Film

Halston

Name: Halston
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2019
Cast: Halston, Liza Minnelli, Marisa Berenson, Joel Schumacher, Naeem Khan

Other titles called Halston: the 2021 series (Netflix).

Biopic

A brisk, vivid account of Halston's rise from Midwestern simplicity to dominion over American fashion, and his unraveling after a devastating corporate deal. It moves fast, lets archive footage and interviews do the heavy lifting, and treats its subject with both admiration and clear-eyed disappointment. For anyone curious about fashion history, ambition, or how genius gets consumed by commerce.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love fashion history told through reminiscences from people who lived it, and you enjoy watching ambition sour in a New York nightlife haze.

Skip it if you want a film that digs into the clothes themselves or the craft of design; this leans on talking heads and reminiscence, so the dresses often arrive second-hand.

What it asks of you: Roughly an hour and three-quarters of brisk, clip-heavy shape: decades pass quickly through archive footage and reflective interviews, rarely lingering on any single scene.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The September Issue2009

A behind-the-scenes look at Vogue's largest issue, capturing the same world of high fashion, ego, and creative vision clashing with commercial pressure that defines Halston's tragedy.

But It's less dramatically structured than a narrative film—some will find the pacing glacial, and fashion itself may feel like a narrow subject.

McQueen2018

Another documentary about a designer's genius and self-destruction, with similar themes of artistic perfectionism, ambition, and the cost of fame. It hits many of the same emotional beats with devastating effect.

But If you're looking for something lighter, this is equally heavy and melancholic, perhaps even more so.

Madonna: Truth or Dare1991

A candid, intimate documentary about another artist at the intersection of sexuality, provocation, and commerce. Same era of excess and reinvention, same insider access to the machinery of fame.

But The material is quite dated, and Madonna's carefully constructed persona can feel deliberately opaque in ways that frustrate some viewers.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Halston

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Phantom Thread2017

Both explore how a designer's narcissism and perfectionism become indistinguishable from artistry, and how everyone around them pays the price.

Paul Thomas Anderson's obsessive portrait of a fashion designer and his muse, told as a gothic psychological drama rather than documentary. It captures the suffocation and codependency of creative genius in a way that feels like Halston's story from the inside of his mind.

But It's slow, cryptic, and deliberately withholding about its characters' inner lives. Some find it airless and cold.

Valentino: The Last Emperor2008

Released the same year as Halston, this is a warmer portrait of another legendary designer, offering a counterpoint on how legacy and reputation can survive commerce if you're careful.

But It's a more celebratory film—if you came to Halston for cautionary tale about selling out, this gentler approach may feel evasive.

The Center of the World2001

A strange, underseen examination of obsession and desire set against Las Vegas excess and the commodification of intimacy, capturing the moral unease of Halston's world from an unexpected angle.

But It's difficult, abstract, and sexually explicit in ways that have nothing to do with fashion. Many will find it pretentious or alienating.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi2011

A meditative look at an artist's total commitment to his craft, the isolation that perfection requires, and what happens when you've given everything to one thing. A spiritual counterpoint to Halston's choices.

But It's slow, contemplative, and offers no drama—if you want conflict and scandal, this is the opposite.

Lagerfeld Confidential2007

Another look inside the mind of a reclusive, brilliant designer, with similar observations about ego, creativity, and the price of reinvention in fashion's brutal cycles.

But Karl Lagerfeld's mystique is partly his refusal to be fully known, which makes the documentary feel incomplete by design.

Synecdoche, New York2008

Both examine how the pursuit of perfection and the need to leave a legacy can hollow out a life, with both figures ending in isolation of their own making.

Charlie Kaufman's fever dream about an artist whose ambitions consume everything—his relationships, his finances, his sense of reality. It's Halston's tragedy reframed as surrealist nightmare, far more strange and formally experimental.

But It's deliberately confusing, self-referential, and emotionally exhausting. Many viewers find it pretentious or unwatchable.

99 Homes2015

Both are about the moment someone decides their legacy is worth less than immediate financial security, and both show that choice as the beginning of the end.

A brutal drama about a man who sells his integrity for survival and comfort, watching his moral collapse happen in real time. It applies the language of desperation and commerce to a working-class story, but the machinery of self-destruction feels identical to Halston's choice to sell his name.

But It's a grim, angry film with no glamour or beauty—the opposite aesthetic experience of the Halston film, and emotionally punishing throughout.