.
- Yeah, it was fun.
It was like a dream job.
We were at 33 union square west
which was the factory
where Andy warhol was shot.
We had a really small crew.
In the beginning,
Bob colacello and I
did just about everything.
We would go to the printer,
load the, uh, magazines,
take 'em to newsstands,
um, you know, try to sell ads.
We did everything.
- One of my first encounters
with halston
was in the early days
of interview.
Joe eula had contributed
some drawings,
and halston wanted them back.
Glenn had not taken
very care of them.
They were in the layout room
under a pile of other stuff.
When he saw them all wrinkled,
he was just...
He went ballistic.
"How dare you treat
this work of a great artist
like Joe eula...
Who does Andy think he is?
Does Andy think
he's the only artist in town?"
I was like,
"no, Andy had nothing to
do with this, halston."
- Well, I think that there
was a mutual fascination
between Andy and halston.
I think at the beginning,
they were a little bit shy
of one another,
but then they soon became
thick as thieves.
Andy's entourage mixed
with halston's entourage.
- Do you think Andy
used halston
to get, like, big-name clients
for portraits and everything?
- I think that they both
benefitted from encountering
one another's circle.
- Well,
were they competing at all?
- Well,
halston could be competitive.
I mean, he was competitive,
yeah, and he had to be
in charge.
- So halston was independent
until nor...
- Halston was independent
until Norton Simon, uh,
came along,
the Norton Simon corporation...
- Mm-hmm.
- And said, "we want to buy
your company,
and we're gonna make you
that much bigger"...
Mass-produced line,
and fragrances,
and the whole thing.
- Is anybody a bigger hit
in this business than you?
I mean...
Is there anything left that
doesn't have your name on it?
You've got luggage.
You've got, uh...
- Rugs, sheets,
perfume, cosmetics...
- Really?
- Menswear, women's wear,
shoes, bags, gloves,
sunglasses, all kinds of things.
- Holy cow.
You wouldn't have $20
till payday, would you?
I'm a little short.
- I did the olympic uniforms
also for our teams,
uniforms for braniff airlines.
I did
the girl scouts of America.
- There was talk even
of designing a uniform
for New York's finest.
- Oh, yes.
- Do these garments
and these wonderful ideas
that you...
You and your company generate...
Do they ever get to penney's?
- It started off, you know,
it seemed
like it was a great deal.
I don't know how many millions
they paid him.
But he actually sold
the rights to his name.
And I remember him saying,
"oh, I love
the Norton Simon people.
You know why I love them?
They're so tall."
- And it was like,
David mahoney was tall...
The chairman...
But David mahoney wasn't
the chairman forever.
Halston was
knocked down to earth.
That was, like, the last phrase
you would use
to describe halston.
He wanted everything
to be glamorous,
everything to be divine.
He was a Taurus,
so he should have been
more down-to-earth than he was,
but...
- So what'd you think?
- Yeah, it went very well.
- Congratulations.
- Wait, do you see that shot?
It's kind of cool.
- Hi, Paul.
- Whitney.
Smith: In the world
of licensing,
halston was a visionary.
So I went to interview
Paul wilmot
who ran his perfume division
at the time.
- They tried
this big experiment.
It was a big idea.
What would happen
if a big company would come in
and just maximize
what his business could be?
So they got the footwear
and handbags
and, uh, carpeting.
- What kind of carpet?
It wasn't shag. It was...
- No, it wasn't shag.
It wasn't
out of "Austin powers."
- My name is halston.
I'm known for the clothes
I design.
And just as clothes
dress a woman,
carpet should dress your home.
- Because it was
such a new thing,
everybody went licensing happy.
They explored
a lot of different avenues.
- Rayon...
It's going to be with us
a long, long time.
- So not to get ahead,
was it the perfume
that kind of carried it?
- The perfume was...
Was actually
from the moment it launched,
it was the cash cow.
The story...
It was well known
and it was part of the lore
of the cosmetics industry.
Some way, somehow halston also
came up with the idea
of this teardrop bottle,
and they also brought
a teardrop to the glass stopper
and everything.
It became, and it still is
today, an iconic brand.
- It took two and half years
to develop that fragrance,
and then making
an original bottle.
One of the most innovative
things that we did in that
was not put our name on it.
That was never done before.
- Halston...
He didn't like words.
He didn't write at all.
You know, he always used to say,
"words fuck me up."
So that's why we never had
an verbiage in our ad campaigns.
We never had any...
He didn't like the words.
So when it came down to coming
up with a men's fragrance thing,
he found two that he liked.
And he couldn't make a decision
between the two of them.
So he decided that he was
gonna launch both of them
at the same time,
which no one had
ever done before.
And he couldn't figure out
a name for 'em,
so they had working titles
with the fragrances,
and the one working title
was z-14,
and the other was 1-12.
And they... they became
the name of the fragrances.
- One is sort of the sexy,
you know, sensuous category.
One is the crme frache
category.
I think it depends very much
upon the man.
- Z-14 and 1-12.
- Sounds like a Camaro.
- I know.
It was like a...
It was like a car thing.
This is halston at his best...
Hittin' on all cylinders.
Z-14 became as common a term
as Chanel no5
or anything like that.
And the halston perfume company
be-became one of the great
success stories of the '70s
and the '80s.
- As halston's empire
kept expanding,
the king needed a castle.
And that castle...
The olympic tower.
- The... the... the big moment
was when he moved up
to, you know,
the fabulous showroom
and offices
at the olympic tower.
- He took this one, uh,
continuous space.
It was really almost
like an atrium.
It was on the 21st floor,
and the studio was trisected
by two sets
of pocket-frame doors
that slipped into the wall.
The doors were $500,000.
So if you want to adjust
to today,
it would be like $5 million
for the doors.
They were mirrored
on both sides,
and the walls were mirrored,
so the entire thing
reflected around.
- Why don't you
just turn around a little bit,
and let's see how it moves.
Yeah, that looks good.
- It was like being
in a glass box in a way.
It was so strange.
- Oh, I have to
talk about the makeup.
- What? Talk about what?
- About the makeup,
because this view
is something we used
to put our makeup on.
The twin towers...
When the twin towers were there,
that was my focus point.
- What do you mean
your focus point?
- Well, when I was
on the runway,
I'd always look
at the twin towers.
- Oh, yeah?
- Yeah.
He used to call me
"the moth"... halston.
The moth, 'cause I would
fly to the light...
All the time.
I see a moth
in the window now right there.
It's climbing up.
And there he goes.
