01x03 - The Hollywood Merger

[bunniefuu]

Even though it's my day off,

I'm happy to call, "Action."

Okay, and standing by, we're gonna

sh**t now, so we need to settle.

Action.

[guitar music playing]

[Edward Enninful] Rarely in fashion

can you pinpoint a specific moment

that changed the direction

of fashion history.

But the London premiere

of one of the classic '90s films,

Four Weddings and a Funeral,

it was a real pivotal moment.

[reporter] The Odeon Leicester Square

has been transformed

for the premiere of the film everybody

in the whole world is talking about,

Four Weddings and a Funeral.

I remember seeing this young actress

called Liz Hurley,

who, to be honest, I'd never heard of.

I went with my then boyfriend, Hugh,

who was in it.

It was the first time there'd been

a big British film for a really long time.

I was just about a working actress,

pretty much living hand-to-mouth.

I'd been mentioned in the local paper,

so I thought I was, sort of,

you know, zinging,

but obviously I wasn't, really.

I knew that I had to have a dress,

and somebody said,

"I know someone who's got a PR firm.

They might be able to help you."

So on the day of, we rang

and said, "Do you have it?"

They said "We got one dress."

"Oh, right. I'd love to borrow it

if I can get into it."

So, I went on the Tube to get the dress,

which was handed to me

in a little white plastic bag.

I'd never heard the name Versace before.

I remember it looked pretty precarious,

but I remember touching my toes

and stretching up, and nothing moved.

I was very young at the time, we galloped

down the stairs, and that was that.

Different times.

[Enninful] There she was, wearing this

most incredible Versace dress,

held together by safety pins,

looking so cool.

Almost punk, right?

I was mesmerised.

[Hurley] Must've been photographed

eight hundred thousand

billion times that night.

The next day, we were

on the front page of every newspaper.

We were like, "What the hell is this?"

I remember, I was

just looking at it, thinking, "What?"

And we were like, "It was

a pretty daring dress, wasn't it?"

which we hadn't really realised,

because there was

no full-length mirror in the flat,

so I'd never actually seen all of it.

What can I say?

The power of that dress showed

what it could do for an aspiring actor,

and what it could do

for the fashion house.

[Hurley] And suddenly,

everyone was talking about Versace.

I think it was probably one

of the most revealing dresses at the time,

and the public just ate it up.

It's caught the imagination, hasn't it?

-It's the front page yesterday

-Chic West End.

and it's in the papers today.

In the mid-'90s,

we were post-recession, post-A*DS.

I think the world was primed for party.

Anyway, can we just briefly have a reprise

of Elizabeth Hurley's dress?

-About that brief dress.

-Yeah.

It's a couture Versace dress, it's £3,000.

They sold out.

[Baz Luhrmann] In the '90s, at that time,

it was an expl*si*n

of sexuality, of sensuality, of freedom.

That was all very uncool

in the previous decade.

You can only be depressed for so long,

and then you wake up one day

and you just say, "I'm so sick of this,"

and you do something fun.

[orchestral music playing]

So, you feel like we need them both,

is that what you're saying?

The safety pin dress on Liz Hurley was

a bombshell moment on a bombshell actress.

[Hamish Bowles] And at Vogue,

we all did notice that dress.

It showed that there was this real longing

for a sort of glamour and sexiness,

and that is exactly

what Anna was looking for.

And what timeframe are we looking at,

do you think?

Around that time, I wrote a number

of letters from the editor for Vogue.

It was a move to being more dressed

and kind of, chic and powerful.

And I announced that the body was back,

and that we were moving

into a different era of fashion.

Our readers,

the store's customers, were craving it.

The glamour drive from Vogue

was really a response to grunge.

Um [chuckles]

Anna didn't like grunge,

and she didn't like the waif.

[Bowles] Anna called the designers

that she cared about.

She sort of said,

well, I don't know what she would've said,

actually, but I can imagine.

[chuckles]

[Coddington] But she had a problem,

a lot of young people

still really loved grunge.

Particularly young Hollywood.

[photographers shouting indistinctly]

[Bowles] At that point, red carpet fashion

was really about dressing down.

There was a time when actors were

a little bit wary of the fashion world.

