Review the Runway: Tom Ford's Gucci 1995 Fall/Winter Show
Kicking a new series off with reviewing one of the most iconic shows from the 1990s
When people ask me if there were an era I'd rather live through than now, without fail, I always, always, always mention the ‘90s. Now, it could be that I truly loved the dark minimalism aesthetic with classic jewelry and light makeup. The monochromatic, the artistic expressions, the vibes. Perhaps, I'm fawning over a decade I've never lived through simply out of FOMO or nostalgia, but ‘90s fashion made a considerable impact on style today whether on red carpets, award shows, after parties, and dinners.
Review the Runway is my first run at critiquing iconic and underrated fashion shows from the 1990s. The series will observe the presentation choices the designer made while analyzing the design elements of the show. The series seeks to gain an understanding of why certain shows went viral and not others. How did the show change the fashion game? What does the environment the designer worked under tell us about the collection? What makes it different from the other shows during the season or the previous collection? And lastly, how do we incorporate certain elements from the show into our closets?
Let's hit it!
With Demna Gvasalia taking over Gucci, it's only fitting to review the glory days of the Italian fashion house.
Shaggy bangs. Seventies-esque suits. Dark eyeliner. Perfect struts and turns. Four ways to describe the opulence and epitome of sexiness and drama that was the Tom Ford Gucci Fall 1995 Ready-to-Wear show. In over 50 looks, colors painted across from jet black to bright olive green; fabrics stretched from satin to velvet to mohair to leather. Singular spotlights were drawn on the models as they swayed down the runway in Milan.
Background
Tom Ford was the creative director of Gucci from 1994 to 2004. The Texas-born designer joined the Italian house in 1990 after the previous creative director, Dawn Mello, recruited him as the chief designer of women's ready-to-wear collections. Mello sought Ford "to update and glamorize the company’s ready-to-wear."
Ford turned Gucci towards "intense modernity and sophisticated sensuality" with one of his first directive collections in the Fall/Winter 1995 season. The success of the collections later led to his creative direction over Yves Saint Laurent (1999-2004) during his Gucci years, acquired by Gucci, and later luxury conglomerate Kering (formerly Pinault-Printemps-Redoute).
Ford left the houses in 2004 after a conflict with PPR's founder François Pinault over "control" and contract negotiations. During his tenure, Gucci grew its sales by almost 1,200% to $3 billion, according to Forbes.
Designer's direction
Tom Ford had something to prove with his fall/winter 1995 collection. The house was declining commercially and financially to the point where the company couldn't pay its staff. His previous fall/winter collection failed to pick up steam, Ford almost quit the job. “I could have sent anything down that runway. I had a moment where nobody was looking at anything I did,” he said.
The show featured models Kate Moss, Shalom Harlow, and Amber Valetta in low-waisted velvet hip-hugging trousers and jewel-toned satin blouses. As the models walked, Ford transformed the traditional spotlight where first-row attendees could see each other across the runway by killing the backlight, ultimately forcing the attention solely on the clothes and models.
By the end of the show, Ford rebelled and took a bow which was forbade in his contract.
"I thought, 'You know what? I’m going to do what I think is right. I’m going to step on the runway,'” he told Dazed. “The next day you could not get into the showroom. It was absolute hysteria. So, no, no one gave me flak after that.”
Following the show, Gucci's revenue soared to $342 million, doubling within the first nine months of 1995, per The Cut.
What happened afterward?
The iconic show catapulted Ford's brand to unexpected levels due to his radical vision for Gucci. Ford brought "cool" style back to luxury fashion houses when street fashion exclusively held the title, wrote The New York Times columnist Amy Spindler. Ford was the zeitgeist when the following 1996 fall/winter season, designers ranging from Calvin Klein to Gianni Versace to Chanel created their own "hip-huggers."
Designer Donna Karan wrote on the tags of her versions: " This skirt has been designed to be worn below the waistline so it’s slug across the hipline.”
Ford re-introduced Gucci to the world when he added elements of sex appeal and modernity, when pre-creative takeover, the brand emphasized modesty. Madonna famously wore one of the jewel-toned satin shirts from the collection to the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards.
In the following 1996 fall/winter collection, he incorporated similar elements from the previous show to expand to a broader audience while also establishing his "new/old take on glamour." Calvin Klein, in tow, included the tried-and-true method of dark-colored silhouettes in his 1996 show.
Ford recounted his Gucci days to The Cut: "Every time you turn your back and walk off the runway you think, Fuck, I got away with that this time. What am I going to do the next time? Literally, I was always terrified.”
Mimic the collection
Tom Ford's 1995 fall/winter collection is timeless and... just luxurious. It seems that that kind of fashion is hard to come by these days with modern-day fast-fashion quality and prices. While pieces from the collection are resold today, approx. $600-$12600, it is far, and few are left out there to the public. That said, to add the runway to the closet, eBay and secondhand shops are great options to get similar make-and-tailoring silhouettes. Tom Ford by Gucci 1995 may not be everywhere, as it was during its time, but I'm sure you'll find some copy-cats.
On the next "Review the Runway:"
Martin Margiela takes his 1990 spring/summer collection underground. Oh, the places fashion will take you!
Song of choice: “Unbelievable” by EMF. This song is just a perfect encapsulation of 1990s fashion. I remember hearing the song while watching Coyote Ugly (2000) and couldn’t get it out of my head. For the series, each review will encompass a ‘90s song for the full effect.