For Pre-Fall, Halston Heritage designer Marie Mazelis found herself looking at a powder blue feather-wig hat designed by Halston during his early days of creating chapeaus for Bergdorf Goodman—a piece that's bold, beautiful, and shares plenty of DNA with the glamour that would come to be synonymous with the house that Roy built. But while Mazelis nodded to it through a series of airy feather prints, the hat's joie de vivre was absent here. Some of the looks felt soigné (a buttery suede slipdress), but others were a touch lackluster, if perhaps safer for sales (cropped khaki-colored trousers, paired with a printed peach tank and ruched suede belt). Stronger were the more distinctive bets, like a fluttery paneled frock and a double-face cashmere coat in blush. For her Spring outing, Mazelis was keen to stress the fact that Halston Heritage is not an archival brand, but with this collection she felt adrift. She'll want to define her perspective a bit more strongly if the Halston name is going to rally in the face of a beleaguered recent history.