I think a lot of people

in Hollywood thought

"Well, will people think

that I'm not a serious actor?

"So, I'm gonna go anti-fashion."

I was wearing thrift store dresses

and boots,

and even some of my friends were like,

"You've gotta stop wearing those rayon

dresses," "You know, you've gotta stop."

And I was like, "But I love 'em and I can

get 'em for 15 bucks each." You know?

When I first started in the business,

there were no stylists.

It was pretty low-key.

I was dressing like a fly girl,

with my baggy pants, and my tight top,

and my big belt. It's like,

who was I kidding? But that was my beat.

We were really expressing ourselves

and wearing what we liked.

It was very much about personal style.

Sometimes I didn't even have on,

you know, make-up and hair.

So, at Vogue, we were looking out

for a new message of glamour,

and a young designer

who could seal the deal.

So, yes, there was excitement, there was

a sense that everything was changing.

Did we know what was coming? No.

But we knew something was coming.

[man speaking in Italian]

Italy is the home of pasta, chianti,

sun-dried tomatoes,

and some of the world's

most esteemed designers.

There's Versace, local talent Armani,

and then there's those Sicilian

sweethearts, Dolce & Gabbana,

all of whom are set to show you

their latest collections

for autumn-winter '93/'94.

Back in the early '90s, the i-D Magazine,

we were the cool kids,

we were defining what fashion was.

So, all of a sudden,

we were starting to be invited

to every city, to every show, like Milan.

Versace had that Liz Hurley moment,

but to be honest, we thought

the Italian brands were quite naff.

You know, fur, feathers, sequins,

all these things that back in the day

we thought were OTT.

I thought, "Okay, let's see."

Okay, camera's rolling.

[Tonne Goodman]

I was in Milan at that time,

and I remember there was

a big buzz that was occurring,

and that was because

there was a new designer at Gucci,

who was a young American.

[reporter] Enter Tom Ford.

My few hairs that are still there.

A young Texas-born designer who took over

as the label's creative director in '94.

I was, and probably am still

very ambitious.

And I had been brought in

to revive the brand.

I think he was known within the industry,

but he wasn't someone we knew.

Everyone knew the Gucci loafer

and the Gucci bags and the Gucci logos,

but as a force of fashion,

it simply did not exist.

[Ford] At that time,

if you got a Gucci handbag,

you tried to give it away.

Gucci had been a huge success

in the 1970s, and I had seen the archives

were literally a cardboard box

with photos of stars coming in and out

of the various Gucci stores.

Gucci had really capitalised

on these glamorous women

in the 1960s and 1970s.

So, I thought, "Okay, what does that kind

of person want to wear today?"

And when I say today, I mean 1994.

But my first shows

were not successful at all.

[Kate Moss]

I did his first show at Gucci as well.

And it was, um, fine.

[chuckles]

[Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele]

I always tell what I think.

It was extremely boring.

[Ford] No one likes it,

no one cares.

It doesn't move the needle,

nothing happens.

And I remember Richard, my husband,

for those who don't know,

saying to me, "You know,

somehow you've gotta make it sexy."

Just that line propelled me to a time

when things were sexy for me.

[reporter] It's three in the morning

in Manhattan, and still at Studio 54,

people crowd the doors, hoping to get in.

I was lucky enough to catch

the very tail end of the famous Studio 54,

before it shut down.

And I remember very clearly walking in

the front door for the very first time.

And you could just hear

this throbbing, throbbing, throbbing,

throbbing, throbbing,

throbbing, throbbing.

The whole vibe was so hedonistic.

It was transgender,

it was straight, it was princesses,

it was people in black tie,

it was guys having sex,

it was all completely mixed up together.

Stars and celebrities were everywhere.

Society columnists adore Studio 54

for the personalities it attracts,

like soccer player Pelé.

And the beauty standard of that time

was very sexual,

but in a sensual, kissable way,

and very blatantly beautiful beauty.

You know, not understated beauty,

but just full-on.

It was really like something

out of a movie.

So, I turned to that.

I remember a friend of mine said,

"This is ridiculous.

"What? You're gonna, like, bring back

the '70s? You're gonna bring back sex?

"You're gonna just send girls

down the runway being sexy?

