5 things to know about Halston, the designer portrayed in Ryan Murphy's new Netflix show Releasing today, the mini series recounts the story of the designer who changed fashion as we know it

The fashion world boasts very layered mythology that, even decades later, hides backgrounds, secrets and stories that have been buried by time. One of these stories is that of Roy Halston Frowick, the famous designer of the 70s New York, whose story ended with such a decline that even Ewan McGregor, who plays his role in the new Netflix mini-series created by Ryan Murphy releasing today and named Halston, did not know who he was. But before delving into Murphy's version of the story, it will be better to review some facts about the life and work of the real Halston. 

He started out as a hatmaker and became famous thanks to Jackie Kennedy

If Halston's rise to the Olympus of fashion was spectacular (he was so popular that he designed the uniforms of the NYPD and those of airline staff, along with those of the Girl Scouts), his downfall was something ruinous and absolute – devastating enough to fade his memory into pop culture and erase his brand forever, despite the fact that there have been attempts to bring it back to life. After earning about $30 million (today's equivalent of $183 million), Halston sold his brand to industrialist Norton Simon for $16 million, while remaining its main designer. Ten years later he bought back the brand and, with what became perhaps the wrong decision in fashion history, he signed a six-year collaboration with J.C. Penney, a line of rather cheap department stores (anticipating the collaborations between great designers and fast fashion) but the move was received badly: not only was the line a flop but the retailers of his luxury line stopped ordering him. His brand began to change hands, he lost control of the company and stopped designing clothes. His life on drugs and parties continued, however, until he discovered in 1988 that he had AIDS. He retired to San Francisco where he died two years later from AIDS-complicated lung cancer.