Born: Des Moines, Iowa, USA, 1932
Died: San Francisco, California, USA, 1990
Roy Halston was New York's most visible party animal during the 1970s and one of the key players in Andy Warhol's infamous diaries. He was a born socialite, fabulous designer and a public relations' dream, who knew the power of the celebrity endorsement. His favourite phrase: `You're only as good as the people you dress.'
Roy Halston Frowick (as he was christened) arrived in New York in 1958 to assist the milliner Lilly Daché, having already worked in Chicago as a milliner. In the early 1960s, he left Daché to work for Bergdorf Goodman. `I liked hats,' Halston told Vogue in 1972. `Bergdorf had the biggest millinery business in the world. We had the Who's Who of the world coming to us, from Balenciaga to Givenchy.' Halston was attributed with making Jacqueline Kennedy's first pillbox hat.
On 2 December 1968 Halston opened his salon. Custom quickly followed: avid admirers included Babe Paley, Ali MacGraw and Liza Minelli. By 1973 he had won four Coty Awards and business was booming, reaching almost $30 million retail. He was so famous that he had his own one-off show, Dinner with Halston, and in January 1978 he moved his operation to the Olympic Tower, a minimalist palace with panoramic views across Manhattan.
In 1983 Halston made the fatal mistake of selling his name. By autumn 1984 his Olympic Tower showroom was being sold, and he was working from home. `Where did Halston go so wrong when he sold his name?' wrote Warhol in his diary entry for 25 November 1984. `What should he have done that he didn't? That's what I want to know. And I want to know it from him.'
