In the final episode of In Vogue: The 1990s, we consider the end of a decade in which the fashion industry was transformed, expanded, and renewed—and brought to the cusp of the digital age that has only changed it further.
“By the late 1990s the world seemed like it had no limits,” observed In Vogue host Hamish Bowles. There was a blip of Y2K anxiety, but as doomsday was diverted, fashion continued on its merry way into the new millennium until September 11, 2001. For many people this tragedy marks the true end of the 1990s and was the day that the sense of optimism and possibility that had fueled fashion’s growth and reach had disappeared.
So much had happened: Supermodels ceded to superstars; family-owned legacy brands were organized into conglomerates; and grunge and hip-hop remixed fashion at the same time that age-old dictates were dismissed in favor of self-expression and a grab-bag approach to styling.
September 11 pressed pause on the industry’s material expansion and can-do mindset as a recession hit. Fashion might seem to fetishize change, at least on the surface, but the industry was reluctant to embrace technology. “For all the change that happened in fashion in the ’90s, it was also the last decade that the old fashion world existed,” said Bowles. “We all have nostalgia for these first moments of change. We were living in the last years of the 20th century, standing on a precipice of the digital age. The ’90s gave us a glimpse of what the future held, what we could imagine the internet age could be. Few saw it at the time, but in retrospect it seems so obvious: cell phones and the internet led us to being able to see any fashion show whenever we wanted at any time...”
Learn more about the end of the era on In Vogue: The 1990s. Joining Vogue’s editorial team on this episode, in order, are: designer Stella McCartney; actor Julia Stiles, Vogue’s sustainability editor Tonne Goodman; actor Elizabeth Hurley; model Claudia Schiffer; actor Debra Messing; journalist Cathy Horyn; model and editor Jenny Capitan; designer Donna Karan; Fern Mallis, former executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America; model Georgina Grenville; designers Anna Sui, Isaac Mizrahi, Victoria Beckham, and Hussein Chalayan; Lo Life cofounder Rack-Lo; actor Sharon Stone; designers Dapper Dan and Marc Jacobs; fashion historian Kim Jenkins; actor and model Tyson Beckford; designer John Galliano; stylist Misa Hylton; actor Meg Ryan; hip-hop artist Missy Elliott; actor Raven Symoné; rapper Big Boi; and R&B singer Kelly Rowland.
Thank you so much revisiting the ’90s with us.
In Vogue: The 1990s airs Fridays from September 17. Listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, or wherever you get your podcasts. The LEGO Group is a launch sponsor.
Listen to “Episode 12: Rappers on the Runway: How Hip-hop Changed Fashion,” here.
Listen to “Bonus Episode: John Galliano in Conversation with Hamish Bowles,” here.
Listen to “Episode 10: It Bags and It Girls,” here.
Listen to “Episode 9: NYC: The Rise of Downtown,” here.
Listen to “Episode 8: London Libertines: Galliano, McQueen, Chalayan, and McCartney,” here.
Listen to “Episode 7: Queering Culture,” here.
Listen to “Episode 6: Tom Ford’s Gucci,” here.
Listen to “Episode 5: Prada: A Revolution from Within,” here.
Listen to “Episode 4: Karl Lagerfeld the Creative Director,” here.
Listen to “Episode 3: Brand Americana,” here.
Listen to “Episode 2: Grunge Strikes Back,” here.
Listen to “Episode 1: The Rise of the Supermodel,” here.
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