From Stella McCartney’s feud with an icon to Anna Wintour slamming Kate Moss – how the fashion industry exploded in 90s
OASIS are back and everyone is talking about the Nineties again – which might actually be the coolest decade in history.
As well as the Gallagher brothers, it was the era that launched the careers of supermodels including Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and Cindy Crawford.
It saw the arrival of the Spice Girls and the Beckhams, Elizabeth Hurley in that safety-pin Versace number and John Galliano’s slip dress for Princess Diana’s Met Gala debut.
It is a creation, he reveals in new Disney+ documentary In Vogue: The 90s, that the royal would go on to tear apart.
The six-part series features Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, along with A-list celebrities, revealing some of the juiciest showbiz and fashion moments from the decade.
Here, Hayley Minn shares some of the best bits from the show…
- You can stream In Vogue: The 90s on Disney+.
- Episodes one to three launch on Friday and four to six from September 20.
Rise of the supermodel
THESE days, everyone knows the names Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford.
But it was George Michael’s Freedom! ’90 video that turned them into household names.
Talking about her decision to shoot the 1990 promo, Naomi, 54, says: “I was thinking this is going to be a great memory to have. I didn’t know the impact it would have.
“Suddenly I felt famous. I remember waking up to read what I’d eaten for breakfast the previous morning.”
The world fell in love with the drop-dead gorgeous women as they lip-synced to George’s hit song.
Model Claudia Schiffer, 54, says she regrets not taking part.
She adds: “I was ambassador for Chanel at the time and the advice I got was I could be jeopardising my position. Then, when I saw the video, I thought, ‘I should’ve done this’.”
Summing up the rise of the supermodel, Linda Evangelista famously said later: “I don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000.”
Liz Hurley and THAT dress
THE actress and model was a relative unknown when she attended the London premiere of Four Weddings And A Funeral in 1994 with her then-boyfriend, the film’s leading man Hugh Grant.
Liz, 53, says: “I’d been mentioned in the local paper so I thought I was zinging. I knew I had to have a dress for the premiere and someone said, ‘I know someone who’s got a PR firm and might be able to help you’.”
She took the Tube to the PR firm to collect the one dress it had – an extremely revealing black Versace number, famously held together with large gold “safety pins”.
The Austin Powers beauty recalls: “I’d never heard the name Versace before and it looked pretty precarious.
“But I remember touching my toes and stretching up in it, and nothing moved, so I galloped down the stairs and that was that.”
She adds: “The next day we were on the front page of every newspaper and I’m like, ‘What the hell is this?’.
“I hadn’t really realised how daring a dress it was.”
Posh and Becks’ first date
THE Beckhams revealed last year that they would meet in secret in car parks when they began seeing each other.
Now Posh, 50, has given some insight into their first proper date in 1997 and the efforts her husband, 49, made to win her over.
She says: “When I first met David, he’d heard I was the Spice Girl who liked designer clothes.
“So after going to a few football matches – and I would say me pursuing him, but he’d probably say stalking him – we arranged to go out on a date together.
“He was like, ‘Well, I don’t know what to wear, she’s the one who likes designer clothes’.
“So he went out and bought himself a full Prada look for our first date to impress me, which it did, because it was Prada.”
KK & Madonna’s surprise friendship
NOW a reality TV queen, Kim Kardashian was a complete unknown growing up in Los Angeles during the Nineties.
At the time, it was her neighbour Madonna capturing all the headlines.
“I was the biggest Madonna fan,” 43-year-old Kim says.
“I was her dog walker. She was my neighbour and I was eight years old.
“One day, I went down to walk Madonna’s dog and she gave us this shoe box, me and [sister] Kourtney.
“We opened the box and it was all neon, rubbery bracelets.
“We went to school and we were wearing all this neon stuff and everyone was saying, ‘Where did you get that?’.
“And I was like, ‘Madonna gave it to me’.
“They were like, ‘Yeah right’, and I’m like, ‘No seriously, Madonna gave it to me!’.”
Stella McCartney, original nepo-baby
AGED just 25, Stella got the job as creative director at fashion brand Chloe, taking over from Karl Lagerfeld in 1997.
As the daughter of Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney and his late wife Linda, she was heavily criticised for getting a leg up in the industry, especially as she had only graduated from Central Saint Martins two years earlier.
Stella, 52, recalls: “Karl said, ‘I knew they’d take a big name to fill my boots, but I thought they’d take a big name in fashion, not music’, and I was like, ‘Oooh, bitch!’.”
Thousands flocked to Paris Opera House for her first show with Chloe, where they saw models including Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell showcase Eighties looks. It was a huge success.
Stella stayed there until 2001. She says: “There’s no better revenge than kicking ar*e. And Karl retracted his statement and asked to take my picture.
“I said no because I’m getting on the Eurostar, and rode out of there.”
Kate Moss inspires Heroin Chic
KATE was 18 when she fronted Calvin Klein’s first campaign with Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg in 1992, when he was known as Marky Mark, the rapper.
It was the Croydon-born model’s first big modelling gig and turned her into a huge name overnight.
But Kate would never have got her break had the designer’s first choice, Vanessa Paradis, been available.
Kate, 50, recalls: “The timing was everything but it was quite over-whelming.”
While the campaign pictures of a topless Kate sent her career rocketing, they were also criticised for inspiring an ultra-skinny look dubbed “heroin chic”.
Anna Wintour says: “That undernourished model look made people uncomfortable.”
Kate says she was blamed by the parents of children with eating disorders simply for being naturally slim.
She adds: “I was just skinny and people weren’t used to seeing skinny.”
Diana tore up couture gown
ONE of the biggest fashion icons of the Nineties was Princess Diana.
She was aspiring British designer John Galliano’s first couture client when he dressed her for the New York Met Gala in 1996, not long after she and Charles announced their divorce.
“It was a blessing,” he recalls. “We went to Kensington Palace and discussed the look in detail. I was trying to push pink and she wasn’t having it.”
The final look on the night was a sexy silk dress with negligée trim, that resembled lingerie, and Vogue called it “her most unroyal look to date”.
But John has now revealed Diana took the dress apart, transforming the look. He says: “Everything was correct in the fittings, then it got to the event and I remember her getting out the car. I was shocked.
“She’d ripped the corset, she didn’t want to wear it. She felt so liberated that she tore the corset up, and the cameras went mental.”