Journal
Elsa Peretti and Halston
Elsa Peretti at Halston's atelier at 68th street, New York City. Photo by Hilda Moray
“A woman like Elsa is extraordinary.”
“Halston is my best friend and my security.”
HALSTON
Roy Halston Frowick, known simply as Halston, was an American fashion designer who started his career as an illustrator and window display artist in Chicago. In the early 1950s, Halston launched his millinery business and soon garnered a well-known clientele. With instant success, he opened his first hat boutique on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile in the mid 1950s. Soon after arriving in New York in 1958, he was recruited to the prestigious position of head milliner for high-end department store Bergdorf Goodman.
His fame rose in 1961 when he designed the pillbox hat Jacqueline Kennedy wore to the inauguration of her husband, President John F. Kennedy. Halston soon made the transition to women’s clothing at Bergdorf where he designed many gowns and masks for the famed 1966 Black and White Ball. In 1969, he opened his own haute couture atelier on Madison Avenue where he launched a ready-to-wear line featured in his boutique.
“What I really valued about Halston was the encouragement he gave me. When you like something somebody does, it’s important to tell them. Nobody tells you now.”Vanity Fair, 2014
ELSA PERETTI AND HALSTON THROUGH THE YEARS
Elsa Peretti and Halston paths crossed in New York City in the late 1960s, where Elsa, a model at the time, quickly caught Halston’s attention for her innate sense of style and elegance, in fact as fashion illustrator Joe Eula mentioned to Vogue Magazine 1996: “The idea of simplicity that Elsa had – a shirt and a pair of trousers – and that practical way of dressing influenced a lot of Halston.” Elsa Peretti started posing for the most important photographers at the time and modeling for the most prominent designers but of course Halston was among her favorite designers as she told WWD back in 1971:
“I am closer to Halston than any other designer, perhaps because I know him better. We have practically the same taste. I feel very much myself in his clothes.”
Elsa Peretti
ELSA PERETTI MODELLING FOR HALSTON
“Elsa was different from the other models, the others were clothes racks, you’d make them up, fix their hair, and then they’d put their blue jeans back on. But Elsa had style: she made the dress she was modeling her own.”
ELSA PERETTI’S FIRST CREATIONS ON THE HALSTON RUNWAY
“Halston gave me discipline. He also gave me advice: when I started doing jewels that I thought were great but too expensive, he said, “Make small, medium and large.” It may sound simple, but it was very useful, and I have never forgotten it.”
Elsa Peretti at work in her New York City apartment. Photo by Hilda Moray
Halston gave Elsa Peretti numerous artistic stimuli and was the first, together with Giorgio di Sant’Angelo, to encourage her to start designing jewelry to accompany his clothes during the fashion shows and in the magazines. Elsa Peretti immensely valued Halston’s encouragement and started designing her very first pieces including the Open Bottle Pendant, Equestrian Belt Buckles and of course the Bone Cuff design, which accompanied Halston’s clothes on the runway, on magazines and was seen on so many men and women including Sophia Loren, Diana Vreeland, Grace Jones, Marisa Berenson, Yul Brynner and of course Liza Minnelli, who met Elsa Peretti during a fitting at Halston’s atelier in the early 70s:
“Halston really invented me, along with Elsa, he dressed me and she would dress the dress! It was wonderful what she did.”
Liza told during her interview to the New York Times 2024 while describing the birth of her signature look.
Elsa Peretti quickly rose to prominence in the jewelry field. She received the Coty Award in 1971 for her “extension of jewellery into the realm of fashion sculpture” and that same year her work began to be sold at Bloomingdale’s and made its first appearance in Vogue Magazine.
BATTLE OF VERSAILLES
On November 28,1973 both Halston and Elsa Peretti took part at one of the most important events in fashion history, “The Battle of Versailles”. This historic fashion moment, organized as a fundraiser to restore the famed French landmark, brought together five American designers, Oscar de la Renta, Halston, Bill Blass, Stephen Burrows and Anne Klein, competing against five of France’s top couturiers including Marc Bohan, Hubert de Givenchy, Emanuel Ungaro, Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin. Elsa Peretti appeared on stage during Halston’s segment, wearing a white crepe jersey dress styled with her own designs including a snake belt, bone cuff, and shell bag. Her designs were also worn on stage by Liza Minnelli, Marisa Berenson and China Machado. The evening marked not only a triumph for American fashion but also a debut for Elsa Peretti’s design language.
“The Battle of Versailles functioned as an international preview of Elsa Peretti’s jewels. They were exclamation points to Halston’s clothes.”
HALSTON INTRODUCES ELSA PERETTI TO TIFFANY & CO.
“Halston believed a lot in my ideas, in 1974, he introduced me to Tiffany and Co. He introduced me into that world by taking me by the hand, he encouraged me to create by transferring me his enthusiasm.”
In 1974, Halston together with Fashion Editor Carrie Donovan arranged a meeting between Elsa Peretti and Tiffany & Co. Chairman Walter Hoving. Halston introduced Elsa Peretti’s work, including a hand-carved coral bud vase and her silver bone cuff. Henry Platt, Vice President and design director at the time, was also present and hired her on the spot, marking the beginning of Elsa Peretti’s exclusive collaboration with Tiffany and Co. Her debut collection launched later that year, on the 24th September 1974 at the Fifth Avenue store and sold out that same day.
Opening Elsa Peretti at Tiffany and Co. store in Fifth Avenue, New York, September, 1974 (Photographer Unknown)
BEHIND THE BUNNY COSTUME
“Elsa had already signed her contract with Tiffany, and it was in her penthouse apartment in New York. It was the penthouse that Halston gave to Elsa when he moved to East 63rd street. It was done at 11:00 in the morning. Elsa had this strapless corset teddy done by Halston, but she was also wearing her Diamonds by the Yard necklace. What she was very proud of in this picture is that she was wearing the Ferragamo shoes of her mother that were perfect for that look, and when she came down and she arrived to the terrace, where Helmut Newton was waiting for her to do this shot, what Elsa always repeated to me is that Helmut was flabbergasted when he saw her and he did the most important picture of his life in my eyes.”