That's me.
That's to remind me.
You feel really high.
You feel above it all,
above all the torture,
the pedestrian life.
And being close
to St. Patrick's cathedral,
he always use to say things
like, "I feel totally blessed.
I don't have to go to church.
It's right across the street."
- So how's it feel coming back
to olympic tower?
- It feels kind of spooky,
like it's another century.
It really is literally
another century.
- Yeah, that looks good, Karen.
- This is pat Cleveland
who's been all over the world
with us,
and this is Connie cook
who was born and raised
in Detroit.
And...
She's from the midwest also.
- We have some questions,
so right to the questions now.
- Yes, I was wondering
if any of your models
ever have breasts.
- Yes, they do.
Yes, they all do.
- He didn't want
a bunch of blank-faced models.
He wanted girls
with personality.
- I want, uh,
darker skinned girls,
and I want blondes and brunettes
and redheads and this and that,
and they...
And the best girl I can get
who can walk with pride,
and these are the top girls
in America.
- It was about attitude.
It was about the way you walked.
It was abut character.
Or at least that's what
I like to think I brought to it.
He was not totally unimpressed
with my provenance, and...
- I always liked to act,
so...
- Uh-huh.
- For me, it was fun
to be confrontational.
I used to come out and kind of
challenge the editors,
look them in the eyes,
do all of the things
that you shouldn't do.
The first time I did a show,
I remember getting
to the end of the runway
and doing something like this.
Halston asked me to come over.
And he said, "I don't want you
to raise your arms like that."
We don't do that
in halston shows.
The next day, there was
a big article about me,
I think in
the "Christian science monitor."
With a big photograph of me...
- Like this.
- Yeah.
- And then halston said,
"that's all right.
Do what you want."
- You can do it.
Did you get along with
all the girls? Any cat...
Catfighting or anything?
- Oh, no, there was
no catfighting ever.
We were like a clan.
At some point,
somebody called us
"the halstonettes,"
and so we happily became
the halstonettes.
- They call them
halstonettes.
- Well, I think some people do.
Women's wear
does that sometimes.
- Do they?
- "The ultra-ettes."
I-I called them the ultra-ettes
or the halstonettes.
- You coined that phrase,
though.
- I coined that phrase
in "interview" magazine and...
Thank god you've done
your homework on that.
They, um, because they
moved around in a pack,
like, you know, there's
the rat pack in Hollywood.
They moved around en masse
like the courts of Europe,
like the people at versailles
moved en masse from one place
to the other.
Halston went
with his entourage everywhere.
- When you think of entourage,
you think of...
I think of two designers.
You think of Saint Laurent,
and you think of halston.
- I think he always had
that great world around him,
you know?
And then he came here...
He came here.
Somebody gave a party
for him here,
and there was a reception
committee at the door,
and somebody said to...
I think it was
prince Rupert lowenstein...
"This is halston,"
and it's so
like a Butler's name,
that Rupert lowenstein
took off his coat
and said, "thank you, halston,"
and gave it to him.
How did halston react?
- Absolutely astonished.
- He dropped the coat
immediately, I think,
and shook hands
with Princess Margaret.
- "Thank you, halston,"
became a sort of phrase
we used all the time
from then on when...
If we saw him out,
we'd say, "thank you, halston."
- Are you famous?
- Oh,
I guess you could say so.
I guess I'm a known personality.
- So that makes you famous?
- I guess so.
- There was this big event
in acapulco.
Braniff airlines
had asked halston to design
the stewardess' uniforms
and the interiors
of braniff airlines' new planes.
And they did
this huge promotion.
They flew
a couple of hundred socialites
down to acapulco.
Lady bird Johnson was there.
The kissingers were there,
Sao schlumberger from Paris,
like a village of socialites
all competing.
Halston was there
with about 20 models.
They would always be late.
And if it was a lunch
on the beach,
the would arrive
an hour late on some yacht
and they'd all file off.
They would all be in blue.
Then that night,
they'd come filing in
to some dinner all in red.
I mean, he was just one dramatic
entrance after another.
- Hey, who's that lucky guy?
- How do you do?
I'm halston.
- I'm happy
to have you with us.
Did you know that halston
is the first American designer
to bring high fashion
to mainland China?
- Yes, every now and again,
it is good
to get out of the office.
- I certainly like
the way you travel.
- You pack the same way I do...
Only take what you need.
- Just the bare essentials.
- Mmm, butter.
- It's not butter.
- Hi, I'm Nancy Talbot
from Brooklyn, New York.
Good morning, America!
- Good morning, everybody.
It's Thursday.
It's the 2nd of October.
Halston has just come back
from eight days in China.
Uh, he presented
the first American fashion show
to the Chinese,
and halston's with us
this morning. Good morning.
- Thank you. Good morning.
- Everyone had
their own set of luggage
as a gift.
He was using the new fabric
ultrasuede on everything.
We all had an entire wardrobe,
and we had a schedule.
It said what you wore
at what hour.
We changed clothes
at least five times a day.
- It was like, what, 1980?
- It was closed, yeah.
- Yeah, it was closed then.
- It was not a thing
that you could do so easily.
- What was the purpose
of the trip?
- You know, we were trying
to make trade with China
and visit all the, uh,
silk factories.
- Oh, yeah?
- It was very difficult
at the beginning,
because it wouldn't open up.
Yes, you would design
something for it.
Is it that complicated
to change the patterns?
Is that possible?
The formalities
surprised me a bit.
They're very shy,
and their... their culture
doesn't permit them
to be as open as we are
as Americans.
All of a sudden,
one of the girls stood up,
and she walked around,
and they started looking at it.
And then another one walked up,
so I've got all these assistants
to bring everything in,
and they were like children
with new toys.
It was just bedlam.
- It was
an absolute breakthrough.
- I considered it
a great compliment
that she wanted to put it on.
- He met with
all the top business people,
and they were all dressed alike
in gray uniform.
It was very much part
of being who he was...
An American.
He went to China for America.
He went to versailles
for America.
He did everything for America.
Did you meet him?
- No, unh-unh.
- Have you met him?
Kind of... he looked
kind of like you.
- He looks like me?
- Yeah, kind of like you,
you know?
- How is that?
- Well, in a black suit...
He always wore black.
He had kind of longish hair
like that, uh...
- Mm-hmm. That's good.
Well, thank you. That's...
- And he always wore
a turtleneck.
Smith: Standing in front
of halston's house,
I can only imagine
what it must have been like
to be at the height of it all,
king of New York.
