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Sofia Coppola and Spike Jonze at the X-Girl streetwear fashion show in 1994.
Photo: MTV

The late-’80s and ’90s gave a lot of look. Some good. Some tragic. We had Cross Colours, baby barrettes, metal lunchboxes used as purses, over-plucked eyebrows, all-velvet-everything, crochet, chokers, clogs, Contempo Casuals, JNCO, Chanel in pastel terry cloth—it was a crazy time.

No matter what you wore, who you aspired to wear or just how many sartorial regrets you have, one thing was certain—it was a celebration of experimentation and personal style.

Now, I realize that my statement is skewed by my having been a child during the period. Someone who was susceptible to things like blue hair dye, small T-shirts, large trousers, and a brief flirtation with thinking tongue rings were cool. But the resonance of the years can’t be denied in terms of what it meant for street style.

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Related Content 'House Of Style' Is Back!, 'House Of Style:' Rise Of The Supermodel

Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington in the Gianni Versace fashion show, 1991.
Photo: Maria Valentino/ MCV Photo

Once upon a time, let’s call it the ’90s, a handful of women ruled the world. They were called supermodels and you couldn’t swivel your head without colliding into an image of one or more of these bodacious babes. The supermodel industrial complex was some kind of powerful—billboards, magazine covers, cosmetics and fragrance campaigns—it seemed like this tight-knit clique and their logo-like faces dominated every inch of American and International advertising real estate. They made millions.

While it’s undisputed that these girls were successful, there’s heated debate surrounding what constitutes a supermodel. Does Beverly Johnson? What about Janice Dickinson? Gia Carangi? Jean Shrimpton? For us, we’re talking about the “It” girls of the decade— Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz and Helena Christensen. And even then the circle gets a bit elliptical, extending to include Claudia Schiffer, Nadja Auermann, Eva Herzigova, Veronica Webb, Stephanie Seymour, Yasmeen Ghauri, Carla Bruni, and Yasmin Le Bon—depending on the occasion. Whatever permutation of names you ascribe to, one thing’s certain, the supermodel era was a fascinating, outrageous and wholly unique time that’s never been replicated since.

Honestly, I can’t remember a time when Cindy, Naomi, Linda, Christy, Claudia and Helena weren’t famous. Just as some of you are too young to remember just how big deal these girls were. But if you look at the very first House of Style that aired in the summer of 1989, you’ll notice two things. One, Cindy Crawford was beautiful. Two, Cindy Crawford was breathtakingly young. To wit: Cindy Crawford was not yet Cindy Crawford.

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Cindy Crawford in Versace.
Photo: MTV

Could I be more excited about House Of Style? No. I couldn't. If I was, I would explode. Literally. And that would be gross. It's taken more than a little bit of willpower not to tell everyone I've ever met what we've been up to around these parts, but all the tight-lipped waiting was totally worth it for this moment. Our esteemed Senior Editor Mary H.K. Choi has already given you the low down on what it took to put this endeavor together, some of the amazing gems contained within the archive, and why HOS is really, really important. You should really read her posts on each of the episodes, you'll laugh your ass off and also learn A LOT about fashion. For me personally, House Of Style is an amazing opportunity for just that: through the archive I'm learning about one of the most important sartorial and cultural eras in recent history, and it almost feels like I'm there. I was alive when House Of Style was on the air, but, well, my interests at the time lay more in Rainbow Brite, riding my bike to the Sav-On for candy, and wearing leggings with giant t-shirts than to what was happening in the world of high fashion. I also cared A LOT about Madonna and buying CDs to put in my orange Discman. Now I have my priorities more in line, and though I still love Madonna and candy, I've moved on from the leggings, and I want to understand the time in which I grew up. For this, HOS is a veritable miracle.

Besides making me frantically dig through my closet for that Betsey Johnson velvet fit 'n' flare dress I wore to that bat mitzvah over a decade ago, watching these episodes is really making me feel some feelings. In episode 07, Cindy Crawford takes us to the Gianni Versace AIDS Fundraiser, and the clip perfectly illustrates everything that's both wonderful and also kind of poignant about the show. Maybe it was because it was before the dawn of reality TV, but there's something about the way that the models and celebrities interact with the camera, and with the fact that they're being interviewed, that's diametrically different from the way people approach being on television today. There seems to be a lack of facade, and a huge amount of sweetness inherent in every interview that Cindy does at the event. It could also be because AIDS was weighing heavily on everyone's minds in 1991. When the episode first aired, the virus was spreading like a wildfire that people were just beginning to see the utterly devastating repercussions of.

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Model and 'House Of Style' host Cindy Crawford.
Photo: MTV

I can’t believe this is finally happening! House of Style is back! If your face is frozen in an enthusiastic smile but it's otherwise *crickets* in your head because you have ZERO frame of reference, House of Style was a show on MTV that chronicled the fashion industry from 1989 to 2002 in 72 episodes. And holy crap if it didn’t just about break my brain to get to this incredible moment.