"That's just ridiculous.

"You're gonna bring back Studio 54?

That's not happening."

So, fashion week 1995 was a big deal.

Of course, I was nervous.

-[woman] Hey.

-Hi, how are you?

[woman] Good, how are you?

-Nice to see you.

-Yes.

Your camera's gotten smaller.

I was carrying the weight

of the entire organisation.

[reporter] What must the pressure be like

on Tom Ford personally?

Personal hell.

I would imagine Tom Ford

is living in personal hell.

Gucci, what is it like? It's pressure.

Lot of pressure, lot of big people.

[Enninful] There we were,

fashion week in Milan, '95.

And I remember we were told that this year

Gucci was doing things differently.

I remember walking in,

you could feel the excitement.

All the girls were coming

from their fitting, all of them saying,

"Oh, my God, the clothes are amazing!"

It was one of those times that you

get there, you're in hair and make-up,

you have a feeling.

"This is looking quite good."

Awesome. Silver buttons, isn't that fab?

[Amber Valletta] We felt like

the clothes were really on point,

and I just was like, "Wow! What is this?"

I hadn't seen anything like it.

Oh, my goodness. Turn it around.

It was one of those moments where you feel

there was something happening.

Everyone in the fashion industry

made an appearance.

There was so much buzz about it,

such magic in the air.

I've never been more

So excited in my life.

It was like a big, big, big deal.

[woman] It's a total madhouse here.

There's not enough room,

there's, like, too many people.

It's crazy.

I've always felt that a fashion show

needed to be cinematic.

And so, decided to try out spotlights.

The reason for that is

I didn't want the audience

to look at each other across the way,

to roll their eyes.

I wanted the entire room

to be focused on the runway.

There are few jobs and shows

I remember really well.

I remember walking on stage,

I remember feeling the goose bumps.

I remember feeling the energy in the room.

It's almost like a sonic wave

that's like [mimics whooshing]

The air goes out

and then an energy comes in.

And the clothes just say everything.

You know, it's, like,

really in-your-face, sexual energy.

I certainly was feeling it, that day.

I remember sitting there,

everyone was in shock.

The shirts open, the satins,

all the beautiful velvet.

The girls were strong,

the girls were sexy.

He did not apologise.

Something clicked, and he'd nailed it.

People were stunned

at how gorgeous it was.

And I remember really having goose bumps.

I think Grace Coddington might have cried.

I might've cried, yeah.

Well, it was exciting.

I mean, it looked very much

like vintage Hollywood glamour.

Tom really touched the zeitgeist.

And what he did, more than clothes,

was he touched on a generation

who were growing up.

You know, the models were now growing up,

the editors were growing up,

the photographers, we were all growing up.

So, yeah. You know, in that moment

we were like, "Okay. Grunge is dead."

Glamour's here. Let's go.

It's true.

It fed into the mood of the moment,

and we had been looking for someone

to give it a voice.

Tom really came through, I thought it was

a really strong, sexy show,

with lots of trends

that are gonna get picked up.

Oh, the return of glamour was great,

after this little petite period of grunge

that everybody went cuckoo for.

Was it sexy? Was it too sexy?

Was it too sexy?

That show, I was particularly nervous.

Did I do the wrong thing? Was it right?

Did it hit the right note?

You know, I wasn't sure.

[reporter] The colourful

MTV Awards took place

in New York Thursday night.

Within the fashion world, there was

no question that Tom Ford had arrived.

But when Madonna actually wore

that amazing blue satin shirt

to the MTV Awards,

it just catapulted him

into a different stratosphere.

I don't know if you remember,

but MTV was it.

That's all we watched, 24 hours a day.

The New York Times reported

over 200 million people

were watching worldwide in that moment.

-[audience cheering]

-[chuckles]

I was an MTV nut. MTV was amazing.

It really was objectively amazing.

It was like, when the right designer

of the moment, when the zeitgeist,

Tom Ford, meets essentially

the biggest star in the world,

and they come together.

It was just a magical moment.

She looked so smoking hot.

Everybody just, you know,

was freaking out.

The next day, the showroom was packed.

Everyone was calling for appointments,

appointments, appointments.

And that was the beginning

of the Tom Ford era.

