All episodes of Halston are available on Netflix.
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Of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix shows to date, stemming from his landmark production deal, including Ratched, Hollywood, and two seasons of The Politician — Halston is the most traditional and streamlined. It’s also, at a mere five episodes, the most restrained in terms of its structure. Aside from a winning performance by lead Ewan McGregor as celebrity fashion designer Roy Halston, the result is a rather by-the-numbers rise and fall biography that hits all the notes, beats, and themes you expect it to.
The entire saga even crescendos how you’d predict it would, with the first two episodes representing Halston’s ascent, the third episode his career apex, and the final two his crushing decline. McGregor’s magnetism is enough to carry us through most of this story, though the character of Halston here is a man who’s shunned his rural abusive upbringing so determinately that he’s created an entire persona to exist/hide within. It’s a guise that includes arrogance, jealousy, and affectations that all work as deflection methods and denial. Even in Halston’s most vulnerable moments, he’s a drain on everyone around him, viewing others’ wants and needs as betrayals. It’s sort of a doubling down on superficiality that, at times, works to push us away as well.
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A once-famous hat maker, whose lids were donned by Jackie Kennedy, Halston reinvented himself, and American women’s fashion in the 1970s. In the midst of this, on the precipice of bankruptcy, Halston sold his name and company to Norton Simon Inc., which allowed him access to mass production and country-wide fame like never before. So why does it all end so tragically for Halston? Your best guesses are probably correct given the era, the trappings of fame, the narcotics, and the AIDS epidemic. Of course, this is someone’s real life we’re bullet-pointing here, but this limited series makes these pivotal happenings feel like narrative cliches. The episodes do very little to make any of Halston’s excess or self-destructive posturing interesting.
McGregor plays Halston with an infectious bravado. Halston himself may not be intentionally inspiring, but his drive and actual genius create a long enough coattail for hangers-on and fleeting friendships. One of the more intriguing interpersonal dynamics in Halston is his co-dependent relationship with Liza Minnelli (a formidable Krysta Rodriguez), however, the series never delves into anything deep enough to truly resonate. Instead, the series is almost purely career-focused until it steers us into the paranoia and cruelty brought on by drug abuse. In the end, the show winds up feeling as surface-level and slight as Halston’s forward-facing facade.
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Other famous folks in Halston’s life — such as model and jewelry designer Elsa Peretti, lover and artist Victor Hugo, and illustrator Joe Eula — are solidly portrayed by Rebecca Dayan, Gian Franco Rodriguez, and David Pittu. They represent Halston’s stalwart team that cracks and fades during the designer’s haze of opulence and hubris. Some outright betray him, others he shoves away during pride-addled tantrums. Meanwhile, Bill Pullman’s David Mahoney, who should be the type of business liaison from Norton Simon who Halston furiously butts heads with actually becomes one of his most meaningful friendships on the show. Mahoney is the type of friendly, curious suit who recognizes art and genius but also chases the bottom line. It’s through this character that Halston, the show and man, finds a nice balance as the innovative artist who “sold out.”
The best part of the series, one that’s able to showcase one of Halston’s greatest triumphs while also tethering it to his harsh and calamitous upbringing (which we barely get a taste of), involves Vera Farmiga’s perfumer, Adele, and Halston’s laborious creation of the most successful scent of the ’70s. Sure, Halston may have compromised some of his principles by putting his stamp on things he wasn’t interested in, but when he did take on a project he made sure it represented him in every way. He wouldn’t just throw together a perfume, he’d begrudgingly sink his teeth into it. If only the rest of the series could have balanced Halston’s work and true inner turmoil as well.
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