- Oh, my god.
- Hi. Sorry.
We got poured on.
Yeah, that's all right.
- Oh, okay.
Uh, he's still waiting
for...
- I have the luxury
of having
the only contemporary house
in New York City built
since the second world war,
which is a really supermodern
push-button life kind of house.
It has a 30-foot-high ceiling,
and a 60-foot-long sitting room,
and a big fireplace.
At the end of it
is a big bamboo greenhouse
and so forth.
It's a dream really.
- Hi.
I've seen a photograph
of your apartment,
your living room,
and it was done
in monochromatic grays.
Did you design that?
- I didn't design the house.
It's a major architectural house
designed by Paul Rudolph,
who's one of the great
American architects.
But the gray is my idea, yes.
It just... it brings people out.
- So would
the dinner parties be here or...
- Dinner parties would be here
if it was small or a buffet.
And you went to sit
all over the room
where... wherever you chose from.
Smith: Anyone who's anyone
was in halston's living room,
and no one was more on the scene
than boaz mazor,
who agreed to meet us here.
You think
those couches are original
from the halston time?
'Cause it's kind of
his gray monochrome.
- You know something?
It's very funny, because they
were more or less like that.
It's very much characteristic
to what we would sit down on.
It was very low,
very low lighting,
candles all over the place.
- Candles?
- Yeah.
And that place there
were you see all these trees...
- Mm-hmm.
- Was thousands and thousands
of orchids.
The death trap, of course,
was this staircase.
I mean, if you
were a little bit too drunk
or too high...
- Mm-hmm.
- You might have not finished
the night.
I don't know if there
was a lawsuit those days
against somebody.
- But I think that if my...
Smith: What first
intrigued me about halston
were stories of the legendary
dinner parties he used to give,
all these incredible people
reveling in the last throws
of decadence...
Yves Saint Laurent,
beatty, bacall.
When the current owner
bought the house
from halston's estate...
Salvador dal.
He kept these warhol polaroids
hanging right here.
Miss Liz's birthday
with probably Betty Ford
somewhere.
A brilliant monument
to a lost era.
Definitely get Bianca Jagger
shaving her armpit there.
That's an important piece
of history.
- Jackie o. Discoing
at 54.
There's Bob colacello
and Truman capote.
Boaz, so tell me the story
behind this picture.
What's going on here?
- Well, this was... here I am,
young boy, all eager to go out.
As you can see, at this point,
I didn't even own
a leather jacket,
to my surprise.
Philip niarchos
was a holding a cigarette.
I hate to say it,
but it was a joint.
They airbrushed
a whole real cigarette longer.
I don't think this was as long.
It was much shorter.
So this was a group
out on the town to...
To conquer the city.
It was a wonderful time.
- What does it feel like
coming back here?
Is it like...
- No, it's very...
- Bring back old memories...
- Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
- Or is it like a different...
- Well, you know, it's life
is gone, and we have... have...
Of course, I don't know
who can replace halston.
- Yeah.
- There was enormous energy
there.
- Mm-hmm.
- There was enormous energy
all over New York.
- Well,
how do we get it back?
- Oh, nothing comes back.
- Really?
- Nothing comes back.
- So you think that's it?
- I think we... we lived
in a very exclusive moment.
- Yeah, I think so.
Yeah.
- I really do.
- Did you ever go
to some of the dinner parties
there?
- Mm-hmm.
- What, you can't talk
about that, either?
- No. You can't.
- Really?
Well, it must have been fun,
though.
- Fun's the word.
- It was all part
of that halston moment.
- You said,
"when hedonism was chic."
- When hedonism was chic.
- Really?
- It's not... it wasn't about
the food.
- No, absolutely not.
It's about the... about
the clothes.
- No, it wasn't about
the clothes at a dinner party.
- I was just kidding.
- Turn that off.
Smith: So halston
had this boyfriend around
for the longest time
called Victor Hugo.
- Victor Hugo was so bad...
You know, the painter friend.
- Victor Hugo,
who was crazy as a bedbug.
- What was up with Victor Hugo?
- Oh, he was just as bad
as bad can be.
- What does he do?
He's an artist, you know.
I never knew
if he sold anything.
- Victor Hugo was like
the classic court Jester.
Smith: No one personified
halston's crazy energy
more than Victor Hugo,
his lover and alter ego.
And I was about to meet
one of the people
who knew him best...
'70s survivor ming vauze.
- Hey, how are you?
- So Victor Hugo...
What was his actual relationship
with halston?
I mean, what was there...
What was the dynamic?
- Uh, well, uh, obviously,
there's, uh, it's tempestuous,
but it's also love.
It's two dynamic personalities.
Roy halston frowick
is a midwestern boy
from Indiana,
and Victor Hugo
is from Caracas, Venezuela,
and he came here actually...
- Wait. What's his real name...
Victor Hugo's real name?
- Victor Hugo rojas...
R-o-j-a-s.
- So it wasn't after
the... the French author?
- In a way.
- Yeah?
- I think he likes
that confusion.
People go, "oh, you're
Victor Hugo, the writer?"
- It's also a play on words,
because supposedly,
he had one of the huge...
- Exactly. Exactly.
- You know, o-okay.
So let me ask,
who was ming vauze?
- That was me.
- Was that your nom de plume,
nom de guerre?
- That was actually
a Victor creation.
- Was it?
- He always encouraged me.
"Why don't you get onstage
and do some lip-synching
for fun?"
- Oh, yeah.
- So I said, "what stage name
should I have?"
And he gave me miss ming vauze.
But the vauze is v-a-u-z-e.
He claimed it's the Puerto Rican
way of spelling that.
That was probably 1978, '79.
- Okay.
So he was just, like,
hitting his stride then... Victor?
- He was on the height of that,
yeah.
Every picture
of the halston group,
you'll see him in there,
and also his windows
are getting very famous.
- Yeah, what kind of windows
was he doing with halston?
- Like, he would do a window
of a woman giving birth,
but it's over a course
of seven days.
Like, he changes the window
every day a little bit...
- Mm-hmm.
- Until, the last day,
it gave birth.
- All his references
are kind of like surreal
and related to childhood.
I think that's very primitive.
- Interesting.
- Hi, my name is Victor Hugo.
Je m'appelle estvictor Hugo.
I'm here because, um,
I was a great friend of Andy.
- What was Andy's appeal
or what was his fascination
with Victor?
- Andy really likes Victor
a lot.
He has that edge
people don't have today.
He would be helping Andy
with the sex parts,
the serious sex parts.
