Kate Moss walking for Yves Saint Laurent in 1994.Photo: Getty Images
While some of us spent the better part of the 1990s learning to read, write, and feed ourselves (boring), others lived through a haze of sex, drugs, rock and roll (or, more accurately, grunge), and fashion—the latter of which is the subject of In Vogue: The 90s, a brand-new six-part docuseries on Hulu.
Based on a Vogue-produced podcast of the same name, the series, which aired its first three episodes on September 13, foregrounds the people who were there—from tastemaking designers and fashion editors to the era’s top models and actors—and the tales they have to tell are remarkable. Here, find five highlights from the first three episodes of In Vogue: The 90s.
Not everyone was so on board with “heroin chic”
As the “thin is in” mindset that defined so much of the ’90s enjoys a contemporary resurgence, it’s important to remember that even then, many industry decision-makers had their reservations about the waifish look typified by models like Kate Moss. “Those images certainly did not look healthy, they did not look well-fed, and this is going to be something that’s going to become a trend? This is going to be something we’re going to embrace and endorse?” Vogue’s Tonne Goodman recalls thinking upon seeing one particular Moss shoot. Notably, Moss also speaks for herself on the issue in the docuseries, noting: “If I’d been more buxom, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal. It’s just that my body shape was different from the models before me.” Indeed, the rise of so-called “heroin chic” became such a hot (and controversial) topic in the ’90s that no less a figure than former President Bill Clinton weighed in on it, saying in 1993: “You do not need to glamorize addiction to sell clothes.”
Alexander McQueen’s premier New York show was a beautiful disaster
Taking place in a former synagogue on the Lower East Side, Alexander McQueen’s 1996 New York debut was almost immediately iconic, with writer Lynn Yaeger recalling nearly 30 years later that the show “represented everything that I thought was cool and transgressive in fashion—the reason I was attracted to the field in the first place.” The environment on that night, though, was nothing short of chaotic, with crowds lining up outside and the likes of Anna Wintour, André Leon Talley, and Grace Coddington having difficulty gaining entry. McQueen himself, though—just 27 at the time—appeared unbothered by the stressful situation. “Nobody was willing to do that but Lee,” Moss remembers of the scene.
Stella McCartney had to contend with nepo-baby allegations after her first runway show
No, that precise term wasn’t yet in use, but the fashion designer (and daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney) still dealt with blowback after her 1995 Central Saint Martins graduation show—partly because she was able to cast supermodels including Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. “All the students were choosing their models, and they were getting their mates,” recalls McCartney in the docuseries. “I had mates, but my mates were the supermodels. I was like, ‘Everyone’s going to hate me if I do that,’ and then I just thought, sod it. Life’s too short, and you’re genuinely my mates.”
Gwyneth Paltrow’s first Vogue shoot was “a bit of a nightmare”
Now that the actress and Goop founder has seven Vogue US covers to her name, you could fairly consider her an expert Vogue girl. But Paltrow’s relationship with the magazine didn’t have a picture-perfect start in 1996, when celebrity covers were still rare. “For me, being asked to be on the cover of Vogue was the hugest deal, and I was so honored,” Paltrow recalls. “And actually, the first shoot that we did didn’t go well.” Coddington, who styled the nervous Emma star—then just 23—for the Steven Meisel-lensed story, remembers things similarly: “It was a bit of a nightmare.” Hey, all’s well that ends well.
An offhand comment from Tom Ford’s late husband changed the trajectory of his career
Though Tom Ford’s tenure as the creative director of Gucci has become the stuff of legend, his first collection for the luxury brand in 1994 was, well, something of a flop. “I always tell what I think…it was extremely boring!” laments longtime Vogue editor Carlyne Cerf du Dudzeele, and even now, Ford doesn’t disagree. It took some simple advice from journalist and fashion editor Richard Buckley, Ford’s longtime partner, to turn things around: “Somehow, you’ve got to make it sexy,” Buckley said. Ford recalls that “just that line propelled me to a time when things were sexy for me”—specifically, the last days of Studio 54—and lo and behold…he delivered.
The next (and final) three episodes of In Vogue: The 90s air on Friday, September 20.
This article was originally published on Vogue.com.
