HALSTON HERITAGE – Carrie’s style is within our reach!

di Anna Mandelli

Image Consultant & Personal Shopper..

from Boston USA

When Pina asked me to write on her blog I was thrilled to have the opportunity to share my USA experience with you. I had many ideas about what to write but I wondered “where do I start”?... Well, why not starting from the beginning?… From ”Fashion and the city” (look at the top of this page!) and even before that: “Sex and the City”, or SATC as they call it here.

I'm sure that many of you fashionistas are huge "Sex and the City” fans. Thanks to the daily re-runs of the series I often lie down in the evening on my sofa in front of the TV and feel relaxed as soon as I hear the SATC’s theme. I imagine myself walking on the Upper East Side, breathing the NYC atmosphere that only Carrie (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) is able to describe so accurately to us, and wearing all those amazing outfits,

Today, thanks to Sarah Jessica Parker (or SJP, as they call her here) we can all wear “Sex and the City”. According to Elle Usa (January 2011) SJP is the new president and chief creative officer of the Halston Heritage, a secondary line based on the old archives of the classic brand Halston. The good news is …this is a very “contemporary” affordable line. The Halston Heritage white V-neck dress that Carrie wears in the SATC2’s poster is less expensive than you may think. Everything in the collection costs between $250 and $395!

It all started when the NYC stylist Patricia Field, working on the movie SATC2, decided to bring back the Halston Label. In an interview to the New York Times magazine Patricia said: “Halston represents to me American fashion at its finest — elegance, simplicity, not adornment. Frankly, I was getting really weary of all these mad shapes coming at me. I yearned for chic simplicity and right away I thought of Halston.”

(Source: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/asked-answered-patricia-field/)

So let’s go back in time and find out the steps that brought that white dress on the SATC2 poster.

(By the way, you can take a look at some SATC2 dresses here: http://www.sexandthecitymovie.com/closet/)

Roy Halston Frowick was born on April 23, 1932 in Des Moines, Iowa. He started creating hats in a very early age for his mother. In 1952 he attended the evening school of the art Institute of Chicago and accepted a daily job as a window dresser. In 1957 he moved to NYC and worked as a milliner for Lilly Dache’ at first, and for the department store Bergdorf Goodman later.

He became very famous after Jacqueline Kennedy wore “his” pillow box hat during her husband’s presidential inauguration.

In 1968 he launched his own women’s wear label. Soon he became the first American celebrity designer, with A-list clientele including Liz Taylor, Lauren Hutton, Lauren Bacall, Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnelli, and Martha Graham (all very close friends).

In the ’70 Halston was the king of the New York night life. Every night was a party, full of drinking and dancing with his famous friends.

1976...NYC...STUDIO 54 “The temple of the disco music”. The club where all the night trends were born. The club of the sexy, glitter and lame’s nights. Halston defined the Studio 54 fashion. His creations like the sleek gowns, the jumpsuits, the loosely draped dresses and the caftans defined the era. He combined the minimalism with the eclecticism of the ‘70s. He gave life to a “new idea” of classic: clean but sexy, taking his inspiration directly from the Goddess of the Ancient Greece.

Unfortunately Halston died of lung cancer complicated by HIV in 1990. His label has had many owners and many designers since then.

(for more on Halston go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halston)

From 2010 Marios Schwab is the designer of Halston Label (main line). Here one piece of his collection SS2011 (in a trendy pumpkin color):

http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/S2011RTW-HALSTON

In my opinion Halston’s lines simultaneously minimal and luxurious have influenced many collections of the past. For example, the minimalism of Helmut Lang (in the ‘90s) or the glamour of Tom Ford‘s collection for Gucci in 1996 (white dress in the picture).

Photo by Mario Testino

Halston’s “genius” is still alive and continues to inspire many runways. In the Spring 2011 designers like Celine, Gucci, and YSL refreshed the Studio 54 silhouettes in their jumpsuits.

Below are 2 pictures of SJP wearing Halston Heritage. I’m a big fan of the plisse’ (pleated dress)! I bought one of these dresses myself because spring is coming and I’m ready to feel the warm breeze blowing between the pleated skirt, moving like a glamorous fan.

http://www.style.com/fashionshows/complete/slideshow/S2011RTW-GUCCI/#slide=2

(http://www.elle.com/Pop-Culture/Cover-Shoots/Why-We-Love-Sarah-Jessica-Parker)

We may not have Mr. Big in our life, but thanks to Halston Heritage now we know that at least Carrie’s style …is within our reach.