- What was that?
- Tits, ass, cock,
and all of that stuff.
- What was
the most outrageous thing
he ever did?
- I remember, like,
he wanted to do chicken art.
He put red paint underneath,
uh, on the chicken's paws
and then have them walk
all over blank canvases.
It was the biggest mess.
- Didn't he masturbate
into a chicken on live TV?
- Probably he did.
I didn't know that part.
- It was, like,
some fake chicken he brought out
and I guess started jerking off
into it.
- How close were you
to halston?
- As... as close as to having
my own bedroom between the two
in montauk for two summers.
- That's pretty close.
- There's gotta be some stories
behind that.
- Yeah.
Well, those stories
should just go to grave.
I think they're... they're...
Don't you think?
That's better sometimes.
- That makes sense, yeah.
- Oh, thank you.
- Great. Thanks again.
Nice meeting you.
- A pleasure.
- You know halston,
the big designer?
- Mm-hmm.
- His seamstress was here
the other night
with Calvin klein's chauffeur.
Lots of biggies!
[The weather girls'
- We're your weather girls.
Smith: I wondered
if halston's minimalist designs
were some kind of reaction
to the insanity around him.
I needed to find out more
about the dark side of New York
in the '70s,
and this idea
that Rome was burning.
[Mendelssohn's "wedding march
- Could you do
"in-a-gadda-da-vida"?
- Oh, that's, uh...
- That's some juice.
- Yep.
That's my new baby.
- So in your song "big shot,"
you mention halston.
Was that kind of like
your reaction against disco,
or how did that come about?
- "They were all impressed
with your halston dress,
and the people that you knew
at Elaine's."
Well, halston was the big name
in New York.
Even I knew who halston was,
and I... believe me, I know
nothing about that shit.
- Yeah.
- He was at studio 54.
He was hanging out
with that disco crowd.
Um, he was always
where the scene was.
- So give us a sense of,
like, New York '70s.
What was that like living in...
- Well, in... in New York,
especially, there was a sense
of potential impending disaster.
The crime rate was high,
drugs being dealt
right out there in the street,
a lot of prostitution.
We had just ended
the war in Vietnam.
You know, there was the...
The Nixon debacle.
Uh, everybody was cynical.
There was a blackout.
I think it was in '77.
I was in Lincoln center
at philharmonic hall.
We were watching boz scaggs.
- And we're sitting there,
and he's doing...
And the whole thing just dies.
It was just chaos.
I mean, cars were piling up.
People started directing traffic
in the middle of intersections.
Shit hit the fan.
It was a sense
of impending doom.
- So would you say, like,
the reaction was to
kind of have fun...
Disco, sex, drugs, everything?
- There was a lot of that,
absolutely.
It was... it was like a big party.
You know, they... they talk about
the stories of Hitler's bunker
at the end of the war.
Everybody
was drinking champagne.
Everybody was boppin'
everybody else in the bunker...
- Yeah.
- Because the... the Russians
were gonna come any second.
- Yeah.
- Well, there was a sense
of that in New York.
It was just everything
was over the top and excessive.
- Do you believe this?
Every night, rain or snow,
these frantic night people
stand here for hours
waving and yelling, "me! Me!
Chose me!"
Well, we're at the most famous
disco in the country...
Of course it's New York's
studio 54.
And this guy right here
is studio 54's owner
Steve Rubell.
He's the man who decides.
They all wait
for his golden touch,
that magic hand
that will let them through
that velvet rope,
the touch that means,
"you've made it.
You've been accepted."
- Steve Rubell
had opened this club.
Halston had been invited
to the opening of it,
and he went and looked around
and it was the old
ed Sullivan theater.
He said, "you know what?
I'm gonna give
Bianca's birthday party here."
He did that,
and it got the place publicity.
- Even if you have
the $10 fee,
you're not always
guaranteed admission.
And if Steve doesn't like
the way you look,
you'll never get in.
- I moved to New York
in August of '77.
- Hi. Seeing Jim Moore.
- It was the summer of...
The summer of Sam.
- I prefer "teen vogue."
- It was like, you know,
maybe a month after
the blackout.
Your badge of merit
was to get mugged.
It was
a completely different New York.
I did have friends
that loved going to studio 54.
I'd be doing my schoolwork,
and they would take the pen
out of my hand and say,
"come on, let's go."
So we would go three nights
a week, and, you know,
it's one of those situations
where, when you pull up
in your taxi,
you've got two minutes
to get in, because if they start
recognizing your face,
then you're kind of like
the loser, you know, who's,
like, waiting in the crowd.
- Yeah.
- I just, you know, remember
looking from side to side,
again, all kind of
in slow motion and seeing,
like, girls shivering
in strapless dresses,
this frizzy hair, and you
just knew they had been there
for a long period of time.
- Yeah.
- You just wanted to tell them
all to go home, you know?
The whole thing was so evil.
You know, often times,
I would be in there
for a couple of hours,
and I would come out,
and I would still see
that same girl shivering
in her strapless dress.
- We went there, and people
were so beautifully dressed,
at least in the summer.
If you went to a discotheque
now, it's shake it to make it.
Then you
would have been dressed.
- Tonight happened to be
Liza's birthday,
and everybody was there
to celebrate from Truman capote
to Andy warhol.
And a host
of New York, New York's
beautiful people
were dancing the night away.
And, of course, halston
blessed and dressed them all.
- The thing about halston
and Andy warhol
and others like that
is they stood out.
You wanted to know
who they were.
- Yeah.
- Who... who is that?
You didn't necessarily
hear about them first.
You saw them and went,
"who is that person?"
I was a kid, and I had a job
as a photographer
going out to parties.
I used to make a whole $3
a photograph.
Halston had such amazing
sort of presence.
He looked larger than life
to me.
He liked having beautiful people
around him.
It all became one big niche.
- You feel it.
I mean, the excitement
of the props coming down
and the... the balcony...
It's just exciting.
It's where you come
when you want to escape.
It's... it's really escapism.
- "A champion of dance,
his moves will put you
in a trance,
and he never leaves
the disco alone.
Arrogant, but not conceited,
as a man, he's complete.
My crme de la crme,
please take me home.
He wears the finest clothes,
the best designers,
heaven knows,
ooh, from his head
down to his toes.
Halston, Gucci, fiorucci."
- Which was the only thing
that we could have rhymed.
You know, to us halston was
the ultimate cool guy...
- Sure.
- That sort of represented
this mythical person
that we were trying
to paint in the song.
