Redesigning and redefining the House of Halston

Most people who recognize the name Bradley Bayou probably know him for his daytime TV persona: He’s a regular guest on the estrogen-fueled kaffeeklatsch known as “The View” on ABC. On Lifetime, he rescues the aesthetically challenged in a show called “Operation Style.”

But he is also a fashion designer, and earlier this month, he was named creative director for the American fashion house Halston, which might be just the thing the long-suffering brand needs.

Then again, it might be yet another futile attempt to rescue Halston from licensing obscurity.

Bayou follows a long list of designers who have tried unsuccessfully over the last four years to resuscitate the Halston name (Kevan Hall, Randolph Duke, among others), leading some to wonder if the effort is even worth it. Others are optimistic.

“The name is still valid,” said Joan Kaner, Neiman Marcus fashion director. “It’s like a lot of names that have lain fallow....If they get the right person in there and allow them to do their thing, it could be important.”

*

Celebrity clientele

Bayou, 46, who moved to L.A. from New York six years ago, is known as a dressmaker for clients who can drop $1,500 and more on a garment. He has a Robertson Boulevard boutique and a nearby design studio, where the Halston line will be produced next fall.

His roster of customers includes Halle Berry, Geena Davis and Oprah Winfrey -- who wore his pale yellow gown so successfully to the Emmys in February.

One thing Bayou has in common with Halston is a surfeit of charisma. Halston started his design career as a milliner, creating Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ famed pillbox hat. Later, he became known for simple, modern clothes with clean lines -- notably caftans and Ultrasuede shirt dresses -- and for late nights at Studio 54 with Liza Minnelli, Bianca Jagger, Andy Warhol and others.

One of the first celebrity-designers, he ushered in the era in which fashion success depends as much on personality as talent.

In the 1970s and ‘80s, Halston, who was among the first designers to recognize the potential of licensing, signed myriad agreements for products including eyeglasses, towels, luggage, uniforms for the Girl Scouts, a clothing line for J.C. Penney and, of course, perfume. As his business was bought by successively larger companies, the pressure for profit grew.

Unable to control the licenses and plagued by rumors of drug use, Halston was effectively paid not to design by the companies that owned his name. Until his AIDS-related death in 1990, Halston struggled in vain to buy back his own name.

*

Teddy bear charm

Like Halston, Bayou’s design philosophy is decidedly democratic. He is fond of saying, “I just want to make people look and feel better.” A bodybuilder with a hulking, 6-foot-3-inch frame, he cuts a mean figure in tight black Comme des Garcons pants, a Calvin Klein T-shirt and shiny Prada shoes. And despite his rather imposing appearance, he’s all Texas teddy bear charm, as eager to ask questions as to answer them. (“Where you from?” “Where’d you go to school?” “How long have you lived in L.A.?”)

Born Bradley Bayoud, he never had formal fashion training, but his mother, Joan, owned several fashion boutiques in Dallas, and as a child, he accompanied her on buying trips to Europe.

Although he never met Halston, he did come close -- within a few feet to be exact. “In 1978, my ex-wife and I went to Studio 54. Halston was sitting there in a booth with Liza Minnelli and the Rolling Stones. I was completely flabbergasted,” Bayou said recently over lunch at Morton’s. “We went and sat behind the booth and pretended like we were a part of his entourage. It was so cool.”

Career-wise, Bayou has had more lives than a cat. He started out in Dallas as a real estate developer with a wife and two young children. In 1988, he divorced, moved to Los Angeles to become a painter and even had a few gallery shows.

He fell into fashion in 1989 after seeing a segment on MTV’s “House of Style” about vests being a new trend. Thinking he could do better than what he saw on the show, he marched down to the Salvation Army, bought several men’s tuxedo vests for $1.50 each and hand-painted them with acrylics. The rest is Fred Segal history. A friend took Bayou’s creations to a buyer at the trend-setting L.A. store, who placed an order on the spot. Soon, orders followed from Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys New York.

*

A vested interest

Guessing that the vests would be a passing fad, he began making painted and beaded gowns in 1990. The dresses sold quickly, and Bayou debuted a full collection for the 1990 fall/winter season.

After several pieces landed in the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, he moved there and began showing during New York Fashion Week.

Although he continued to receive orders from Barneys and Saks, in 1996 his financial backer pulled out, he said. Bayou closed his showroom doors and packed his bags for L.A.

He opened his shop and legendary L.A. designer James Galanos, who retired in 1998, brought him clients. (The two were introduced by Bayou’s sister, Laura Hunt, who married into the famous Texas family. Bayou employs several seamstresses and patternmakers who once worked for Galanos.)

*

Branching into TV

Around the same time, Bayou also started developing ideas for TV, including “Operation Style,” which debuted last year.

On the show, a kind of lifestyle “Mission: Impossible,” Bayou and other experts are given design challenges from people who apply for help. A homemaker wants to cook a romantic dinner for less than $100, for example, or a working woman needs to redecorate a dining room in one weekend.

Bayou said he was approached by Halston for the job a few months ago. It’s not the first time the house has sought a Hollywood connection. Piyawat Pattanapuckdee, who formerly worked for L.A. designer Richard Tyler, designed the spring collection presented in New York in September and sold in Saks and Nordstrom. And Hall and Duke, both L.A.-based designers with a celebrity clientele, designed for Halston briefly.

“There have been good designers in place before,” said James Ammeen, chief executive officer of Neema Clothing, the privately held parent company of the Halston name.

“But the brand didn’t have the overall direction and support that it needed. It needed a spokesperson ... someone to live the brand, speak the brand and promote the brand to the public,” he said. “Halston was bigger than life. He was a personality, he set trends. When he was at a party people knew it. And Bradley will be very much that way.”

*

Runway show in L.A.?

Since acquiring Halston in 1999, Ammeen has pared down to only a handful of licenses. He hopes now that the focus can be on the designer collection, and that eventually Bayou will branch into menswear and home furnishings. The first line of women’s ready to wear will include about 60 pieces. Instead of showing on a runway during New York Fashion Week in February, Bayou said he wants to do something different, possibly in L.A.

He says the clothes will appeal to a range of women -- from the 18-year-old supermodel to the 50-year-old woman who has a luncheon to attend, Bayou said, adding, “I really like people to look better. That’s what style is all about. If you just needed clothes, you could wear a sack.”