Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston

Halston. Ubiquitous sophisticated style and casual chic. I was curious because I lived through and survived the 70s. Curious not only because the Studio 54 lifestyle was all that glittered, but the transition in clothing styles from the hippie look to polished, stripped down elegance. Simplicity. Halston was the master of simplicity– form, structure, cut, line, texture, tailoring. Elegance. The 70s also had polyester, Smoky and the Bandit and The Love Boat, and first time director Whitney Sudler-Smith missed the boat entirely with this documentary and unfortunately missed finding Halston.

The film is about Sudler-Smith’s journey, his 70s era-envy and uncomfortable (and sadly unprepared) interview style. I have seen docs that work with hearing the director’s questions (Errol Morris Fog of War) and seeing the director’s interviews with the subject (Sidney Pollack’s Sketches of Frank Geary), wonderful interplay and moving the story ahead. There’s an art to it. They bring to the table their own knowledge of their subject and passion for the story. Sudler-Smith conveys neither. His Ashton Kutcher wannabe look is clownish and embarassing as he awkwardly interviews people that knew Halston.

On camera reprimands to do his research before the interview, struggling to find pertinent questions, adding inaccurate words to the conversation, bad editing, shaky camera, poor audio recording makes this difficult to watch. Occasionally, gems popped up– the Halston collection stashed at a Bible College, the ultra modern designed apartment, orchids visible everywhere, the catwalk showroom in his office, archival photos and films of beautiful design creations– threads that could have been interwoven into a fascinating story but then the audience is dragged back to the decadent period that is the focus. Okay, enough of the voyeurism already. We get it. Studio 54 was wild, the music was disco, full of sex, drugs and celebrities with Halton holding court. We also get that Sudler-Smith wishes he had been there. Another clip of Smoky and the Bandit, anyone?

Halston was an icon. His strongest influences and contributions to style and clothes created an American fashion statement that remains relevant to this day. This is a New York story and is a fascinating account of a man interested in well dressed women and dressing women beautifully. I wanted to see more of that and far less (actually, none) of Sudler-Smith who, as Halston would have noted, is not made of the right fabric and would have said, “Cut, cut, cut.”