It's funny how, uh,
we were really married
to that place.
Grace Jones had invited us
to see her new year's Eve show
at studio 54.
So she says, "oh, darling,
nile, why don't you and 'nard
come over,
'cause I'd love you to produce
my next album,
you know what I'm saying?
I love you."
It's like, "all right, cool,
grace, put our names
on the list."
- Mm-hmm.
- Of course, if you know grace,
making a plan with grace
is like making a plan
with grace.
- Uh-huh.
Our song, "dance, dance, dance
had been pumpin'
into that place.
- Yowsah, yowsah, yowsah.
- So I guess grace thought
that we were
in the inner circle,
but we weren't.
They didn't let us in
no matter what we said.
We said, "check the list.
We're personal guests
of grace Jones,"
blah, blah, blah.
We went around to the back door.
Same deal... guy says,
"you're not on the list.
You know, I don't see chic here,
chic shit."
We walked around the corner
to my apartment
after getting a couple bottles
of champagne.
And we got pretty lit,
and we started jammin'.
Yeah.
- Fuck off.
Fuck studio 54.
And then 'nard said,
"man, do that jazzy shit."
And I went...
Bernard looks at me
and went,
"you know this shit
is happenin', right?"
- "You know that.
You know this shit
is happenin'."
So I went, "bro, how about..."
And Bernard, man,
it was just a light bulb
went off over his head,
and he went, "that's it..."
- Uh-huh.
- "Freak out."
- And that became the anthem
of studio 54.
- There were many nights
when both of us
had to work the next day.
When we'd go in the front door,
get everybody settled,
we'd go right out the back
and go home.
Just go home,
because you had to get up
in the morning.
- You would end up
out of that door at, like,
8:00 or 9:00 in the morning.
- Okay.
- Oh, yeah.
- Yeah.
- He gave us... I remember,
he'd given us black sunglasses,
like, these mirrored sunglasses,
'cause we always would stay out
till, like, 8:00, 9:00,
10:00 in the morning.
- Yeah.
- Well, he always had
these big windows.
The sun was always coming in.
So he had, you know,
dark glasses a lot, you know.
- Well, how wild did 54 get?
- It wasn't that wild.
- It wasn't?
- No, I mean, everybody likes
to make it that wild,
but I never saw anything.
- Coke and quaaludes.
- Coke and... lots of quaaludes
and lots of coke.
- Lots of liquor.
- Doesn't quaalude make you
go to sleep or make you tired?
- No, 'cause it balances out
- of course, halston
protected me from everything.
- Sure, yeah.
- But I mean,
I never went to the balcony.
Who went to the balcony?
He didn't.
- Did you two go down there?
- There was, like, all these
little, um, cages downstairs.
- Cages?
- People would be down there
having sex and doing drugs.
- And a lot of celebrities
would go down there.
- Yeah, it was such a...
- 'Cause you could do the coke
and the drugs down there.
- And people wouldn't
be watching.
- Whoever was up there
was doing their own thing
it wasn't my business or his.
- Yeah. So it wasn't as good
as people say it was.
- What do you mean by "good"?
- There were, like, mattresses
on the floor.
- And rugs.
- Mattresses?
- Oh, yeah.
- Weren't they filthy,
these mattresses?
- Oh, disgusting.
- Filthy, disgusting.
- And they'd still
get on 'em anyway.
- Oh, my god, and the people
that you would see down there.
- Good question.
You know, kind of...
You know, a little sex,
have a little fun,
get a little wild.
I don't know, I mean,
something along those lines.
- Never happened to me.
- Well, I'm not saying...
- Never happened to him either.
I was with him.
- Maybe it seemed really fun
because we were on
so many drugs.
We didn't know otherwise.
You know, I mean...
- So what was Victor Hugo up to
during 54?
He was a total freak
from my understanding.
- He was crazy.
- A good crazy.
- A good crazy.
- A good crazy?
- A lot of energy, good energy.
- Yeah.
- He had his own language.
- He didn't make any sense.
He had his own lang...
- Sex addict.
He was a total sex addict.
- But he was so out there.
But you know what?
He would bring us
over to halston's,
and halston would give us
clothes to wear and stuff.
And we would go out on the town.
- And the next thing you know,
Victor's tearing up
your clothes.
- Or spray-paint
or throw paint on you or...
Like, he would be
on the dance floor
or in the club
running up to people
he didn't know
and tearing things,
'cause he would think
that was art.
- These are Victor's shoes
that he sculpted.
- You mentioned
about Truman capote...
- I called him a queen.
- You did?
- Yeah. He actually slapped me.
- He did?
- He said,
"you're nothing but a whore."
- It was his face-lift party.
- Yeah, it was
his face-lift party.
He'd just had a face-lift.
- A face-lift party?
- That's what it was.
And Truman didn't want me
to come in.
"Not until he apologizes."
You know, like...
- And I had to kiss his ass.
- Well, why would he throw
a party for a face-lift?
- 'Cause he wanted everyone
to see what he looked like
afterwards.
- What did he look like?
- I don't remember.
I was on drugs.
And everyone there was on drugs.
- A lot of that time
has made my career what it is,
because I was exposed to that
at such an early age.
I was a busboy at studio 54...
- Oh, really?
- Early on, yeah.
David lachapelle and I
were both busboys there.
- Oh, I'm so sorry.
- Have you noticed the camera?
That's cool.
I would like you
if you walked away.
- How crazy was it then?
- It was insane.
It was bananas.
It was just bananas.
- What was the most, like,
fucked-up thing you saw there?
- Um...
It was... I don't remember
the... the massiveness,
I remember the opulence.
I remember the parties.
New year's Eve
with 6 inches of glitter
on the ground.
And so for days after
you saw the glitter
on the streets.
There will never be anything
like studio 54 again.
It's just forever here
and here.
- We're here at Bryant park,
fashion week,
where editors come and look
at the latest fashions
and styles,
buyers see what they want,
and dudes like me come
to check out the models.
Come on in.
Let's have a look.
- Oh, mama.
Who is that?
Excuse me.
Who was that?
- Kelly rowland
from destiny's child.
- How do you know that?
- Halston... he lived in the age
of really living.
Nowadays everybody worries
too much about being
commercially viable as opposed
to thinking differently.
- I'm looking for halston
these days.
- Are you?
- Yeah.
I miss him.
- Halston has always been
a major inspiration to me.
Do you want me to take you
through some of the pieces?
- That's okay.
- Okay, I don't mind.
