There is nothing I love more than a fashion documentary in which you have to look up at least one of the contributors online to make sure he or she is real. What joy to find that In Vogue: The 90s has two of them. Three if you count the legendary editor Anna Wintour herself, in whom you would not believe if she wasn’t already part of the cultural landscape.
The first is Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele, the fashion director of Vogue US who styled Wintour’s first cover when the latter was brought over from Vogue UK in 1988 to give its transatlantic cousin a makeover. What was Vogue US like before Anna arrived? “BOOOOOOORRRRRIIIIIING!” rasps De Dudzeele, with more contempt than most of us could muster for a kitten murderer standing in front of us. Later, her face contorts with agony as she remembers “gruuuuuunge … I didn’t like the idea to look poor when you are not poor”. Kitten murderers would have a better chance of explaining themselves to her.
