Halston sold his name with his company for $16 million and was then barred from it

Roy Halston Frowick was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1932. Jacqueline Kennedy wore his pillbox hat to the 1961 inauguration. In 1972 Newsweek named him the best designer in America. In 1973 Norton Simon Inc. paid him $16 million for his business, his creative services and the rights to his name, forming Halston Enterprises. In 1983 he signed a six-year licensing deal with J.C. Penney, reported at $1 billion, and announced it on television. Bergdorf Goodman dropped his line. Esmark Inc. bought the company. By 1984 he had been all but pushed out of his own company, and New York showrooms were selling Halston gowns for $25. He tried to buy his name back and failed. He then designed only for Liza Minnelli and a few friends. He died in San Francisco on 26 March 1990, aged 57, of Kaposi's sarcoma of the lungs related to AIDS. He had planned to move to Northern California to be near his brothers and sister. The Halston name stayed with corporate owners. His niece, Lesley Frowick, directs the Halston Archives.