Help with Halston IV Label

M

Michelle Schneiter

Registered Guest
Does anyone know anything about the Halston IV label? I see that it was the "Dorian Horchow Collection," but don't know who Dorian Horchow was. Presumably this label came out after his Halston III series for JCPenney, but as best I can tell from other pieces, this was a higher end label. The dress I have also has a Saks Fifth Ave label. My dress looks super 70s to me, but I know Halston III didn't come out until 1983, so logic would suggest that the Halston IV label followed that date. I'm just finding nothing on Horchow or when Halston introduced the IV label. Was Halston involved in that label at all or had he been pushed out by the time it was introduced? Help!

I've attached some photos.
 

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A 1976 article about licensing designer names stated: "In 1975, the licensing structure grew further with agreements negotiated with...Dorian Loungewear for Halston Loungewear..." I have fallen down a very deep rabbit hole in my attempt to connect Dorian Loungewear to fashion designer Miguel Dorian. If I am ever able to do that I will post the results here.
 
I think I finally exhausted my research on Dorian and am more comfortable now that the Dorian of the Styled by Dorian label is NOT designer Miguel Dorian. I found the trademark information for Dorian and there is no apparent connection to Miguel. I also found a detailed work history (up to 1950ish) for Miguel Dorian and there was no mention of the trademark, which was applied for in 1944.
DorianTrademarkLogoApril6-1954Gazette.jpg


CNMacksoudDorianTrademark1945.jpg


In addition, a 1944 article about the C.N. Macksoud company noted: "Also in the news with this lively house is the fact that they have started to present merchandise with their own label. Launching these negligees the first of the month, under the featured label 'Styled by Dorian...'"
 
lkranieri said:
I forgot to add that I am quite sure the Dorian Horchow collection refers to the fashions in the Dorian collection offered by the store Horchow.
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My piece does have a Saks label, so it definitely came from Saks, though I suppose there is no specific reference to Horchow on my piece. It just has the Dorian label. I found someone else out there in the cyber universe who referred to it as the Dorian Horchow collection. So maybe mine is just the Dorian collection. So based on your research, you believe Halston IV was a collaboration between the Dorian company that was started in 1944 and Halston with no ties to a specific designer?
 
I’ve attached a few more ads for your reference. (All Halston IV ads attached are from 1975) so you can see how it was marketed to the public.

Regarding the licensing…
Dorian was an established loungewear label.
In 1975 Dorian and Halston entered a licensing agreement. Halston’s team may have designed, (all licensing agreements are different), but at the very least would have approved the designs, and Dorian would have produced/manufactured the goods.

In the ads, the label was referred to as Halston IV for Dorian. It was designed as at home wear/loungewear that could be worn out as well. (A trend that continued into the 80s)
While it was much more affordable than Halston, it was/is considered more upscale than Halston III.

On the retailer topic, Your particular piece retailed at Saks.
Your piece does not relate to this info but I was curious if the Horchow Collection label has ties to the modern e-commerce/catalog Horchow, and it does.
(The other Halston IV piece you saw probably had a “Horchow Collection” label and that is where that piece would have retailed. Horchow Collection was a luxury mail order catalog , started by Roger Horchow in the early 70s. At that time it included fashion. It exists today as an e-commerce and mail order with furniture and home decor and is currently owned by the Neiman Marcus Group. (I’ve attached an 1980 article that mentions Horchow and Halston.)


Hope this helps.
 

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Noble Vintage Clothier said:
I’ve attached a few more ads for your reference. (All Halston IV ads attached are from 1975) so you can see how it was marketed to the public.

Regarding the licensing…
Dorian was an established loungewear label.
In 1975 Dorian and Halston entered a licensing agreement. Halston’s team may have designed, (all licensing agreements are different), but at the very least would have approved the designs, and Dorian would have produced/manufactured the goods.

In the ads, the label was referred to as Halston IV for Dorian. It was designed as at home wear/loungewear that could be worn out as well. (A trend that continued into the 80s)
While it was much more affordable than Halston, it was/is considered more upscale than Halston III.

On the retailer topic, Your particular piece retailed at Saks.
Your piece does not relate to this info but I was curious if the Horchow Collection label has ties to the modern e-commerce/catalog Horchow, and it does.
(The other Halston IV piece you saw probably had a “Horchow Collection” label and that is where that piece would have retailed. Horchow Collection was a luxury mail order catalog , started by Roger Horchow in the early 70s. At that time it included fashion. It exists today as an e-commerce and mail order with furniture and home decor and is currently owned by the Neiman Marcus Group. (I’ve attached an 1980 article that mentions Horchow and Halston.)


Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
You are AMAZING!!!!!! If I could reach through my computer and give you a big hug, I would. This is wonderful. Thank you a million times over. May I ask how you search old ads? I'd love to know how to do that. I have a cache of old magazines and have access to the Vogue archives, but I'm wondering if there's a virtual database of fashion ads that can be searched by designer.
You are the best! -- michelle
 
lol! Happy to help.
I was very curious about the specifics on these labels as well.
I use Newspapers.com
the subscription unfortunately isn’t cheap, but I use it just about every day.

Lynne @ikranieri do you have a different source?
 
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