At that time, I was based in London,

because I was doing films

like Eyes Wide Shut, and so

I had access to European fashion.

Getting dressed up and being

this sort of magical creature

for a night, that's exciting.

[photographers shouting indistinctly]

I look back at that and I think,

"That was fun!"

'Cause that's what fashion is.

You're like, "Yeah,

"I wanna turn heads, why not?" [laughs]

[Enninful] I mean,

there was a moment when Hollywood

didn't embrace glamour, we know,

and then I think Hollywood

looked at fashion and thought,

"Oh, my God."

We're just like, "Okay,

ready to be glamourous again."

The beginning of that transformation

was mostly Versace.

And then it was Gucci,

because Tom Ford, like, Gianni,

he just loved women

to look like goddesses.

And, you know, it took a great photograph.

Tom Ford was the one

that absolutely nailed it.

He knew exactly what Hollywood

wanted to wear.

[Kidman] Tom Ford had an edge to him,

but he also had exquisite taste.

He was excited by it.

That perfect woman, that perfect man.

He would look at you and he would gasp.

[gasps] Okay. Everything is beautiful.

Everything is perfect.

And it's always good to get a gasp.

[chuckles] We all love a gasp.

[gasps and laughs]

I remember when the Tom Ford collection

came out, and it was stunning

and it was really, really new,

and I was like, "I have to wear

that suit somewhere."

I don't even know what it was,

MTV Awards or something.

It was much different then.

I didn't have a stylist,

so I'm, like, calling on the landline,

you know, the PR person,

to see if I can borrow the suit.

Gwyneth, you know, when she wore that suit

was the height of cool.

It gave her a certain cachet.

[Wintour] When I saw this young woman

embracing Tom Ford and wearing it

with such style,

we asked her to do the cover.

She was fun, she was smart,

she was in tons of movies.

In every way,

Gwyneth was the perfect person, really.

I mean, she was sort of Gen-X girl,

and she brought with her

a new generation, really.

But there's an element of risk

in all these things.

For me, being asked to be on the cover

of Vogue was the hugest deal,

and I was so honoured.

And actually, the first sh**t

that we did didn't go well.

I do remember we had

a few very unsuccessful shoots.

I think it might've been four shoots.

Which was a bit of a nightmare.

[Wintour] We were sh**ting more models

at that time, who do it for a living,

and they know how to pose.

But with young actresses,

whoever it may be, say, "Oh, my goodness,

"I'm being shot for the cover of Vogue,"

and they kind of freeze.

So, I would always tell the editors,

"Don't tell them it's the cover.

"Just say we're doing a sh**t," you know,

"And we'll choose

the best picture for the cover."

[Paltrow] They were like,

"They don't really like the pictures."

That, like, insecure person inside,

you're like,

"I'm not good enough for the cover

of Vogue, I knew it, I knew it."

And I was sh**ting a movie

at the time in Virginia,

and they were like, "Let's just come down

and try it again," you know,

"We wanna try it much more natural

and much more you."

We reshot it with Steven Meisel,

and I remember it being

a little embarrassing,

'cause she said in front of Meisel,

"What was wrong with the other picture?"

[laughs]

I said, "Nothing,

we just wanted it outside."

This time, they worked well.

And I remember we were sh**ting,

and suddenly

Brad Pitt appeared.

They were dating, obviously, at that time.

I think someone said, "Yeah, go in there,"

or something like that and

He went up to her and sort of kissed her.

And we were like,

"Whoa. That's a great picture."

It was very sweet. I remember it being

a very sweet moment.

But he didn't want us to use it.

I remember looking at the pictures

when they came in,

just thinking, "Well, women

are really gonna respond to that."

Just as we were going to press

he said, "Okay."

[Wintour] We had already decided

on the cover.

But now we also had a great story.

[upbeat music playing]

[Paltrow] I love that first cover.

All I can remember is when it came out

and I was just, like, totally overwhelmed.

Although it was the August issue,

which I didn't know at the time was, like,

the least important one. [laughs]

Oh, God.

[Enninful] I remember that issue.

It seemed like everywhere you went,

they were sold out.

