Halston (Q4222)
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- Halston Fragrances Inc.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Halston |
No description defined |
|
Statements
Last season, for his second Halston collection, Marios Schwab did a 180, seeming to jettison his initial creative vision for something that suggested diligent study of the label's archives. Today's presentation most definitely followed suit. There were the expected lean, slinky cutout columns, Grecian draped cocktail dresses, and glamorous but minimally inclined sportswear. But the execution was uneven. Most of the gowns lacked energy, in some cases almost literally, with slightly wrinkled fabrics that appeared less than luxurious. The idea behind a sarilike asymmetrical chiffon number that exposed a jeweled bra would seem to be a decadent sexiness, but it felt limp, and a trio of sequined dresses cut in glow-in-the-dark fabric just seemed like a party trick.What your eye was drawn toward was the chocolate brown grouping of daywear smack dab in the center of the triangular tableau vivant. A leather shirtdress, knotted at the waist, was the chicest and most expensive-looking thing in the room. But it wasn't enough to shoulder the burden.For a label that's been through so many incarnations and designers, hewing to its core strengths seems logical enough. But considering the difference between Schwab's debut and today's presentation, it makes you wonder what exactly is transpiring behind the scenes. At any rate, it's too bad. In the midst of a major seventies moment, Halston could be fashion's reigning queen bee.
14 February 2011
The original thinking in hiring young British designer Marios Schwab at Halston and then creating Halston Heritage, helmed by Sarah Jessica Parker, seemed to be this: Place the still very commercially viable archive classics under SJP's watch, and leave Schwab room to develop a modern, original vision. That strategy appears to have changed somewhat. Today's presentation—Schwab's second effort for the house—tapped into all the drapey, languid signatures that come to mind when you think of Halston's seventies heyday.Nevertheless, there is one major point of difference between the two labels: price. Heritage is a contemporary brand. Halston is not. You could feel that element of luxury in brushed gold hardware as well as in the little nuances in silhouette that are evidence of a trained designer's hand. Schwab also added the twist of a wild orchid motif. It was printed on a lovely strapless sequin dress that had the ease of a post-shower towel. "We wanted to overdress women for a very long time," the designer said. "And I think that's not what women want." Certainly this collection will fall into the category of what womenwillwant, a testament both to Schwab's execution and his excellent, impossibly timeless source material. But considering the vast divide between this collection and his previous outing for the brand, it will be interesting to see where he goes next.
12 September 2010
For his new gig at Halston, Marios Schwab was less engaged by the late designer's archive than by his ambition: to create something timeless for strong women. Schwab says that's his goal, too, and he achieved it when the woman evoked by his classically draped dresses with their flippy little skirts was Diana the Huntress. (Well, Schwabwasborn in Greece, where a little myth goes a long way.) The Halston legacy has defeated the best intentions of a handful of designers over the past few decades, but now there's a Heritage range to corral the classics (fronted by Sarah Jessica Parker, who showed up at the presentation today, along with Halston owner Harvey Weinstein), so Schwab has a more open playing field. He made the most of it with a collection that was a notably confident extension of his own aesthetic. An acute body-consciousness has always defined his work. Here, one of his inspirations was the fluidity of mercury, hence all that draping. The dress in sculpted neoprene offered a modern variation on the theme. More tricksy were the dresses with epaulets extended to wrap and define the models' forms. They trapped, rather than wrapped.In one way at least, Schwab honored the name on the label. Another of his inspirations was apparently the set design of the 1978 Faye Dunaway vehicleEyes of Laura Mars, which loaned a color palette of rich neutrals—in a sweater dress with fur sleeves, for instance—that was set off by shots of intense color, like the yellow knit cape dress or the red jersey gown. Sophisticated urban dressing, in other words, and that's Halston to the core. Schwab also brought in London-based jeweler Jacqueline Rabun to create silver accessories whose organic shapes echoed Elsa Peretti's classic pieces for Halston.
14 February 2010
One of Fall 2010's hot tickets will be Marios Schwab's debut at Halston—it's certainly one of the most interesting and buzzy fashion "castings" of recent date. In the interim, a design team produced a small collection for Spring that was orchestrated to harmonize with the relaunch of the Halston fragrances. (The biomorphic bottles were originally sculpted by Elsa Peretti in the seventies, but what's in them has been reformulated with "modernized juice.") Two of the fragrances' top notes, lavender and poppy, even inspired the season's color palette. How's that for a neat merchandising package?As for the clothes, they leaned heavily on the heritage of the house, although there were some of-the-moment jumpsuits and minidresses in trendy neutrals. Timeless was a simple, strapless, sunset-hued chiffon dress with a deep ruffle hem that just smelled of summer.
