TV Review: Watch Halston for Ewan McGregor — a master at work
Halston: Ewan McGregor excels as a designer in '70s New York
The less hype the better for a Netflix show these days. I didn’t have high hopes for (Netflix) because people weren’t screaming about it on Twitter. It turns out that people who scream on Twitter aren’t the best judge of a good TV show.
Not that Halston is a good TV show. It’s miles better than that. The five-parter tells the story of an American designer called Halston who shot to worldwide fame in the 1970s and early 80s. The fact that no one remembers him now compared to his great rival Calvin Klein is a hint that it doesn’t exactly end well.
But what a ride it was. Ewan McGregor plays Halston with some kind of vengeful intensity, reminding us — in case we ever forgot — that he’s in the Hollywood 1%, one of the best actors of his generation.
Halston has his own gang in 1970s New York, including Lisa Minelli, played brilliantly here by Krysta Rodriguez. His designs revolutionised fashion in America and the world, with new fabrics, simple designs and a stiff middle finger to stuffy haute couture.
In one blast of an episode we get to sit in on the Battle of Versailles, a fashion-off (that actually happened) between top designers from Paris and New York. The French crowd re-enact an opera for their designs; Halston has Lisa Minelli singing a song about Paris. The audience falls at his feet.
It doesn’t last. Money and cocaine take their toll, as Halston and friends pretty much move in to Studio 54 and dance their lives away. As I said, it doesn’t end well. But there is still huge feel-good warmth as the story unfolds.
Halston can be bitchy and mean, but McGregor plays it with such a mix of vulnerability and charm that you’d forgive him almost anything. The music and clothes are off the scale brilliant. (You don’t have to be into fashion to like this — it’s basically with suede and cocaine.)
In the end though, this show is about camaraderie. Halston’s friends and colleagues are glorious outsiders with a point to prove. They get each other, they love each other, which makes it all the more tragic when the gang falls out over money and professional jealousy.
There have been a few quibbles about the show online. I’ve seen some people say that the graphic sex is gratuitous — I think that’s just because it’s gay sex, and even then it’s nothing compared to .
Halston is beautiful. I won’t give away what happens in the last episode, but time heals and some of the gang get back together for one final hurrah. It’s like they woke up hungover after some house party and said 'Jesus, what was that all about?'.
In the end, it was about friendships. Beyond the glamour, money and mad nights in Studio 54, they were just a bunch of outsiders who got together for a while. is one of the best shows I’ve seen in ages. If nothing else, watch it for Ewan McGregor — a master at work.