- Did you ever get any halstons
on "sex and the city"?
- I did, I did.
- Yeah?
- I put, uh, Sarah Jessica
in a halston
when she was going out
with the politician.
- Oh, yeah?
- So we had a little play
on Jackie o.
- All right.
- Hey, naeem, great show.
How are you?
- Good to see you.
- Good to see you.
- Good.
It's a dress, right?
This is a...
The way it all wraps around,
one halston would be proud of.
In the mood of halston,
we have to have a drink.
- Okay, absolutely.
It's so nice, thank you.
- We live in the halston way.
If you don't live it,
you don't feel it.
Well, cheers, guys,
good to have you here.
- Cheers, thank you.
- Cheers.
- You're welcome.
- I'll second that.
- I think this is
my favorite interview so far.
- My father came here
to do business with halston.
My family in India
makes embroideries and beading.
It's a 3-generation-old
business.
Halston said to me,
"why don't you work for me?"
- The best education.
- He said, "this is the best.
I'll teach you everything."
So I got on the plane,
and I came to America.
And I became
halston's assistant.
He's taught me
everything I know.
He used to tell me, "naeem,
the fabrics will teach you.
The fabric tells you
what it wants to do.
If you have a connection
with your fabrics,
you'll be the best designer.
You have to dream of things.
It has to come in your dreams."
But I had some
amazing moments with halston.
I do want to tell you
when I first joined halston.
So the first month
that I'm here,
halston says to me,
"I'm having a party at 54.
And I... do you have a tuxedo?"
I said, "what's a tuxedo?"
- Halston takes me
straight to Elizabeth Taylor,
and he says, "this is naeem,
my new assistant from India."
And I had no idea
who Elizabeth Taylor was.
I think it was
a Valentine's day party.
All the girls who are serving
are totally stark naked.
The pubic hair is shaved
into a heart shape...
- Really?
- And it... and it's pink.
And I had never heard
what long island iced tea was,
because I'm coming from India,
thinking tea.
So I had four of them.
And Steve Rubell had painted
the entire room
in electric blue.
And all this paint has...
Is slowly getting stuck
to my jacket.
I'm electric blue now.
I take the train,
and I fall off to sleep
at 3:00 in the night.
In the morning I wake up
with my big afro,
my blue tuxedo,
and I see all these people
coming in suits,
and the conductor's
waking me up.
- I used to be so sick
in the morning
when I used to wake up
from all the drinks
and everything else.
And then you're back at work
at 10:00 or 10:30.
And if you did not,
and halston was there
before you,
forget about it.
- But it's his fault
for making you feel that way
in the first place.
- No, but he was also...
No, he'd say, "you were having
a good time with me.
Job comes when job has to be."
In short, party hard, live hard,
and have the best life,
because life is so short.
And halston lived it.
He really did.
- Ladies and gentlemen,
the president
of the United States
and Mrs. Reagan.
- In 1981,
with the inauguration
of Ronald Reagan
and Nancy Reagan
coming into the white house
as first lady,
designers whose clothes
were more opulent
came to the fore.
Rich people really wanted
to look rich.
Halston's kind of
more minimalist style
fell out of fashion.
But I don't think
that was the real problem.
I really think it was the fact
that he'd be going
to the bathroom ten times
in the middle
of a business meeting.
I think the personal problems
were what really did him in.
- And when it comes to drugs
and alcohol, just say no.
- I mean, 'cause, like,
halston sustained
a lot of success
for a very long time,
burning the candle at both ends.
- Well, if you don't
overdo anything...
You know, moderation...
You can get by.
But I think it's gotta
affect you, because...
- Or drain you after a while.
- Yeah, I mean, I think
it really... it did.
I mean, I had to give it up,
'cause it was just too much.
- Yeah.
- I think he probably
started having too much fun
in the evenings.
- Hmm.
- And then the mornings
became harder.
It was sort of unthinkable
in that person
that I'd first met.
That person...
He didn't have time
for all of that.
He was an artist...
- Yeah.
- And I was shocked
when he succumbed
to the currency of fame.
- Just sit down
and work with me.
- Cassini once had
this great line about, you know,
"if your customers
come to you in a limousine,
you'll go home in a bus.
If your customers
come to you in a bus,
you'll go home in a limousine."
The idea was j.C. Penney
was accessible fashion.
- I am pleased to announce
an association
between halston enterprises
and j.C. Penney.
- It was all launched
at the museum of natural history
in New York.
- The question's then asked,
and we ask again,
why halston and j.C. Penney?
- When I was a kid,
I always shopped at penney's.
My mother always took me
to penney's
to buy all the clothes
that we wore to school
and everything else.
And it's true.
I come from des moines, Iowa.
- The one, the only halston.
- Thank you very much.
Thank you very much,
ladies and gentlemen.
This has been probably
the most challenging
and gratifying
fashion exercise...
- Ordinarily,
halston creates clothes
that a lot of women like,
few can afford, however,
if you'll pardon the expression.
That is by design.
But now halston is coming out
with a line of apparel
that anybody could afford
at prices from $10 to $200.
Starting this summer,
clothes will be appearing
at 1,700 j.C. Penney
department stores
all across the country.
Halston says his agreement
to turn out clothes for penney
will run for about six years.
Here it is...
A billion-dollar deal.
That's how you would
describe it, isn't it?
- Yes, bill,
it is a billion-dollar contract,
which is a lot of money
and a lot of work...
- Unbelievable.
- And a lot of jobs
for a lot of people.
- Halston III
exclusive designs...
- Now this is called
halston III.
- It's called halston III.
- Why?
- Well, it's really
the third stage of my career,
the first being
in the millinery business,
and then in fancy clothes
and dressing all the stars
and things,
and now a larger public...
Dressing America, really.
- Do you think this is a risk
to your reputation
or career?
- Oh, I think
it can only enhance it.
- Mm-hmm.
- It's a larger public.
It's much more interesting.
I've always wanted to embrace
that American public.
And you know, I believe in them.
It... it's a wonderful thing.
It's always what I wanted to do.
- 1,700 stores...
- With the best people ever.
- The biggest thing, I'm sure,
you've ever done.
- Oh, for sure.
- Hi, can I help you?
Are you interested in buying
a halston dress?
- Are these the same clothes
that, um, Elizabeth Taylor
and the celebrities wear?
- Yes, these are some of...
- The same type of clothes...
- I don't see
where the shoulders are.
And look at the back.
- Yeah, well...
- It's called
investment dressing.
- This one is $55.
- It didn't sell.
