In Vogue: The 90s

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.

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.

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.

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".

So I did not realise that the models which started out in the 1990's were so stupidly-low paid doing shoots for a portfolio and for recognition.

This is a deep-dive into their early career and how they became spotted by Vogue and how Vogue and other magazines lifted these models into superstardum and greater success.

I've not watched all of this yet as it is not currently available but I am super-impressed with the production value and the authenticacy and the 100% honesty of the interviews.

The grunge period just wow. I did not realise there was so much tension between this huge youth movement and the world of high-fashion which still embraced it by using it in the photoshoots in its press despite Anna Wintour's (British editor) heavy resistance to the sub-movement.

There is fabulous footage of pre-fashion week gatherings as someone had the insight to bring a handheld and record LOTS of unique footage of fashion names before they were big from the success of these weeks. This footage is just incredible. It's raw and uncut!

It is really fascinating to see how broke some of the characters where; especially Kate Moss who could barely afford a train fare to Croydon and back!

The glamour and glitz of high-fashion is unique and this documentary is a great insight into that world. I loved this show as it gives a unique insight into a world I know little about with authenticy and honesty and realism. I also had no idea how little money people involved in this had and am mesmerised by how much success they achieved. Top stuff.