Yahoo Style
Why Celebrities Matter to Fashion (and Vice Versa)
Sam LaneEditorial Assistant
Updated
1991: Models Become A-Listers
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Gianni Versace capitalized on the magnificent power of the supermodel during the early 90s by casting the big four—Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Cindy Crawford— to walk the runway and appear in his ad campaigns. These women were considered to be a new power elite, not only because they were beautiful and brought real personality to the runway, but also because they were the ultimate dream of self-made success. They received tremendous promotions from average earnings of $8 per hour to $1.8 million contracts with fashion’s biggest labels and appeared in popular music videos like George Michael’s “Freedom 90,” which was yet another springboard to their fame, exalting their status from supermodels to super women.
1994: Elizabeth Hurley Debuts “THAT Dress”
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Remember when Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant dated? Hurley needed a dress to accompany Grant to the premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral, choosing this little black dress by Versace. The dress that was held together by oversized gold safety pins might be the designer’s most famous look ever—and, let’s face it, it’s what launched Hurley toward stardom. Hurley said of the dress that, “It was a favor from Versace because I couldn’t afford to buy one.”A copy of the dress later sold at London’s Harrods department store for ￡10,690. Ok, maybe Mr. Gianni Versace also acknowledged the power of movie stars (and their curvy assets, too).
1995: Madonna Hits the Runway and Uma Thurman Wears the Runway
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While Madonna was at the peak of her success, she walked the runway for her longtime friend, French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier in his spring/summer 1995 collection. During Madonna’s flamboyant act on the runway, where she pushed a stroller with a puppy inside, fashion audiences roared with applause in admiration for the designer. All Madonna had to do was walk down a runway for two to three minutes, and Gaultier was thrust into the limelight.Around the same time, Uma Thurman wore a beautifully crafted, lavender-colored Prada dress at the 67th Academy Awards. Not only was Thurman considered to be the belle of the ball, she was also one of the first to bring high fashion from the runways of Milan to Hollywood’s red carpet. Her appearance that night catapulted her onto several magazine covers.
1998: Vogue Puts Oprah on the Cover
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U.S. Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour helped push the celebrity into fashion’s mainstream during the late 90s. Wintour took a risk by recycling those 5-foot-10 skinnies that populated the covers of fashion magazines when she put Oprah Winfrey on the cover of Vogue in 1998. Although Wintour allegedly advised Winfrey to drop 20lbs for the cover photo, this image was nonetheless groundbreaking for fashion and its acceptance of healthy bodies. Not to mention, Oprah Winfrey is far more relatable than emaciated, teen girls with pretty faces.
2000: Versace Strikes Again
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After Gianni Versace was murdered in 1997, his sister Donatella took over as creative director of the brand. Believe it or not, Donatella took Versace’s already hypersexual image to the next level with just one green dress. You know what we’re talking about, Jennifer Lopez wore it to the Grammys in 2000. Its plummeting neckline fell just below J. LO’s navel and featured a very, very high slit. Basically, the dress was more like a beach cover-up. It was endlessly mocked and mimicked, most memorably by Matt Stone, the co-creator of South Park, who wore a similar version while tripping on LSD.
2003: Ska Princess Turns Fashion Queen
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Around the time celebrities realized just how well they could move product, Gwen Stefani launched her own clothing line. The No Doubt star founded her fashion line L.A.M.B. (Love. Angel. Music. Baby) in 2003, a hodgepodge of influences from Japan to Jamaica, it did not receive much attention until her spring/summer 2007 runway show at New York Fashion Week. Stefani’s serious approach to fashion was well-received and promotion was easy: she repeatedly dropped the brand’s name in songs like “Wind It Up,” “Harajuku Girls,” and “Crash,” with lines like “I want you all over me like L.A.M.B.” Stefani still shows at NYFW today.
2009: Spice Girl Launches Today’s Most Appreciated Label While the Mean Girl Flops
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In Stefani’s wake, two mainstream pop-stars tackled the fashion industry in 2009. On the one hand, Victoria Beckham a.k.a. “Posh Spice” successfully debuted her first collection. It’s become one of NYFW’s most anticipated shows, up there with big names like Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler, and Michael Kors. Meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan was appointed co-designer of the once storied brand, Emanuel Ungaro. The news was met with distress, which was nothing compared to the disastrous reaction to the collection. Considered one of fashion’s biggest flops, Lohan presented a series of looks with nipple pasties, which left audiences “aghast,” reported the Times. This is when the industry started to question celebrity fashion designers.
