The iconic Halston label - of sexy jersey dress & Studio 54 fame - gets a dose of Hollywood pizazz & ca$h.
While he’s experienced the fashion business from the sidelines (albeit on the arm of girlfriend Georgina Chapman, co-designer with Keren Craig of the three-year-old Marchesa line of cocktail and red carpet dresses) Harvey Weinstein is apparently not satisfied to look, not touch. He just announced plans to partner up with the Toronto-based Hilco Consumer Capital LLC (which invests in retailers, manufacturers and consumer products wholesalers such as Apparel Holdings Group, owner of Caribbean Joe, Cupid's Cup and Periscope) to purchase Halston from Neema Clothing Company.
Halston is an iconic label that conjures up visions of sexy jersey knit and fabulous '70s and '80s disco divas, but the chief design position has lacked a heavy-hitting long term tenant. Since the label’s 1997 relaunch, the design lineup has included Randolph Duke, Kevan Hall, Craig Natiello, Piyawat Pattanapuckdeen, Bradley Bayou, and even Jeff Mahshie of Chaiken as a consultant.
"Two years ago, when my brother and I started TWC [The Weinstein Company], one key component we were talking to the investors about was finding a name brand to acquire to diversify our company, just like Arnon Milchan did with Regency and Puma," Weinstein told WWD about the purchase, and the decision to bring on Jimmy Choo’s Tamara Mellon as creator director. (In addition, stylist-to-the-A-list Rachel Zoe will be a member of the advisory board in a creative consultant role.) "As soon as Tamara Mellon brought this deal to me, I knew that Halston would be a perfect fit for TWC."
However, is Weinstein’s motivation purely financial, or more personal? According to some rumors, it’s a way to give his girlfriend a fancy label of her own to resuscitate. It could also just be the man’s ego. "I walk down the street or into a room at Sundance and everyone wants to know what I think about their movies," Weinstein recently told WWD at a New York Fashionweek afterparty for Marchesa. "I go to a fashion show and no one gives a s—t what I think."
Now that he partly owns Halston, he may find himself with more new fashionista BFFs than he knows what to do with.
