New Netflix Series Focuses on Evansville Native Halston
In today's edition of "Did you know?" one of America's most famous fashion designers grew up in the Tri-State. He is also back in the spotlight thanks to a new limited series now streaming on Netflix. Yes, Halston lived in Evansville when he was a kid.
Born Roy Halston Frowick, the fashion designer was born in Des Moines, Iowa and when he was 10, his family moved to Evansville which is where his design dreams began. The Netflix series Halston opens with the title card "1938 Evansville, Indiana" and we see young Roy picking up chicken feathers out in a coop when he hears his parents having an argument. He then comforts his mother by making a hat adorned with feathers and placing it on her head. Halston made his first big splash in the fashion world by designing hats, the most famous being then First Lady Jackie Kennedy's pillbox hat.
Halston graduated from Bosse High School in 1950 and after a brief stint studying at Indiana University, he left for Chicago to attend night classes at the School of the Art Institute.
Ewan McGregor stars as Halston in the Ryan Murphy-produced series.
Not only did Halston design clothes, but he was also a branding machine that ended with a $1 billion dollar licensing deal with J.C. Penney which marked the first time a high-end designer brought his clothes to the masses at an affordable price. Halston died in 1990 but his designs and his name live on which isn't bad for a boy from the Tri-State.