2011: Yeezus Finally Gets the Hint & Kate Middleton Chooses McQueen
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If a Spice Girl can launch her own fashion label, so can Kanye West, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, West followed the footsteps of Lohan when he debuted his own collection at Paris Fashion Week in October of 2011, a complete flop. The clothes were super heavy, emblazoned with zippers, crystals, and beaded appliqué that were neither flattering nor functional. His collection only lasted two seasons (one year) until he finally got the hint that he is in fact not an all-encompassing, multifaceted God. Sorry, Kanye.That same year, Europe enjoyed another fashion spectacle. This time it was at the Westminster Abbey Cathedral, and Kate Middleton walked through the chapel doors in a custom-made Alexander McQueen dress. McQueen had taken his life the year before, leaving his right-hand woman Sarah Burton at the helm of the brand. Middleton’s selection reaffirmed the opulent power of McQueen, while offering an esteemed nod to Burton’s successful public debut.
2013: Rappers Drop Fashion Names
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Tom Ford’s always had a loyal fashion following, he may even have an Oscar nomination under his belt, but it wasn’t until Jay Z devoted a song to the designer that he became quite so famous. The lyrics might have compared Ford’s impeccable tailoring to taking ecstasy (“molly”), but the designer found it both validating and flattering. In return, Ford’s fall/winter 2014 collection paid homage to Jay Z’s song with graphic, sequin jerseys. At the same time, Migos and Drake debuted their song “Versace,” which played as the soundtrack for Versace’s Milan show soon after.
2015: Kim Kardashian Dyes Hair Blonde—Fashion World Stops
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So here we are today, Paris Fashion Week has nearly wrapped, and we’ve spent the past five days talking about Kim Kardashian’s platinum blond hair—she has literally stolen the show. Certainly her new hairdo has brought attention to brands like Balmain, Lanvin, and Balenciaga, but could anyone even tell you what the clothes look like? Or how Alexander Wang’s designs are evolving? Or what Givenchy’s Victorian Chola really means? No, because we’re too busy talking about Kimye’s next move. It’s not that her contribution doesn’t matter—her longtime friend and Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing just hit 1 million followers on Instagram—but are people really buying his clothes because of KK? Has this mutually beneficial relationship become one-sided? Instead of the two mutually informing one another, it feels somewhat lopsided. Celebrities have taken over, leaving fashion in the dust. Now what?
Fashion knows that celebrity sells, perhaps even more than sex. Even the editor-in-chief of the world’s most sophisticated fashion magazine, Anna Wintour, cashed in on the double whammy, putting Kim Kardashian, who’s an A-list celebrity with a sex tape, on the cover of Vogue. To no one’s surprise, Mrs. Kardashian West has already made an impression on Paris Fashion Week over the past couple of days: she revealed her new platinum blonde hair and right nipple on the same day. But KK is not the only megastar flocking to PFW this season. So far, we’ve spotted Lorde, Jared Leto, and 50 Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson (Jaime Dornan was MIA—womp, womp) in the front row.
It may seem like these celebrities are only supporting their designer friends when they fly first class to Paris for a 15-minute show, but there’s a lot more to the relationship between a celebrity and a brand. For one thing, most are stars often paid to sit front row, or they have million dollar contracts. For another, they’re actually fueling the business by bringing unprecedented attention to a runway show, and thus the brand.
This relationship between fashion and celebrity has always been reciprocal. Ever since Jackie Onassis repeatedly wore Oscar de la Renta to glitzy events (and was always the best dressed), and Audrey Hepburn became friends Hubert de Givenchy, turning the label into the most desired fashion house of the 1950s to today, both sides have learned how to promote one another.
But it was during the early 90s that some of the most major stars infiltrated the fashion industry. They populated the catwalks of Paris (sometimes even modeling the clothes), they appeared in fashion magazines and ads, and some even collaborated with designers or became designers themselves.
Here, we look at a timeline of the best, unexpected, and downright worst celebrity moments in fashion.
More from Yahoo Style:
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