From Hillary Clinton to ‘Heroin Chic’: The Secrets of ’90s ‘Vogue’
Between Gen Z fashion trends and TV recap podcasts, ’90s nostalgia has never been higher. Now Hulu is cashing in on the trend with its six-part celebrity-filled docuseries In Vogue: The 90s, which premieres Sept. 13.
Featuring talking-head interviews with everyone from Sarah Jessica Parker and Naomi Campbell to Missy Elliott and Hillary Clinton, the series is a bright and breezy recap of “the decade that turned the fashion industry upside down.” It won’t be particularly groundbreaking for fashion aficionados who actually lived through the ’90s, but it’s an entertaining enough primer for those who wish they did.
The series begins with the woman who’s now synonymous with the magazine itself, “Warholian enigma” Anna Wintour, who left British Vogue to become the editor-in-chief of the American edition in 1988. Her mission was to revitalize the decades-old magazine with a fresh new energy, and she wasn’t afraid to ruffle feathers doing it. After refusing to take off her sunglasses for the documentary crew, Wintour recounts a funny story about deciding to put Madonna on the cover after chatting with a conservative gentleman who praised Vogue for being the sort of classy publication that would never showcase such a controversial pop star.
In Vogue complements that story with archival footage of the issue’s creation. Although if Madonna isn’t your thing, don’t worry because it’s not long before the series moves on to something else. The first episode alone covers the rise of supermodels as celebrities, the filming of George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90” music video, the explosive emergence of Kate Moss, Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg’s provocative Calvin Klein campaign, Wintour’s support of rising designer John Galliano, and the impact of the AIDS crisis—all while making time for Kim Kardashian to tell a story about how she used to walk Madonna’s dog when she was a kid.
Anna Wintour
Inspired by a 2020 Vogue podcast series of the same name, In Vogue feels a bit like those I Love the ’80s specials that used to air on VH1. It feverishly hops from topic to topic, letting its interviewees offer their two cents but mostly prioritizing breadth over depth. While each episode is loosely anchored around a particular topic (supermodels and fashion rebels are the first two), the series isn’t strict about thematic cohesion. Similarly, it acknowledges some of the controversial sides of the ’90s fashion industry—like the rise of the “heroin chic” aesthetic—but mostly keeps things light and watchable.
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Instead, the real fun of the series comes from seeing so many larger-than-life fashion personas collected in one place, recounting stories of their youth. There’s the Marc Jacobs grunge collection that made him an instant fashion icon but also got him fired from his job at Perry Ellis; the time Stella McCartney got her friends Campbell and Moss to walk in her college fashion showcase; and the early Alexander McQueen show that was so popular Wintour herself almost couldn’t get into the old synagogue where it was being held.
Naomi Campbell
Vogue editors like Hamish Bowles, Edward Enninful, Grace Coddington, Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, and Tonne Goodman make for colorful narrators with a deep love for fashion history, while celebrities like Victoria Beckham, Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mary J. Blige, and Claire Danes offer star wattage with a personal connection to the subject matter. Though only two episodes were screened for critics, future episodes promise to cover enticing topics like red-carpet fashion, the rise of the Met Gala, and the impact of hip-hop and Black style on ’90s fashion.
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It’s the ideal chaser for a fizzy show like Emily In Paris, arriving just in time for a double feature (the first three episodes of In Vogue debut on Sept. 13, while the final three drop Sept. 20). Don’t expect an explosive fashion exposé so much as a glamorous nostalgia trip.
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