Did Halston invent ultrasuede? No.
But was Halston the first fashion designer to use ultrasuede? No again.
If you watched Halston on Netflix you’ve seen a telling of fashion history that alludes to Halston being the inventor of synthetic ultrasuede fabric. But it was actually invented in Japan in 1970 by Dr. Miyoshi Okamoto and manufactured by Toray.
And in 1983 the New York Times said that Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake was the first to use ultrasuede in 1971. And according to the Museum at FIT Halston discovered ultrasuede when he attended that fashion show.
So while that sort of seems to blow apart the entire mythology, I will say that according to their website, ultrasuede.com, Halston put in his order in 1970, only a few months after its invention. Even though, his iconic ultrasuede coat debuted in 1972. So I don’t know what to think!
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