Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston

Released Jan 20, 2012

1h 33m

Documentary

List

33%

27 Reviews

Tomatometer

41%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Filmmaker Whitney Smith documents the couturier and milliner's work during the 1970s as he created the casual chic look.

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Critics Consensus

Its subject is fascinating, but Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston is a rambling and unfocused profile.

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Audience Member

Unlikeable characters, badly written and delivered lines..

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Amazing footage - super stars of the fashion industry and a close up of Halston and his fashion empire, friends and home. Archive footage and amazing interviews with Liza, André Leon Talley, Bob Colacello, Diane Von Fürstenberg, Anjelica Huston, Dupont twins and more!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Could have been pretty great in the hands of a half capable interviewer.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

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Audience Member

Had to turn this off halfway through...I was so embarrassed for this Whitney Sudler-Smith who was so unprepared to interview these icons and legends. How the hell did he get these interviews in the first place? ( I am sure Andre Leon-Talley was wondering the same thing.)

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

One of the worst documentaries ever. The film maker, a pseudo Burt Reynolds, driving around in a ridiculous trans am with his hair doing trans colours is un-prepped, un-interesting and a gooph. Standing outside the Halston home in the rain is the hi-light of this dull epic. How he garnered interviews with some of the celebrities is beyond any scope of reason. But to arrive unprepared is downright shameful. What is worse is the lame telling the story of a man who in all terms, was a brilliant artist who brought style and sophistication to a country that was not so till then. Learning NOTHING in this poorly conceived and half baked confusing story...Halston would be appalled.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Vanity project for porn-stached Trans Am driving Whitney Smith. If your're going to make a movie about Halston then focus on Halston, not yourself. Who wants to watch you interview your mother about you?

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

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Whitney Smith

Director

Phillip Bloch

Actor

Stephen Burrows

Actor

Pat Cleveland

Actor

Bob Colacello

Actor

Anjelica Huston

Actor

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Dressed

84%

58%

Women Art Revolution

89%

70%

Filmed in Supermarionation

89%

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Gerhard Richter Painting

86%

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Anthony Quinn

Independent (UK)

[It's directed by] an unknown amateur named Whitney Sudler-Smith who looks a bit like Julian Assange and seems almost surprised to be making a film at all.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 17, 2015

Full Review

Dave Calhoun

Time Out

The film is poorly structured, and most of Sudler-Smith's conclusions are trite.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 17, 2015

Full Review

Wendy Ide

Times (UK)

I want to believe that Whitney Sudler-Smith, the director and camera-hogging "presenter" of Ultrasuede: In Search Of Halston, is some kind of Bruno-like parody of a fashion victim. He's too gloriously, self- importantly inept to be real, surely?

Rated: 2/5

Apr 17, 2015

Full Review

Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

Sadly, what could have proved to be an enlightening and substantive documentary... is instead a poor man's regurgitation of newsreels and magazine glossies fueling a filmmaker's ego.

Nov 26, 2019

Full Review

Cammila Albertson

TV Guide

It becomes clear throughout the movie that you don't have to be a fanboy or fashionista to appreciate the story of such a smart, flawed, fabulous man.

Rated: 3.5/5

Apr 17, 2015

Full Review

Mike Scott

Times-Picayune

Halston's name is in the title, but the faintly irritating Ultrasuede isn't necessarily about the fashion designer. It's about director Whitney Sudler-Smith

Rated: 2/5

Mar 9, 2012

Full Review

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Synopsis

Filmmaker Whitney Smith documents the couturier and milliner's work during the 1970s as he created the casual chic look.

Director: Whitney Smith
Producer: Shawn Simon, Mark Urman
Screenwriter: Whitney Smith, Anne Goursaud
Production Co: Creative Artists Agency
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 20, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 19, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $4.0K
Runtime: 1h 33m

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