[Goodman] After years of supermodels,

Gwyneth Paltrow was

when it really snowballed,

and it became You practically

had to put a celebrity on the cover

to have any kind of success.

It was so funny. They didn't

They would never do what we did,

'cause it was, kind of, not shunned upon,

but it was like, if you did what we did,

you wouldn't be taken seriously

as an actress.

And how much to see that change.

[laughs] It's like, "Hello."

I much prefer to work with models.

It's, you know, it's not a secret.

And I said to Anna,

"This is the beginning of the end,"

you know,

"Where are we going with this?"

Vogue cover, it was a very big deal to me.

Then to my horror, they said,

"It's the bikini issue." I was just like,

"Really?"

I was very excited to be offered

a Vogue cover. That seemed totally wild.

It was like, "What? Are you kidding?

"This'll be my first and last cover,

but I'm getting it framed."

[chuckles]

[Bowles] The covers really worked,

of course.

Anna was right.

It was just a sign of where the world

was going, and Vogue was there.

Now, suddenly, you know, fashion's

getting more glamorous and more chic,

and the movie stars are too.

But I think it's wonderful for fashion,

'cause it helps move fashion forward.

I wasn't aware that I opened the gate.

It's really

Um

That's flattering. I had no idea.

Well, you know me, you know this is,

like, kind of terrifying to me.

I didn't understand it, didn't like it,

but I think

the smartest thing Anna said to me,

and said to me not once

but maybe a hundred times,

"Move on, Grace. Just move on."

"You're barking up the wrong tree here,

move on."

[hip-hop music playing]

Yeah ♪

Yeah ♪

[Enninful] At that time, you could

really see that fashion and film

were getting closer and closer together.

[Luhrmann] In the '90s,

we were living in Miami,

while we were developing Romeo + Juliet.

Now, Miami in the '90s,

that's where everything

was coming together.

Every morning we'd see Gianni Versace

get up and go down to the Pelican Café.

Madonna's living there at the time,

and that Italian aesthetic, the party

and glamour and fashion, is exploding.

And it really influenced the movie.

It was just such an exciting period,

I think,

-to be in that swirl.

-Oh, yeah.

Now, before the '90s,

things belonged in silos.

If you made movies, you made movies.

You didn't hang out with fashion people.

You were either a serious actor,

or you were a designer, or

And we just didn't care about that.

We just thought art is art

and, you know, and it's all legitimate.

[orchestral music playing]

Making Romeo + Juliet,

we were just absorbing what was in the air

and putting it back out for the audience

to connect with.

[Enninful] I remember seeing

Romeo + Juliet for the first time,

and I remember thinking,

"My God, here is a new aesthetic."

The quarrel is between our masters.

The print shirts, the vivid colours,

I remember the haircuts,

and it had a real fashion point of view

Look upon thy death.

where every piece the character wore

was as important as the storyline.

This precious book of love.

It was like, "How about we really lean

into glamour and decoration

"and the cult of beauty?"

[fireworks whistling]

[Danes] Baz understood that that story

is all about the technicolour experience

of being a teenager

and falling in love for the first time.

It was music and fashion

and that was all very dazzling.

[Luhrmann] But also, the aesthetic

was harking back to old Hollywood,

it was harking back to romance.

And so, I reached out to Miuccia Prada

and I said, "Please do some costumes."

I could really talk about

Mrs Prada forever.

I mean, she's one of the most incredible

designers that ever lived.

I put her up there

with Yves Saint Laurent,

I put her up there with Chanel,

and with Dior.

[laughs]

I was asked many times

to do costumes for movies,

but I always refused

because it's another job.

But I thought it was genius,

because it was a way of telling history

in a completely different way,

and with contemporary clothes, so I said,

"Let's do it."

Everybody's free ♪

Everybody's free ♪

To feel good ♪

[Luhrmann] She's about to do

her first menswear collection,

and what happens is she designs

Leonardo's very famous blue suit,

the one that he wears at the wedding,

the one that he tears off when,

you know, he's on the beach.

Turn and draw!

Turn and draw!

[Luhrmann] And that

It's kind of unknown.

I never injured thee!

Miuccia did that? No way.

Leo never That's why Leo's always like,

"I've known Prada for a long time." Okay.

I didn't know that.

But that showed, right?

