Malcolm Hall (born Malcolm Halter, on 14 December 1947), is a British fashion designer, known for his flamboyant, tailored suits in velvets, satins, silks and brocades.
Celebrity following edit
Launched in 1972, the Malcolm Hall label quickly gained a celebrity following.[1]
Malcolm Hall suits were worn by ABBA, according to Simon Sheridan's The Complete ABBA.[2]
The Retro Gallery at MalcolmHall.net displays photographs of rock musicians wearing Malcolm Hall clothes as shown in the table.[3]
| Who | What |
|---|---|
| Paul McCartney | jackets; with guitar ca 1974; and 'Wings era' singing into microphone |
| Brian Eno | suit ca 1974 |
| Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople | jacket ca 1973 singing into microphone |
| Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones | white suit |
| Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin | white suit at the Riot House Hollywood; and another ca 1972 |
| Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA | white suits with a baggage trolley at Waterloo station |
| David Cross of King Crimson | gold suit; playing the fiddle |
| The Arrows | dark suits; with drum kit on Granada TV show |
| Billy Preston | white suit; at piano 1975 |
| jacket made for Tony Curtis | "embellished midnight blue velvet jacket" on stand; "sold at auction" |
| Mud (band) | various suits ca 1974 |
On 17 September 2011, the Malcolm Hall jacket made for Tony Curtis was sold at the Property from the Estate of Tony Curtis auction.[4]
National recognition edit
The Manchester Art Gallery's collection theme "Recycled Fashion" explains "Fashion in the early 1970s built on the decorative freedom of the later sixties to produce a riot of vibrantly patterned extravagant clothing for both men and women...English designers like ... Malcolm Hall ... produced superbly tailored and yet imaginative outfits for their wealthier London male clientele".[5]
The Victoria and Albert Museum's national collection "Theatre Costume" includes a "Painted satin and gold cord" stage costume made by Malcolm Hall for Jimmy Page, the flamboyant guitarist of rock group Led Zeppelin (and donated by Page to the museum); the costume, a suit in ivory-coloured satin, is "known as the 'Egyptian' costume because of the symbols prominent on the back of the satin jacket" – the "Eye of Thoth", "Nut (noot), Goddess of the sky"; a winged disk which "some believe ... is based on the appearance of the sun's corona during a solar eclipse." The museum concludes "the ivory satin costume itself would have been highly eye-catching; Page's wild performance style was reflected in his stage outfits."[6]
Manufacturing edit
As well as his shop in London W1, Malcolm Hall ran a manufacturing operation from his Islington factory, supplying stores worldwide with his ready-to-wear clothes. According to the Malcolm Hall website, the company today still "creates exquisite, rock-inspired, suits in velvets, satins, leathers, silks, denims, and rich brocades, which are shipped internationally."[7]
Recent developments edit
From 1995 to 2003 Hall collaborated with designers including Catherine Walker on gowns for Princess Diana, Bruce Oldfield and Anouska Hempel.[8]
More recently, Malcolm Hall has been working with private customers in bridal and women's evening wear, as well as relaunching his label with a new rock-inspired collection of suits.[9]
Malcolm Hall serves as expert "consultant fashion designer" to tailoring tutors TutorCouture.[10]
Bibliography edit
- Catherine Walker. An Autobiography by the Private Couturier to Diana, Princess of Wales, HarperCollins, 1998. ISBN 978-0-00-414055-1
- Simon Sheridan, The Complete Abba, Reynolds & Hearn, 2009. ISBN 978-1-904674-03-0
References edit
- ^ Manchester Art Gallery "Recycled Fashion"
- ^ Simon Sheridan, The Complete Abba, 2009, Page 114
- ^ a b MalcolmHall.net Retrospective Gallery Archived 14 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine Downloaded 25 October 2011
- ^ "Sold at Auction: TONY CURTIS EMBELLISHED VELVET BLAZER". Invaluable.com. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
- ^ "Manchester Art Gallery". Recycled Fashion. Manchester Art Gallery. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ^ "Victoria & Albert Museum". Theatre Costume. Victoria & Albert Museum. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ^ "Malcolm Hall.net". What We Do. Malcolm Hall. Archived from the original on 14 October 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
- ^ Catherine Walker, An Autobiography by the Private Couturier to Diana, Princess of Wales, Harper Collins, Pages 126, 127, 132, 133, 140 and 145
- ^ New collection Malcolm Hall's style gallery Archived 14 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "TutorCouture". How to Drape. TutorCouture. Retrieved 24 October 2011.