Not only did it not sell,
but it was discontinued.
At the same time,
Bergdorf Goodman wanted to send
a signal to the design community
that if you're gonna sell
a mass retailer,
you... you're not gonna be able
to sell Bergdorf Goodman.
So Bergdorf Goodman
tossed the line out.
- Didn't you run
into some trouble with Bergdorf,
who was the first fashion...
- Oh, not at all.
No, I don't think so.
You know, Bergdorf...
You know, I wish them well.
I started my career at Bergdorf
and helped make Bergdorf famous.
But Bergdorf
is a rather small account
compared to all America.
- It was scandalous.
People were shocked.
It was like...
It was as if you heard
Rolls-Royce was going to do
supermarket carriages.
I mean, it...
The idea of a name...
- Oh, yeah.
- That stood for such quality
and glamour...
That it would go so down-market
was alarming.
- And this is your first trip
to New York City?
- Yes, it is.
- Are you having a good time?
- Oh, I'm really enjoying it.
- We made some suggestions
for you here.
This coat is the cover
of the j.C. Penney's catalog.
This is $120,
and I don't know
how in the world
they make it for that price.
And this is velvet
with some ostrich feathers.
I love using a schoolteacher.
I just love it.
- He was considered tainted
after that.
- Yeah, I think so.
- It was such a different time.
- Diane Von furstenberg
is a survivor of halston.
In a way,
her wrap dress was very much
like a halston pattern.
- Hmm.
- You know, just a simple
origami pattern...
- Mm-hmm.
- Flattered the body.
- I was young in the '70s.
I was very young.
I came to America.
I was 22.
I married a prince.
I had two children.
And I started a business...
Everything in the same year.
I always said that, you know,
I'm a jet-setter,
because I took it on a jet.
Halston created
such a liberated fashion.
That is really what inspired me
to go myself into fashion,
because it was all about jerseys
and colors and fluidity.
And it was a very modern
approach to fashion.
It wasn't old-fashioned
dress-making.
I was very young.
The whole world of licensing
was very new.
Sometimes you made mistakes,
because you associated
with the wrong people
at the wrong time.
Uh, for him,
it was he associated
with j.C. Penney.
- Do you think if someone
was to align themselves
with j.C. Penney today,
would that be the same...
Same reaction?
- Somebody... you can do it,
but it's difficult,
and no one really has succeeded.
I myself... I mean, you know,
you do make mistakes.
But halston's was, you know,
a combination of... of...
I don't know.
He lost his heart into it,
I guess.
- Why is that?
- I don't know.
It's a lot of, you know,
'70s phenomenon.
- Yeah.
- Abuse.
- Oh, there's Liza down there
kissing Andy warhol.
- Oh, okay.
- These are these cool
surfboards that I did,
one-of-a-kind surfboards.
That's Salvador dal.
For one of warhol's birthdays
he wrapped up lots of garbage
in gaffer's tape
and then just signed it "dal."
Check it out.
Warhol and I wanted to do
a collaboration.
- Is that wig...
- That wig.
Check it out. There you go.
Talk about history.
Oh, this here...
This is a Billy boy doll.
They somehow think that this is
anatomically correct.
- How close were you to warhol?
- Well, we weren't
fuck buddies.
- I'm not asking that,
for fuck's sake.
- Well, that's a good answer,
though, isn't it?
I could just sit here
and be warhol-esque
and just say yes and no.
- Yes. No.
- Maybe.
- I mean, he was a pretty tough
interview, wasn't he?
I mean, he'd just kind of make
people thoroughly uncomfortable.
- Yes.
- Hello?
Oh, my god. How you doing?
So...
My publisher's having brunch
with somebody from I.C.M.
Do you have a-a story
about halston?
Oh, that's very good.
Oh, that's a very good story.
This is the story.
Every time it would be
Andy warhol's birthday,
halston would say,
"it's time for Andy's birthday.
Let's just go up there
and give him lots of money,
crush it up,
and throw it into the fireplace
and watch Andy burn his fingers
trying to get it."
I have a huge question.
Was 54 overrated?
I mean, how great was it?
- I... it was pretty cool.
I liked it.
- Mm-hmm.
- I-I liked it a lot.
- Miss it?
- Not at all.
It was usually older people
looking at younger people,
hoping to get laid...
- Or it was younger people
looking to further their career
with the older people...
- Okay.
- And hoping that
you wouldn't have to get laid.
I mean, everybody
was working everybody.
- Uh, hello?
Hi. I did see that,
and I have a good...
I'm so glad, Peter,
that you called.
Well, actually this person
used to supply all the orchids
to halston.
I mean, any kind
of story, Peter.
- Halston took it
to an extreme.
You know, at any one time
he would probably have
between 60 and 80 plants.
- I... well, no more so
than other part of his life.
- It is an elaborate party
by any measure
of the imagination.
As halston led me
through his office,
I was awed by the scope
of his sense of what
entertainment is all about...
Waiters standing by,
top-shelf liquor.
The first question I asked,
how much this simple home party
was going to cost.
- The business manager
from Beatrice
pulled me aside one day
when I was delivering flowers
to...
He said, "did you know
that halston is spending
$60,000 to $100,000 a year
just on flowers?"
And I said, "oh, really?"
- I mean, I-I do remember
some of these sort of sad irony
about how halston
had branded himself
as one of the chicest,
coolest designers,
and he sold himself
to a big company.
- Yeah, Norton Simon
bought him.
- Right.
And then the company that makes
playtex living bras bought it.
And then what happened,
Beatrice foods,
which makes mayonnaise,
bought that company.
- It's very painful
to talk about.
I-I sold the licensing
of the name
to a large corporation,
and it snowballed
out of control.
- Oh, heavens.
- The name halston is
actually owned by j.C. Penney,
revlon, Beatrice.
- Yeah, you know...
- What kind of a gal
is Beatrice?
I always think of her
as a heavy-set woman.
- As I was trying to say...
- Here's a man that was so used
to having, you know,
thousands of dollars worth
of orchids in his...
And now suddenly you have
a mayonnaise company
who... who is giving you
the instructions.
"We got to cut the budget,
no more orchids."
- Do you think his spirit
was crushed?
- Yes. Happy holidays. Hi.
- Bianca, Liza, bacall...
They adored me.
Studio 54 was my living room.
I gave the most fabulous parties
in New York.
Well, you can ask anyone,
of course...
- Well, now your name
is tacked on
cheap luggage and pencil sets.