Fashion was now growing up.

[operatic music playing]

It was not a shock that Baz

would get Miuccia in.

For us at Vogue, we totally knew

she was this brilliant designer

who was putting her mark

on the world of fashion.

If you have been living in a sealed box

ten foot underground

for the last 18 months, then just maybe

you haven't heard of Prada,

originally a luggage company,

but now the biggest name in understated

dressing for trendsetters worldwide.

Oh, I love Prada.

Yes, let's talk about Prada.

I love the way she always takes risks

on the runway.

What Miuccia has always done is really

take the absolute classic item

of clothing in your wardrobe,

and reinvent it in the most modern,

directional, futuristic, functional way.

[Wintour] And when Miuccia took over

the creative leadership of that company,

her aesthetic approach

was the polar opposite

of what Tom and Gianni stood for.

Definitely that kind of sexy,

strong is fashionable now.

[interviewer] Mmm-hmm.

But I don't think it's so new.

I think there was a rivalry

and a competition and a push,

but it was a really healthy rivalry.

The cliché of glamour,

that is the example of what I hate.

She was much more feminist

and intellectual

in the way she looked at fashion.

I always try to make glamour

in a different way,

not as a cliché of beauty

just to get a husband.

[laughing]

Hers is covered-up sexy.

That's her, you know.

It's not t*ts hanging out.

This crowd are waiting for the Prada show,

and the reason they're waiting so long,

as the police car might indicate,

is there's a b*mb scare.

But no one is scared enough to miss it.

Oh!

The moment Miuccia broke through

was that spring 1996 show.

I was lucky enough to see that Prada show.

'Cause I'm just a girl ♪

Oh, little old me ♪

[Camilla Nickerson] And very immediately,

you knew there was a whole new kind

of beauty being celebrated,

which was at odds with Tom Ford's runway.

There was no make-up,

there was hardly any hair.

[Coddington] It was really shocking,

I remember,

because she did everything

in these hideous, sort of, '70s prints.

You know, it was like an ugly housewife.

And to me, that was incredibly cool.

That was exactly what I wanted,

and that was apparently

a horrible scandal.

People were shocked

and called it the ugly show.

And the colours were, like,

kind of, sh*t or puke.

[laughs]

I loved it.

I was thinking, "I cannot stand this."

[Bowles] The room was divided,

I think you could say that.

You know, there was a certain, sort of,

element of, um, embracing bad taste.

[Miuccia] I'm happy.

Means it was different.

Means it provoked some thought.

The pieces are cool as heck and modern,

modern is hell.

I think that bad taste

was the most chic thing ever.

[Wintour] She's genius at taking things

that are quite humble,

that you would think,

"I would never, ever wear that,"

and making it completely desirable.

Girls went crazy for it.

It became the uniform

for all the cool girls.

Kate Moss would wear it off duty,

Madonna would wear it,

and it was the cool factor that attracted

all these Hollywood stars to Prada.

God, I love her clothes.

[Drew Barrymore]

It's a very classic style of clothing,

but it also feeds into little bad girls

we all have running around inside of us.

What Miuccia was doing,

or Mrs Prada I should say,

you always felt like it was cool.

You know, like,

she was doing something forward.

Whereas, you know, Tom Ford was forward,

but it was, like, sexy,

and then you had Miuccia that was,

sort of like, avant-garde.

I bought my own Prada dress

for the premiere

of a movie I did with Hugh Grant.

It was an ivory coloured stretchy silk,

which was highly unusual.

Simplest dress in the entire world,

but really expensive.

Like, crazy expensive.

But I had that dress forever.

Versace, Prada, and Gucci,

they were my go-to designers.

What was it they were getting right

at the time?

I suppose they really understood

the power of celebrity.

The Italians embraced that.

When I first met David in 1997,

he'd heard that I was the Spice Girl

that liked the designer clothes.

So, after me going

to a couple of football matches,

and I would say, you know,

me, sort of like, pursuing him,

he'd probably say me stalking him,

we arranged to go out on a date together.

He's like, "I don't know what to wear,

she likes designer clothes."

And so, he actually went out

and bought himself a full Prada look

for our first date, to impress me.

Which it did, because it was Prada.

