Roy Halston Frowick was an “all-American boy” turned iconic 70s fashion designer. He created the pink pillbox hat Jackie Kennedy sported for her husband’s inauguration in 1961 and the off-the-shoulder dress Bianca Jagger famously wore while mounting a white stallion on the dancefloor of Studio 54. “His clothes danced with you,” Liza Minelli says, in the trailer for Halston, a new documentary about the designer’s life.
Despite this, Halston never quite became a household name. Writer-director Frédéric Tcheng (Valentino: The Last Emperor, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel and Dior and I) hopes to shed some light on his story. The two-hour documentary celebrates Halston’s forgotten legacy, but also serves as a dark investigation into the designer’s personal life, excesses, and poor business decisions. The trailer asks: “Is it tougher to get on top or to stay on top?” We’ll soon find out.
The documentary screens at Tribeca Film Festival and will hit theaters this May. Watch the first official trailer below.