Halston

RoyFrowick Halston was born on April 23, 1932 in Des Moines, Iowa. Roy developed an interest in sewing from his mother, and he began creating hats and altering clothes for his mother and sister as a child. In 1952, Halston moved to Chicago, where he enrolled in a night course at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and worked as a window dresser at the age of 18. Halston's first big break came when the Chicago Daily News ran a brief story on his fashionable hats. In 1957, he opened his first shop, the Boulevard Salon, on North Michigan Avenue. It was at this point that he began to use his middle name as his professional moniker. During his childhood he had been referred to as Halston to distinguish between himself and his uncle Roy. Halston moved to New York City in late 1957, first working for milliner Lilly Dache. Within a year, he had been named co-designer at Dache, became acquainted with several fashion editors and publishers, and left Dache's studio to become head milliner for department store Bergdorf Goodman in their customer milliner salon. Halston achieved great fame after designing the pillbox hat Jacqueline Kennedy wore to her husband's 1961 presidential inauguration, and when he moved to designing women's wear, Newsweek dubbed him "the premier fashion designer of all America." His designs were worn by Bianca Jagger, Lauren Hutton, Liza Minnelli, Anjelica Huston, Gene Tierney, Lauren Bacall, Babe Paley, and Elizabeth Taylor, setting a style that would be closely associated with the international jet set of the era.