[Wintour] Twice a year, the Vogue team

travel to Paris for the couture shows.

French couture at its best is a dream.

It's made by hand with the best fabrics

and craftsmanship in the world,

for a very exclusive group of clients.

The emphasis is on craft and opulence.

There's an imagination that can run wild.

But at that time, in the '90s,

couture had frankly become

a little bit stuffy and safe.

[violin music playing]

The Italian designers,

Versace, Gucci, Prada,

had learnt how to work with Hollywood,

and Paris was, kind of,

lagging behind, you know,

still the world of haute couture,

sort of, quite rarefied,

and these houses had to find a way

of reinventing themselves.

Then you had John Galliano at Dior.

[reporter] His first work for Dior

was to design

the gown that Princess Diana wore

to a New York gala last December.

The value of a designer

who could generate publicity

was also important

to Galliano's new employers.

Even after that dress, I knew I had

to get on with the huge task

that we had ahead of us.

John Galliano understood that he needed

to woo a star, immediately,

a huge star.

Then the Oscars came up and I thought,

"Oh! Nicole would be perfect."

Can you believe it?

My whole life I wanted to be 5'2"

and curvaceous,

and suddenly being 5'11"

and completely, sort of, skinny

and flat-chested, they were like,

"Great, we can dress you."

After months of research,

sketching, this is tentatively

I mean, it can still change,

it can still change.

The detail that we went into

was incredible.

But Nicole was the first one

to get it and embrace it.

She put the time in.

Putting on shoes, putting on shades,

putting on hats,

then they'd say,

"Well, this gonna have this,

"and this gonna have that."

You'd stand there,

um, and patience is a virtue,

let me tell you, sometimes for hours.

So, that's where you actually see

the piping.

I grew up watching Katharine Hepburn

and Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.

All these women

whose style was created with

the designers they were affiliated with.

They just loved fashion.

[reporter] A night of beautiful women,

she was one of the more striking.

So, I remember thinking, "But of course.

"This should be brought

into Hollywood now,

"and we should be wearing

the things that are made

"in these gorgeous little salons in Paris,

"because that's what they used to do,

so why aren't we still doing it?"

[fanfare playing]

[announcer] Live from

Los Angeles, California,

the 69th Annual Academy Awards.

[indistinct chattering]

[reporter] Here at the Shrine Auditorium,

crowds have gathered since dawn.

The city's film fans

have been doing for 69 years,

watching the stars come out.

[Paltrow] The Oscars,

especially at that time, you know,

there was this vibe that was

very restrained, maybe, in a way,

and maybe it was that era where, you know,

you were taken more seriously

if you were in suiting

or that kind of thing.

But I remember that moment Nicole came out

in that beautiful dress,

and it was all beads and embroidery

and everything.

It was just like,

"Wow, there's couture on the red carpet."

I remember strongly Nicole telling me

about going to the Oscars

in that haute couture dress,

and saying that this was

against the advice of her team.

There wasn't a kind of risky,

edgy fashion Olympics happening.

And she said, "This is art.

I wanna celebrate in artful clothes.

"I wanna celebrate the beauty

and the extravagance of fashion

"in this special moment."

And she, kind of, pushed on ahead.

[announcer] She has starred in such films

as To Die For, and The Portrait of a Lady.

Nicole Kidman.

[Kidman] The embroidery on it

was just [gasps]

And the shape of it.

Everything was so beautiful.

Editing provides us with the rhythm

and pace of the film.

I mean, I was a redheaded,

fair-skinned girl

who was, you know,

almost 5'11" at the age of 14.

I would get teased, and it wasn't kind.

And so, every time I'm given access

to that whole world

The Oscar goes to Walter

You feel like a little girl

who's being given the chance

to step into this, sort of, fantasy world.

That was fashion with a capital F,

coming to the Oscars.

She was so spectacular.

So, so perfection.

I just remember Madonna and Courtney Love

saying, "Best dress."

[laughs]

[Goodman] I remember seeing

the coverage in Vogue,

and it was reported

that her Oscar appearance,

in every magazine from People

to Paris Match,

exposed around 54 million women to Dior.

That's a lot of people.

[chuckles] Enormous.

Enormous. Enormous.