14 September 2009
Fashion actually doesn't exist in a vacuum—that, at least, has finally been proven once and for all by designers' obsession with the economy these days. Clothing doesn't mean anything without context. And context is exactly what has been missing at Halston, which was relaunched for the umpteenth time in February of last year and has been designed by a team for two seasons.Instead of a runway show, the creative forces at the house produced a video in which model Dree Hemingway—yes, daughter of Mariel, who burst into stardom in the original disco-Halston heyday of the late seventies—rushes headlong toward some destination unknown (or, as the program solemnly put it, "moves through the film's interior world created by director Nez Khammel").Back in the showroom, the brightly hued garments themselves looked cheerful enough. (Studded jumpsuit, anyone?) A floor-length sequined coat was chic, and there were some beautiful details, including scarf ties that would have charmed Isadora Duncan and a gently caped back on a primary-red minidress. Some of the trendiest looks will probably be picked up by L.A. stylists and photographed for the tabloids because Halston has a certain cool cred in Hollywood again. But here in Manhattan, where Studio 54 feels as far away as ancient Rome, they just don't match the mood.
16 February 2009
Despite the mixed reviews Marco Zanini received at Halston last season—and his subsequent departure—all reports indicate that the collection he designed is doing quite well at retail. Women, it seems, were hungering for the twenty-first-century spin he put on Halston's sexy brand of simplicity. So it was rather disappointing to see the straight-from-the-archives reproductions that the nameless Halston design team trotted out for a splashy presentation at the Museum of Modern Art.The museum was made over to resemble Halston's Paul Rudolph-designed townhouse, complete with gray carpeting, white walls, and gray upholstered seating upon which the models lounged. Too bad. Halston's minimalist creations were all about movement—the way jersey cascaded down your hips as you walked, or chiffon billowed in your wake—and there was just no appreciating that kind of thing when the girls were practically supine.What one did notice were the colors—the putties, mauves, and dusty lilacs, as well as bright red, yellow, poppy, and pink, along with one vaguely tribal print. The collection's focus was eveningwear, but scattered among the scarf dresses, caftans, and one-shoulder numbers were a trenchcoat and a shirtdress in washed silk. Will these clothes resonate with shoppers like Zanini's have? Hard to tell. But it's a good bet that without a designer, and a designer's perspective, the label itself will quickly fail to interest the fashion crowd that came out to see it today.
8 September 2008
There's been just a bit of buzz about the Halston relaunch. How could there not be, when the king of Hollywood heat, Harvey Weinstein, is the man behind the project, and Tamara Mellon and Rachel Zoe are both at his side? The label's new creative director, Marco Zanini (Donatella Versace’s longtime first designer), is understandably no match for those outsize personalities, but it's his clothes that have to do the talking, and their moment finally came this afternoon at the Gagosian Gallery.Halston’s oeuvre is of course well-known, and Zanini showed it a healthy amount of respect, launching straight into such signatures as the shirtdress and easy separates like boot-cut pants and long skirts with a soft swing, as well as tent dresses that he showed in cashmere, silk, and jersey. Zanini had also studied the late designer’s color palette—the dusty pastels were all there.The newcomer already has one true believer: Liza Minnelli—in a vintage Halston pantsuit, naturally—let out an enthusiastic whoop at the first look, a lush knit cape in slate gray over a matching knit dress and suede knee-high boots. But overall, the collection left you wanting more. More of Halston’s double-face cashmere coats, yes, but also more of a sense of how Zanini will take the label forward. The unstructured evening gowns he showed today won’t cut it.
3 February 2008
This is Craig Natiello's fourth season at Halston, a house with a glorious past whose recent history has been somewhat tumultuous.Today Halston is the place to turn for special-occasion dressing, particularly if you are looking for a printed or embellished column dress for a night on the town. Among the best looks from the Spring collection are a black Empire-waist floor-length dress with center-front slit, and a navy-and-white overblown silk floral.Natiello's reign at Halston continues the long tradition of Seventh Avenue dress- and suit-makers rather than that of Roy Halston Frowick, a true innovator, whose legacy continues to have an important influence on designers today.
20 October 2001
Craig Natiello is in the difficult position of designing for a house that bears another's name—especially since the name is that of an unparalleled icon of American design, Roy Halston Frowick. In this collection, Natiello worked with classic Halston fabrics and colors, including Ultrasuede, cashmere, beaded chiffons and Halston's signature red. But beaded warmup suits and disco music were unable to recall the glory of the Halston/Studio 54 era. Although much of the collection felt like Halston-lite, an ivory Ultrasuede shirtdress and a red cashmere scarf top paired with a red skirt struck the right balance between old and new.
20 September 2000
Simplicity in dressing was Halston's dictum while he was still alive. Now it seems that a less discreet philosophy has permeated practically every piece that bears his name: Gold ombré sequined suits, goatskin ball gowns and tricolor pastel tweed ensembles were a few of the looks on the runway this season. Alongside classic Halston staples like Ultrasuede raincoats and lace halter skimps, there were logo beaded dresses, cardigans and jackets. Sex appeal was a key element of the show, and a lot of the eveningwear, like the matte jersey slit dresses, fox wraps and slick columns, are sure never to go unnoticed.
9 February 2000