In Vogue: The 90s

It's 15 years since The September Issue, the fashion documentary about Vogue, came out and there has been nothing as good as that until now... Now we see the people who were in the magazine in the 90's - the supermodels like Kate and Naomi, the designers like Calvin Klein, Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford. There is good coverage of London and the US and some set in Milan and Paris. There's also great footage of a young Anna Wintour. Each episode has a broad theme such at The Met Gala or London Rebels and commentary from people like Victoria Beckham, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sarah Jessica Parker alongside the main Vogue speakers - Anna, Hamish Bowles, Edward Enninful and Tonne Goodman.

The series is highly informative, providing a detailed account of Anna Wintour's career as she took charge of American Vogue and reshaped the magazine. It offers interviews with key figures who played significant roles during this transformative period in fashion. However, the inclusion of Kim Kardashian is puzzling. Her presence seems out of place, and if the intent was to present her as a metaphor for the youth of that era or as an example of how Anna Wintour and Vogue influenced her life, the execution falls short. Kardashian's superficial comments detract from the overall narrative.

Another point worth mentioning is the portrayal of Anna Wintour as solely responsible for setting and destroying fashion trends, such as the dismissal of grunge fashion. While her influence is undeniable, this depiction feels somewhat exaggerated.

That said, if viewed as a chronological display of pivotal fashion moments from the 1990s, the series is enjoyable and insightful for those interested in this iconic period of fashion history.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this series but was hoping for lots of glitz and glamour with interesting stories about stardom but ended up falling asleep during series 2. Maybe my expectations were too high, but listening to Sarah Jessica Parker talk about exactly when she started collecting the September Issue was boring. I guess I expected more from a series that included so many famous names from the fashion industry and yet to me the interviews were boring and repetitive. Famous designers giving one line answers, models giggling, nothing worth looking at or listening to. Nothing like the "September Issue".

This programme is on the face of it great fun - not unlike its subject matter. It gives a great sense of the environment and the world the magazine represents as well as the decade.

However, also like its subject matter, it's all a bit frivolous. If you're looking for an in depth study of the workings of the magazine - like the fantastic documentary 'The September Issue' or the BBC's marvellous 'Boss Women' and their series 'The Look' - you will be sorely disappointed. Focusing more on the culture of the time and pinpointing specific, pivotal moments of the decade, details of Vogue's contribution to it feel like they're mentioned merely in passing more than as the main core of the show.

One of the other main let downs are the inclusion of contributors like magazine editor Edward Eninnful and film director Baz Luhrmann. Both of these men though perhaps emergent in their fields during the 90s were hardly at the forefront of the field of fashion and certainly not at Vogue. You get the impression that both are included merely by the fact that they have recently been flavour of the month - Enninful with his forgettable tenure at the helm of British Vogue and Luhrmann simply because he's one of Wintour's buddies of the moment.

All this said the show is great fun and definitely worth watching. Just don't expect anything more than a celluloid edition of the superficial glossy.

The In Vogue documentary on Hulu offers a compelling look at how Vogue Magazine remains relevant in America by embracing the present trends and following the money.

What I took away from this documentary is that many happy coincidences seem to drive the fashion world. The brands and designers featured don't explicitly focus on how fashion transcends language, but rather highlight how Black culture and LGBTQ+ individuals have always led the charge. Big companies merely take advantage, because that's where the money resides. Rarely was it mentioned as a collaboration of respect. Each episode was a shouting of how Black people infiltrated the fashion world, leaving them no choice but to follow. At the end of the day, it's all about taking every American Dollar.

And the co-op of culture is hilarious, hearing everyone use terms like "cultural change," "cultural shift," "cultural impact," instead of addressing the truth behind these moments of embrace and scandal.

6 one hour episodes and I'm left asking,

Key Questions: Who are they passing the keys to?

Why is no one under the age of 30 in positions of importance?

Where are the Black and IPOC now?

Why are today's runways so minimal and unlived?

What changed the dynamic between fashion and celebrity. We no longer have big fashion moments outside of social media. So has vogue truly stayed in frame?

We move the needle, control the language, rewrite the script, yet are often reduced to outsiders begging to be let in, rather than celebrated in our own style and grace. At the end of the day, this speaks to larger societal dynamics at play.