As a matter of fact,
I was shocked to see
halston aquarium gravel
at walgreens.
- You know, the man who...
Who... who was... um, Mr. Epstein.
- Carl Epstein.
- Carl Epstein.
- Wait, so Carl,
but he was kind of
this accountant type,
I understand, a number cruncher.
- A number cruncher.
And they just didn't get along,
and he did not like the ways
halston worked...
Parties, wild life,
and all that stuff.
- The rumors of the... of
the drug-taking were everywhere
and very big mood swings.
And he had a bad temper.
You know, if he didn't
like something, you know,
on go the glasses
with the mirrors,
so, of course, you have...
You can't see his eyes.
You're watching yourself.
- The last time I saw him
I was just about to go back
to Europe to live.
I was feeling very bad,
because a lot of my friends
had passed away,
um, you know, from aids,
and I was upset
with Victor Hugo,
because I knew
he was running around
with all these different men,
and I was very afraid
for my friend halston.
He was more interested
in what he was putting
into his body, I suppose,
than what he was doing,
and this was the influence
of Victor Hugo.
He took him down.
We were doing a shooting
with Horace that day,
and I was his only model.
And I said to him point blank,
I said, "halston,
you have to get out of here."
I said, "it's time to leave."
- You told him to leave
the olympic tower.
- "Leave," I said.
"It's time to leave.
I'm leaving.
And if I leave, I have dreams,
and I'm going to live
a beautiful life.
I'm going to get a boat
in the mediterranean.
Do you want to come?
Do you want to leave?"
It was a very spooky moment.
I felt like things
were going like this.
Good-bye.
I felt like
I was saying good-bye to him.
- Mr. Epstein, Carl Epstein,
he reported
to the big companies.
They said, "you have
to let halston go."
- What was the final straw?
What... what happened?
- I think they decided
to pay him to stay home.
- And that was the demise
of halston.
I mean, they were such fools
to... to have done that.
It was one man's war
against halston.
- He couldn't get
the business back.
I mean, the business
was gone forever.
- So he could never use
the name halston again,
is that correct?
- No.
He once made a joke.
He said, "I don't care.
I'm gonna go out
and do my own line.
I'm gonna call it 'guess who.'"
which I thought
was such a riot, you know.
- When whoever
took over halston,
they called up all these girls
that halston
had given clothes to
and asked for the clothes back.
- Then they came actually...
- And they actually came to
the door with a security team.
- And take out all the clothes
that were in her apartment.
- That's awful.
- The company kept being sold,
and it finally ended up
in revlon's hands,
in Ronald perelman's hands.
And Ronald agreed to try
and revive the line again.
- I think a deal
was about to go down
with revlon and perelman,
but then something happened,
and no one knows why.
- Perelman was put off
by halston.
Halston was making
incredible demands.
Like, he wanted
his own private plane.
He wanted $250,000 a year
for orchids,
um, 'cause, I mean,
he just... he lost it.
- I didn't see halston
in a while,
'cause, you know,
studio was closed.
He wasn't going out.
- Why did he stop going out?
- I don't know.
That's what I really don't know.
- He and Victor had split up,
got back together, split up
a hundred times.
- Did he get disillusioned
with the whole scene?
- I don't know what happened.
The business, maybe.
- Things going on.
- Richard, he was doing
a lot of drugs.
- A lot of drugs, yeah.
- Maybe he was sick.
I don't know.
- Yeah.
- And halston always said
to me, "naeem, I'm coming back.
We're gonna be back together,
and this is
what we're gonna do."
We would have
all these design meetings.
But it never came about.
- Oh.
- And slowly his health faded,
and then he went away.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- He never said to me,
"I'm gonna die."
But I knew.
So i-I'd write him letters.
You know, I wanted to stay,
and his brother said to me,
"you can't.
You have to go,
because if you stay,
he'll know that you know
something's really wrong."
And it was very hard to accept.
And it was at a time
when aids was just...
They didn't talk about it.
- I know.
- It was something
to be ashamed of,
which is ludicrous, you know.
- Yeah.
- But that's the way it was,
and those are the facts.
- He went to San Francisco,
and he bought himself
a Rolls-Royce,
and he would be in the car,
and he would drive around
on his own.
And he was not talking calls
from anybody.
He was by himself.
- God, i-i... when he died,
I went nuts.
Really, I went
into such a depression.
Well, I-I didn't think...
I-I knew other people would die,
'cause they were getting old.
But halston? No.
It's very hard to say good-bye
when you're not allowed to,
you know.
- Fashion designer halston,
who created the pillbox hat
worn by Jacqueline Kennedy
at her husband's
presidential inauguration,
died last night
in a San Francisco hospital.
Halston, who was born
Roy halston frowick,
died of aids-related cancer.
He was 57.
- When I came back
to America to live,
I said, "oh, let me
walk past halston's house
and see how I feel about it."
I stood, and I looked up,
and a man came over to me,
and he said, "do you know
the history of this building?
Do you know what happened
in this building?
Do you know who lived here?
Do you know what kind
of exciting people
and exciting parties
they used to have?
That man had no idea
that I was part of that."
I listened to his story,
and it was like
I wasn't even there.
I felt like a ghost.
Smith: What originally
drew me to halston
was the glamour,
the girls,
the haze of cigarette smoke
at 54.
But what I found
was something else...
An artist, a visionary,
a friend loved by many,
and above all,
a true American original.
The '70s really did belong
to halston.
- You can try to imitate,
but an original is original,
and it will never come back.
Memories and pictures
and films
are the best thing to enjoy
what was then.
- I just recently
went to a party in a town house,
and a young girl came in,
and she was wearing
a halston dress.
Her mother had given her
a hammered satin bias column.
And this dress stood out
amongst all the dresses
in the room,
amongst all the new clothes.
This girl's dress,
when she walked in the room,
it was like lights came on.
The strength of halston
is his work.
What speaks is the work,
not what happened to him
at the end of his life.
- There's a kind of
artistic quality to it.
The demise has an artistic,
Byron-esque, Rambo
kind of quality to it.
It's somebody dying young,
burning out, overdoing it.
You know, it's a romantic vision
of things...
Do everything
you're not supposed to do
and then be celebrated
when you're gone.
I'm not so sure
I would look back at this
as a morality tale now
or a cautionary tale.
- Right.
- I think it's halston's tale.
It was his story
the way he wanted to have it go.
- He was a great...
Halston was a great person
and a great designer
and a tragic figure
because of that.
You know, you can't be tragic
unless there's some greatness
there in the first place.