MANHATTAN — A documentary detailing the life of a glamorous 1970s fashion designer is set to debut Friday at the IFC Center in the West Village.
Ultrasuede: Looking for Halston tells the story of the late Roy Halston Frowick, commonly known as Halston, through his influential friends Liza Minnelli, Diane von Furstenberg and former American Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley, among others.
“He was enigmatic and iconic figure in a cool, dark and edgy era,” said Director Whitney Sudler-Smith, 42, who splits his time between L.A and New York.
Halston personified the excess of New York City through a dark era while revolutionizing fashion with his classic and simple designs.
The documentary initially intended to detail the decadent eras in different cities: Paris in the 1920s, Berlin in the 1930s, London in the 1960s and New York in the 1970s. Sudler-Smith, however, later recognized Halston was big enough for his own film.
“The country was bankrupt. People just wanted to party,” he said. “Halston personified that excess, living life to the fullest, everything to satisfy.”
As an example of the designer’s over-the-top life, Sudler-Smith visited Halston’s former residence on East 63rd Street between Park and Lexington avenues. The eleven-room townhouse is now on the market for $38 million.
Halston, who split his time between the Upper East Side townhouse, his Midtown office in Olympic Towers and the Studio 54 disco, can also be credited with many popular designs that are still in fashion today.
“He revolutionized the simple minimalistic look,” said Sudler-Smith, who spent more than two years on the film, which cost $2.2 million to make.
The shirt-dress, popularized by Sarah Jessica Parker's character in "Sex and the City" and a staple for many women, was a product of Halston. Ultrasuede, a popular synthetic material, was also made famous by the designer.
If Halston’s genius allowed him to live high, though, it also caused him to crash hard.
His empire exponentially increased to include luggage, cosmetics, perfume, police uniforms and even carpet as well as jewelry designed with Tiffany’s Elsa Peretti. But Halston was fired from the company Norton Simon Industries a decade after it bought the rights to his name in 1973, rendering him unable to design under his own brand.
Halston died of complications from AIDS on March 26, 1990, after moving to San Fransisco.
The larger-than-life designer would be too much for modern-day New York City to handle, Sudler-Smith believes.
“He is a product of a bygone era," he said. "He is too grand for today’s taste.”