Thing is, when you work at MTV Style, the number one question you get is: "What's up with House of Style?" The show was frickin' legendary. I could watch it on a loop and it was actually what first enticed me to take a job here. All I wanted to talk about with my boss over multiple bottles of wine and exhaustive notes was how to bring it back. So yeah, we're bringing it back.

We're developing a new version of the show because we strongly believe that a show like ours can thrive in the current media climate but there was no way we would dream of developing something without understanding what made the original series so remarkable. We dove deep—really, really deep—into the archive so that we could learn. And also, to see what we could unearth to share with you since even the most ardent fans could use the reminder.

The House of Style excavation squad did our very best to reissue as many clips as we could. We tried to preserve everything of importance and that’s how we ended up with the approximately 170 clips that we’re launching today from the original series. You can browse by season and by name (designer, artist or host) to read my write-ups for each segment (yup, THIS is where I’ve been the last six months) contextualizing what was going on in the fashion world at the time or you can daisy-chain the videos (without my blathering).

Fashion Week with Naomi Campbell in 1992.
Photo: MTV

Look, we know that it may not be as satisfying as sitting down to binge-watch the entire thing to the dome, episodes intact, but have you ever noticed how there are, like, zero old episodes living anywhere on the internet? There are tiny smatterings here and there but for the most part the information superhighway is scrubbed clean because back in the late-‘80s and early-‘90s, pre-Internet, the rules were different. Had we put everything online now, with all the original music, we would surely unleash some sort of legal chaos.

We cleared absolutely everything we could but I didn't know how this would go down. I honestly thought some dude in suspenders on the millionth floor could stamp a piece of paper with a big, red, “sure!” and all of the old episodes could be strung up and blasted into the internet with one of those T-shirt canons that they have at concerts and sporting events. This is because I am not a lawyer or a television producer.

Long story long, we did our best and it was pretty damned good and we’re thrilled to share these gems with you.

Liiiiiiiiike, going to the mall with The Spice Girls (I KNOW). There’s footage of a still husky Karl Lagerfeld (circa sunnies + fan) and a svelte Andre Leon Talley. We have artist Stephen Sprouse's glorious and weird return to fashion. A rare interview with Franco Moschino, a sit-down with Galliano, quotables from Alexander McQueen and words of wisdom from Gianni Versace. We even have clips from the X-Girl renegade street fashion show that Sofia Coppola and then boyfriend Spike Jonze produced. So major.

Sofia Coppola and Spike Jonze at the X-Girl fashion show in 1994.
Photo: MTV

Todd Oldham taught us how to dye our hair with Kool Aid in his ingenious “Todd Time” segments and Kevyn Aucoin instructed us on how to over-pluck our brows ‘90s style. Cindy becomes the face of Pepsi, Rebecca Romijn stuffs her bikini bottoms with socks, Jon Stewart tries to mack on Kate Moss backstage at Calvin Klein. Ladies and gentlemen, we have Naomi Campbell inviting us into her bedroom to watch her apply zit cream to her face. It's unreal and sweet, especially since she tells us that nobody cares if you have "spots" because everybody has them. Can. You. EVEN?

We're also running three essays that encapsulate themes from the show. "Rise Of The Supermodels" is our first. It launches today and discusses the '90s in terms of what it was about the decade that made this mega-clique of powerful women transcend fashion to become pop culture icons. The second essay, which you'll find next Wednesday (August 1st) is the influence of music on youth culture and street style (hello grunge), with the final essay that will launch a week after that discussing how fashion became democratized with the Internet, social networking and DIY instructional videos on YouTube. It's a good read if you're not interested in deep-diving into the more pedantic, nerd-out aspects of my write-ups.

We've also got a documentary short coming out on August 7th describing what the show was all about that includes interviews with former hosts Cindy Crawford, Daisy Fuentes, Rebecca Romijn; models Coco Rocha, Karlie Kloss; designers Cynthia Rowley, Todd Oldham, Anna Sui, Jeremy Scott and the next generation of fashion muses like Theophilus London, Azealia Banks and Rita Ora. You should totally check it out.

Designer and 'House Of Style' correspondent Todd Oldham.
Photo: MTV

And, finally, you should know that there's a trove of unedited, NEVER BEFORE SEEN, footage that we'll be releasing over the next several weeks. Candid interviews with Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace. You're going to have to wait for that complete list but it's wonderful because everyone is young and says exactly what's on their mind, away from the prying eyes and teeth-sucking of celebrity handlers, managers, publicists and the ilk. Pure, unfiltered FASHION HONESTY.

However you choose to navigate the episodes, we hope you check out what we’ve brought you from MTV’s fashion time capsule. We're calling it the "House of Style Collection" because it sounds fancy and would totally have a black label. If there’s anything you’d like to add or correct please feel free to email me because I’ve felt completely insane in this rabbit hole of remembrances and would love the dialogue. Turns out, top secret projects are crazy-making but very rewarding. Enjoy.

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