André Leon Talley Instagram – ALL-IN: I was right there, having coined the word the Ultra-ettes in Interview social column after I arrived in New York, in 1974, the year Halston begins his meteoric rise and becomes the Sun King of American fashion, by the time, he sells his Paul Rudolph townhouse and Montauk, and moves to the West Coast, Icarus’s gilded wings has been scorched by bad behavior, bad choices, and an ego that matched the heights of mountains in the Himalayas. Halston gave me his buff and sand toned ultrasuede jackets, (about 6) which I wore as uniforms. Literally, you could throw them in washing machine and dryer and have a jacket that was impeccable. He also gave me my first aviator sunglasses in tortoise, and his bespoke white smoking dinner jackets. We were close, but not close enough, nor did he ever hit on me, or I him. A tete a tete dinner for two,would be served on a low coffee table with those long gray sofas, in the living room. Menu: chilled Russian vodka, the best caviar, on ice, a baked potato for each of us, all served on elegant glassware and crystal. Oh, of course, neat pyramids of cocaine was there as well as Peretti original candlesticks shaped from bones. The atmosphere was seductive. I feared loosing my job therefore, pushing the pyramids of fresh coke, and opting for caviar, endless runs to the kitchen oven to get another baked potato and lemon . We managed to have conversations. Halston had the self-imposed style of a Cary Grant and the dramatics of Vincent Prince, all combined into one. There are no long, long tapered fingers like the Halston’s . His generosity stretched even to gifting me with his favorite Chinese chest, from his first apartment that was left in his garage. I should have kept that, piece of furniture, but I passed it on to a friend, upon moving to Paris in 1978.
I survived the chiffon trenches. My story in my own words. THE CHIFFON TRENCHES is out in paperback everywhere books are sold.
#thechiffontrenches #halston #halstonnetflix #fashion #andywarhol #studio54 #biancajagger | Posted on 17/May/2021 00:05:44
