Halston, Netflix
Was it brave or terrible casting?
Ewan McGregor plays Halston, an American fashion designer who made his name in 1970s New York.
No, I hadn’t heard of him either.
Roy ‘Halston’ Frowick stared out as a milliner before fashion discarded hats in the free flowing 1960s.
Halston hooked up with Liza Minnelli and created a new persona as Halston, the first American couturier who would dress rich women head to toe in his clothes and accessories.
The singer and the designer formed a bond in their respective bids to escape their previous lives. Minnelli as the daughter of Judy Garland and Halston as the creator of the pillbox hat Jacqueline Kennedy wore to her husband’s inauguration in 1961.
Minnelli credits Halston with helping her win an Oscar by stepping in at the last minute to redesign the costumes for Cabaret.
Krysta Rodriguez is fantastic as Liza. In her first scene she does the ‘Liza with a Z’ routine in a bar as a transfixed Halston luxuriates on a cigarette and considers her “terrible dress style”.
“Why do you dress like a little girl?” he asks her afterwards.
Rodriguez performs again at an America versus France fashion competition at the Palace of Versailles. She is stupendous.
McGregor, who made his name playing a scheming drug addict in 1980s Edinburgh, plays Halston as flamboyant, ostentatious and promiscuous as you would expect a fashion designer to the rich and famous to be.
And like many ultra-successful people, Halston is often nihilistic and impatient of the flaws of others.
It’s fun and over the top and McGregor plays it up for all he’s worth. Dark sunglasses at all times and a cigarette held over the shoulder
Although he is willing to overlook a bit of intravenous drug taking by his young assistant as long as he keeps producing the goods. This extends to plenty of cocaine for himself.
Halston also needs help with managing budgets. His ego and ambition tend to outsize the practicalities of running a fashion business.
After sluggish sales from his first two collections in the late 1960s, he’s advised to trim some of the excess from his office spending.
“Orchids are part of my process,” he storms. “You can’t put a budget on inspiration.”
The business side of fashion is his downfall and the five-episode series is essentially about the clash between artist and commerce and how the creatives often lose out to the money men.
“I must be a real artist because I’m a terrible businessman,” says Halston in one reflective moment.
It’s fun and over the top and McGregor plays it up for all he’s worth. Dark sunglasses at all times and a cigarette held over the shoulder.
The casting was brave and correct. McGregor was excellent.
USPGA Golf, Sky Sports
Elite sports and politics appear to have transposed their approach to age.
While politicians are getting younger (Leo Varadkar is a former taoiseach at 42 and Arlene Foster’s political career appears over at 50), successful sports people are getting older.
Golf has always allowed longer careers than other sports, but Phil Mickelson has set a new target by winning one of the sport’s major events a few weeks short of his 51st birthday.
It made for gripping television in the early hours of Monday morning as Mickelson lunged at the ball in an effort to keep up with the power of 31-year-old Brooks Koepka on the longest course in major history.
Koepka, who previously posed naked for the cover of ESPN Magazine ‘The Body Issue’, spends more time in the gym than on the golf course.
“You only play well here if you hit bombs... and well, today I hit bombs,” Mickelson beamed in an interview after collecting the trophy in his sixth decade.