THE TEARDROP-SHAPED PERFUME DESIGN, 1975
In 1975, Halston launched his first fragrance. The teardrop-shaped bottle, designed by Elsa Peretti featured no external branding only a simple ribbon bearing Halston’s name. Its minimalist design mirrored the simple lines of Halston’s fashion and Elsa Peretti’s jewelry design. The fragrance itself, a floral chypre composed by perfumer Bernard Chant, achieved commercial success. With fresh green top notes and an oakmoss base, it reflected Halston’s vision for a modern, distinctive scent. The collaboration between Halston and Elsa Peretti not only redefined the aesthetics of perfume packaging but also contributed to the scent’s immediate popularity. Within two years, it became one of the top-selling perfumes globally, and the bottle remains an icon of 20th-century design.
“Elsa and Halston were a match made in fashion heaven. They both created pieces that not only reflected the era they were living in, but would be as timeless then as they are now. For example, if you came across someone at a cocktail party and they were wearing a Halston dress paired with Elsa’s Bone Cuffs, it would look as elegant now as it did half a century ago. It’s rare for fashion to have that transgenerational ability, but it’s always the mark of great style.”
Jordan Wake Fashion Journalist, Contributor to American Vogue, British Vogue, and 10 Magazine
ELSA PERETTI AND HALSTON’S LONG-STANDING LEGACY
DISCOVER MORE
SUPPORTING WITH LOVE HALSTON IN AWARDING SCHOLARSHIPS TO YOUNG DESIGNERS IN MEMORY OF ELSA PERETTI AND HALSTON’S LONG-STANDING LEGACY
With Love Halston Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of American, fashion icon Halston, is proud to award scholarships to emerging fashion designers in memory of Elsa Peretti and Halston’s enduring creative partnership. The organization’s mission is twofold: to support the next generation of design talent and to foster educational initiatives that explore the history and impact of American fashion, with a particular focus on Halston’s transformative contributions.
“Elsa Peretti & Halston: Beyond Design” event held in 2023 Teatre Akadèmia in Barcelona with Lesley Frowick, Halston’s niece, Founder and Director of Halston Personal Archives and Founder of With Love Halston Inc.; Stefano Palumbo, Board Member of the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation; Carlos Martorell, public relations, writer and journalist; and scientific director of IED Barcelona’s Fashion Department, Pilar Pasamontes.
INTERVIEW WITH LESLEY FROWICK
From your perspective, how did Halston’s mentorship and creative vision influence Elsa Peretti’s artistic path as a designer? And how did Elsa Peretti, in turn, shape and/or inspire Halston’s own artistic world?
LF: Elsa Peretti and Halston were both nature lovers, most inspired by our abundantly beautiful Mother Earth. I believe this is the most essential of the many elements that brought these two titans of design together in their collaborations. While Halston designed his early hats in flowers and feathers, the latter often sculpted into the shape of birds, Elsa derived inspiration for her early pieces from beach detritus and elegantly weathered bones sculpting them into timeless wearable jewelry. The famous Elsa snuff bottle necklace, I have one from 1974 with a screw on lid, Halston featured on his runway with a delicate flower bud that landed just at the perfectly proportioned length hovering around the model’s cleavage. I would guess that it was at Elsa’s discretion, which of her creations she felt would best compliment Halston’s gowns. She manifested their collaborations with pride and confidence, him confident their collaborations would make the front page of Women’s Wear Daily.
Lesley Frowick is the Founder and President of the With Love Halston Inc. and the Founder and President of The Halston Archives and the niece of legendary designer Halston. Personally appointed by Halston as the guardian of his legacy, she was entrusted with his personal archive before his passing. Lesley began working alongside her uncle in the 1980s, gaining a front-row seat to his world of high fashion and couture. She is the author of Halston: Inventing American Fashion (Rizzoli) and has contributed to multiple exhibitions and publications, including Halston and Warhol: Silver and Suede. She co-curated the traveling exhibit of the same name and curated Halston Style at the Nassau County Museum of Art in 2017. Lesley also served as Executive Producer of the definitive Halston documentary, which premiered at Sundance in 2019. She continues to present and consult internationally on Halston’s life and enduring influence.
“They cared for each other tremendously. It was a truly symbiotic relationship as two graceful giraffes waltzing into a star studded night.”
Lesley Frowick
How does the collaboration between With Love Halston and the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation in supporting scholarships for young designers celebrate the legacy and lasting friendship between Halston and Elsa Peretti?
LF: Our team, With Love Halston (WLH), is so appreciative of the support that we have received over the past several years from the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation. It has allowed members of our team to travel around the globe, reaching rising fashion design students with your helping hand and educating our students on the design brilliance of both Elsa Peretti and Halston. Our non profit foundation honors Halston and Elsa’s sensibilities, offering the first prize winner the Open Heart Box designed by Elsa Peretti for Tiffany & Co. Our artistic Director Audrey Schilt, CFO Scott Vogel, Brook Frowick Drummond Halston’s niece, and myself, during our initial Halston presentation and mentoring sessions, always mention the connectivity of Elsa and Halston’s designs and we encourage students to explore that relationship within their visions in fabric and accessories.
“Peretti and Halston aligned in a universe of elegance, her bud vase necklaces were such an inventive thing, when they first appeared on the Halston catwalk with a simple blossom thrust inside and worn inside a low-slung halter evening look.”
André Leon Talley WWD, March, 2021