Halston Color Blocked Cape, 1981

In the early 1950s, while attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Roy Halston Frowick (American, 1932-90) began a business designing and making women's hats. Halston gained a well-known clientele designing for the Chicago elite, including Peg Zwecker, a fashion editor for the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Daily News. Zwecker was an early supporter of Halston. Later Halston became the head milliner for the high-end New York City department store Bergdorf Goodman. His fame rose when he designed the pill-box hat that Jacqueline Kennedy wore to the inauguration of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, in 1961. In the late 1960s, Halston made the transition to women's clothing, opening a boutique on Madison Avenue in New York, and started a ready-to-wear line eventually rising to international fame in the 1970s with countless licensing agreements.

Comedian Carol Channing was photographed setting next to legendary Studio 54 nightclub owner Steve Rubell at a Halston fashion show in April of 1981 held at Olympic Tower wearing a version of this cape.

THE FIRST
Wool color blocked cape of purple, green and brown with fold down collar, banded openings at the side for arms, center front button closure.
Label: Halston
Size Label: N/A
Style/Serial No.: N/A

Approximate Measurements:
Shoulders: 17"
Chest: 60"
Waist: 68"
Hips: 82"
Length (high shoulder point to hem): 44"