Glamorous Halston: The Evening Collection. Part One. 1970s. A Single Owner Collection

Well, I have posted some really great pieces of Halston for day: a hooded cashmere sweater and skirt - so perfect for a chilly day like today in New York! An electric blue jersey dress that could take you from the office to cocktails, an ultrasuede coat with a silk bias cut ensemble underneath - so chic and minimalist and a few of Elsa Peretti's for Halston perennially cool belts and now finally, I am ready for a little Glamour!

It's time to party like its 1977 and your best friends are Bianca, Mick, Marissa, Andy, Liz and Liza.  

Let's get this party started!  

Let's start with Liza in black sequins and matte jersey.  How gorgeous is her outfit?!

Liza's sequin jacket looks a lot like this simple tank dress with its matching cardigan that we have.

Shiny black sequins are sewn onto silk chiffon.  So fabulous, you can wear it with the tank dress or like La Liza, wear the sequin jacket with matte jersey.  I am thinking a black jumpsuit would be amazing!

So it is about 15 degrees here in sunny New York and if you have an event tonight (the temperature is suppose to be 11 degrees!) and want to look glamorous and be nice and toasty then I would suggest wearing this beautiful yellow cashmere long gown and cardigan like Pat Cleveland back in the day.  It's a sweater and it's slinky...  

 The reason why Halston's cashmeres are so sexy is because they are cut close to the body.

We also have, one of my favorites, this super beautiful silk charmeuse wrap dress with an angled hem.

One of the most iconic and glamourous of Halston's looks for evening is the plunging halter neck gown.

We have a coral matte jersey plunging halter neck gown which you can wear with its matching jersey cardigan - or without.  Halston loved a very matching look and probably would have shown this gown with a coral strappy sandal.

 More to come... to be continued...

Shop our 1970s Halston collection here.

Versailles 73: American Runway Revolution

Pat Cleveland

Billie Blair 

Alva Chinn

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Charlene Dash

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Bethann Hardison

Amina Warsuma (I could only find this little photo of Amina Warsuma, if anyone has a larger one, I would love to see it.  But don't you just LOVE the Zandra Rhodes she is wearing?!)

China Machado

were the models of Versailles in 1973.

In January of last year I went to a lunch at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to celebrate the models of that infamous friendly competition between American fashion designers and French designers .  Oscar de la Renta spoke (a lot), Donna Karan spoke too and Stephen Burrows managed to get a few words in.  And the women we were there to celebrate, the models of that evening in Versailles in 1973, unfortunately barely had a chance to speak at all.  The only little anecdote we heard was that there was little food and lots of people fighting .  And I wanted to hear so much more.  Happily debuting during the Cannes film festival is a new documentary, Versailles 73: American Runway Revolution and it looks like there will be hopefully be more models and less Oscar.  You can see the preview here.

And I am absolutely thrilled to have at RARE vintage a Halston dress very similar to one photographed on the oh so fabulous Pat Cleveland.

`  Pat Cleveland in the Halston gown.  Image from Halston An American Original by Elaine Gross and Fred Rottman.

This dress is BEAUTIFUL!  It is a wrap dress which is of course very typical of Halston.  It is in a heavy emerald silk taffeta with a black silk sash for the waist and what many people often forget about Halston is what a superb craftsman he was.  To accentuate the nipped and fitted waist, Halston "padded" the interior hip area with integral silk organza panniers.   (I will be adding photos of the interior shortly)  The sleeves are gathered at the wrist and for that very American sportswear feel, can be worn pushed up on the arm.

Halston emerald silk gown.

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Sense and Sensibility: Joe Eula fashion illustrations for Halston

When I was first shown these Joe Eula fashion illustrations for Halston, it was a moment of coup de foudre.  Not only because here was Liza!  Karen B!  Pat C!  but because here was also the sensibility of Halston.  Here were, not only the women who wore his clothes so well,  but here also was the man who with quick strokes of his brush and pen was able to capture not just the likeness of Halston's clothing but the spirit and movement of the clothing.  And here also was a moment in time preserved, pin hole pricks and all, of a glorious moment in American fashion.  

This is the time that American fashion designers stormed the revered halls of Versailles to go mano to mano (or dress to dress) with the giants of French couture, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Dior, Ungaro and Pierre Cardin. Josephine Baker performed for the French, and Liza Minelli, wearing Halston, performed for the Americans.  Joe Eula using black oven paint and a broom sketched the Eiffel Tower for the American sets (oh those crazy American kids!) and here began the coup de foudre for American fashion.  

I heard a story about Joe Eula and Halston:  Halston became enraged when a journalist started walking over Joe Eula's sketches of a collection.  Halston was furious yelling did he not realize that he was walking on the work of a great artist?!  Eula was a great artist and one of the most gifted fashion illustrators.   

I feel very fortunate to have been entrusted with a wonderful group of Joe Eula's fashion illustrations for Halston from the Chuck and Candy Pratts Price collection.  Enjoy! 

 Joe Eula fashion illustrations for Halston. Circa 1980.  Prices ranging from $660 to $800.

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RARE vintage, Joe Eula and The New York Times!

I am so excited, I don't even know what I am most excited about:  a collection of Joe Eula fashion illustrations!  For Halston!!  The New York Times!!!  I think Eric Wilson, a wonderful writer for The Grey Lady, said it best for the Fashion and Style section of the New York Times: you can read the article here.

 

 Liza Minelli "Bananas' by Joe Eula

 

They will be on the blog and 1stdibs.com tomorrow!!!!