This was a very characteristically American story of a talented gay individual, born in the boondocks/mid-West who completely re-invented himself.
There were many revealing interviews with many who had worked with and for him often for many years and they spoke with commendable candour and clear-eyed (mostly) affection and admiration. he certainly had his demons but it was only towards the end when the individual named brand became just another small section of a multi-national corporation where money was ‘the bottom line’. The partnership with J C Penney was radical and ground-breaking and I think paved the way for the future for other fashion houses - although for them nowadays it seems that they are/were able to keep the unique specialism of the high-end couture without it being diminished which was how it was perceived when this first business merger with Halston took place. I think he suffered from being the first to take this approach and as it was a step into the unknown, there was not a playbook for its success.
There were some magnificent old school queens who made occasional appearances, most notably Charles James and the unseen illustrator Joe Eula was particularly perceptive and entertaining -as were Halston’s two long-term secretaries.
One of the most entertaining was the jewellery designer Elsa Peretti. She was certainly enjoying the cocktail(s) she was drinking throughout her interviews and had a wonderfully robust view of what she had done and the lifestyle that they led. ‘Of course we snorted coke; how else could we work for 20+ hours a day?’. Brilliant. And a wonderful designer.
Good to see Liza with a Zee there (she WAS the embodiment of the Halston house) and the unpleasant Andy Warhol was, of course there, dead-eyed and judging. And Joel Schumacher too. Figures like him must feel that the gods were smiling on them given how they lived at those times…
Was not sure about the fictional archivist narrator figure who appeared but she was not a major or distracting element once the story got under way - although still unclear as to why this figure was inserted at all.
Great picture of the past and a time and place - and marvellously and movingly enhanced the grabbed private video film of Fire Island pre AIDS and Studio 54