[interviewer] What do you think

of her dress?

[man] Loved her Dior outfit.

I haven't seen anything

that beautiful in years.

The colour was gorgeous.

It was a return to romance, a return to

a sort of old Hollywood tradition.

She was amazing.

I think that this in fact was

the exact moment that everybody understood

exactly how significant

the relationship between a fashion house

and a celebrity was.

After Nicole wore that dress,

and there was so much press about it,

I think that's when it all started

to be about, like,

designers vying to dress you.

Essentially like, "Let's get women

on the red carpet in our clothes."

There were now endorsements

from jewellery brands

and various other brands,

and it was fabulous. I mean, I loved it.

Oh, my God, the rocks,

just the most exquisite jewellery ever.

It was pretty crazy.

Suddenly there was lots of paparazzi.

I stand by that look. [chuckles]

It's a bold choice.

There was the discussion of stylists

and hair and make-up people

and scrutiny, scrutiny,

scrutiny, scrutiny, scrutiny.

[photographers clamouring]

You knew that there was a change,

you knew fashion would never be the same.

You knew fashion and celebrity

were now hand in hand.

That's when the Hollywood stylist

was born.

We did this big cover line,

"How Hollywood Conquered Fashion,"

and we really talk about the love affair

between the Winonas and the Gwyneths

and the Claire Danes,

and the fashion designers.

And they love the glamour now,

and they love to be photographed.

It's, sort of, become this,

I don't know, merger.

Sort of, fashion merger, if you like.

By the end of the decade, every designer

embraced couture for the red carpet,

not just the French.

It was kind of astonishing.

You know, I was nominated for an Oscar

and I saw the Ralph Lauren look book,

and I was really taken with this, kind of,

bubblegum pink skirt

that he had done in the show,

with a little pink shrunken sweater.

And I thought, "Oh, that would be great,

"maybe they'll let me borrow this

for the Oscars."

And then very kindly, they said,

"Well, he would actually like to make you

something custom, if that's okay."

Which one you'd rather wear,

this or the

[Paltrow] I worked with their, sort of,

celebrity, you know, liaison,

which was a new thing.

All these brands were getting these,

kind of, celebrity PR people to help

get women like me in their dresses,

and we, kind of,

ideated this dress all together,

and then And then that was that.

The pink bubblegum ball gown dress

was born.

[Jack Nicholson] And the Oscar goes to

Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love.

It was a pretty intense time in my life.

I was only 26.

There was a lot going on.

Um [laughs]

Oh, I would like to thank the Academy

from the bottom of my heart.

I would not have been able

to play this role

had I not understood love

of a tremendous magnitude,

and for that, I thank my family.

Thank you, thank you so much, everybody.

[Wintour] It really changed radically,

I would say,

when certain actresses started

to take a much more frankly exciting

and more of-the-moment fashion choices.

That's when I think the world

started to look at the red carpet

in a very different way.

[photographers shouting indistinctly]

Somebody told me that that dress

has its own Wikipedia page,

which I can't believe.

It's so funny, it's like,

who would've thought

a dress would be a famous thing?

But I have it. She's with me.

[reporter] Last Night New York Gala

had beauty,

it had class and it had style.

My goodness, the Met has changed.

[woman] Rihanna!

It's pure, utter glamour,

and it is the place to go [gasps]

"Who is that over there?

Who is that over there?"

Anna puts on

the biggest extravaganza there is.

-If it becomes problematic

-Yeah.

Maybe nothing.

[announcer] Please give it up

for team FUBU.

The hip-hop world and high fashion

were worlds apart.

What is this rap thing?

What is this hip-hop thing?

They were treating us

like little street kids.

[reporter] Fashion designer Gianni Versace

was m*rder*d today,

gunned down outside his mansion

in Miami Beach, Florida.

To have lost him in that way, I can't

even tell you how shocked we all were.

It is so unfair. It is not fair.

[Hillary Clinton]

I thought it was so clever,

put on a cold shoulder dress,

have a good time.

Next thing I knew I was on the front page

of The New York Times.

Seeing the thong on the runway,

that's so crazy.

He just pushed it

as far as he could do it.

[Ford] You don't let people tell you

what they want.

You tell them what they want.