'In Vogue: The 90s' Reviews: "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"

         On September 13, 2024, Hulu released 'In Vogue: The 90s', which has earned predominantly positive reviews from critics. In the documentary, "The narrative of the fashion industry in the 90s through the eyes of Vogue editors, Hamish Bowles, Edward Enninful, Tonne Goodman and Anna Wintour." But what did the critics say?

       Carol Midgley of Times notes, "Does it feel as though you have already seen In Vogue: The 90s (Disney+)? If so, I hear you. Newspapers have been gorging from its buffet for days, giving it slap-up coverage which, yes, is an unfortunate metaphor given that a former Vogue editor once said many fashion models ate tissue paper to stave off their hunger pains. Top snippets include: Linda Evangelista regrets saying that supermodels didn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000. Parents berated skinny Kate Moss in the street, saying their daughters had anorexia nervosa. Stella McCartney said Karl Lagerfeld was catty about her taking over from him at the fashion house Chloé, sniping: “I knew they’d take a big name to fill my boots but I thought they’d use a big name from fashion, not music.” (“Ooh, bitch!” McCartney said, and she wasn’t wrong). Kim Kardashian used to walk Madonna’s dogs as a child. (OK, that one’s boring.) Watching it, you may have a sense of déjà vu." Adding, "Wintour is clearly brilliant at her job, hence being at the helm for nearly 40 years. So I’m surprised one part didn’t end up on the cutting-room floor. When the Vogue journalist Jonathan van Meter interviewed Evangelista and got the good line about supermodels not waking up for less than $10,000, Wintour wanted to cut it out. What? Eh? “I was embarrassed for her, I did not think it would reflect well on Linda, who was so much part of our being, our world, our family,” Wintour explained. But that would be anti-journalism. You don’t chummily edit out the best quotes, you stick them in the headline."  

           Caroline Siede of The Daily Beast says, "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." Continuing, "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."

Photo by Glow Repose on Unsplash

         Lucy Mangan of Guardian praises the documentary, stating, "As a documentary about either Vogue or the 90s, [it's] average at best. But as a collection of people and clothes to marvel at, as a showcase for sheer talent and beauty as footage from the catwalks and shoots swirls, it does fabulously, darling." Adding, "Anyone who is anyone appears in this three-part documentary. Wintour’s lieutenant, nemesis and most points in between, Grace Coddington, a mesmeric Kate Moss, John Galliano, Elizabeth Hurley talking once more about That Dress, Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Campbell, Evangelista herself, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Miuccia Prada, Tom Ford (a kind of earnest vacuum, sucking the interest out of every moment he is on screen) and many more decorate proceedings. There’s also an awful lot from the former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful. Together, they somehow manage to contribute almost nothing that even the least Vogueish of us hasn’t heard before. The 90s “changed everything” we are told. Or, sometimes, “everything changed”."