James Scully (37:01)
Yeah, they closed about. I left. So I left in 94. And they probably closed like three years somewhere, like two or three years after. And at the time, even though it was the best job in the world, Barbara was an incredibly tough person. And I just felt like I had run my course there. And I started to miss the old fashioned show world because I had done so much of that before and that was kind of what got me into the world. And I just thought, oh, I really miss working on shows. And our PR company was a company called Kevin Crier and Associates, and he was one of the big show producers in New York. And one day we were just chatting and he's like, why don't you come work for me? And so I was like. And I was like, okay. So having never produced a show or cast a show or do anything, I went to work for him. And the first person he handed me was Todd Oldham, so. Oh, amazing. Same thing. During the whole. And that was a cool era of New York too. Because that, you know, at that time, even though Kelvin and Donna and Rhett, like they all really existed, really the shows in that time were Todd, Anna, Isaac and Giorgio San Angelo. Like, that was really. Those shows were like supermodel central. They were one things the girls would absolutely do. Because it was just. It was always a part, you know, they were just the most fun shows to work on. And back then, because most people, this was still before, you know, LVMH and carrying came, you know, still when things were relatively small and everyone showed two collections a year back then people weren't in. People weren't really in house. So basically when I was working on a show, then you basically did it all. So you cast it, you did the locations, you did the product. You know, you did the full production. And casting was a small part of it. Because at that point the modeling industry was very small. There were 10 agencies. You know, that was the era of. Especially then. That was the beginning of the supermodels. But it was still. It was very small industry. So like every agency probably had 25 or 30 girls. So you didn't really have to do go sees then. Cause it wasn't about new, it was about consistency. And there were less shows. So basically if you were those girls, you were probably doing 15 shows in New York or 20 shows in New York. And you would. There were big breaks. Cause that's the other thing is you would go. The buying season was so long. So everyone would start in Milan and you do like 10 days of Milan, you get four days off. Then you would go to London and you would do another week there and then like two weeks in Paris with giant breaks in between. Then there'd be like two weeks and then you. New York was the end. So it was actually a much more. It was less frantic. So you had breaks in between. You had time. You know, you weren't going to 10 shows in five locations. You were going to like three or four a day. So you. Everything was really spread out and much easier. So we could do a lot of shows. And basically, like I said, I worked for Kevin for several years. But our big break at Kevin Cryer was one day the phone rang. We were also the first company to start working in Europe because American companies did not work in Europe. And we went to Milan and we were doing a few small menswear things there. And he worked A lot for Armani. And then Krezia hired. Which was, like, at the time, it was about. They wanted to remake themselves, and they wanted to have a new image. And so we brought on Andre Leon Talley, who was styling the show. And all of a sudden, like, Krizia, like, kind of. I wouldn't say became a thing, but it went from being the same thing, your grandmother's creatia, to something that people would shoot and people would buy and they got their Italian Vogue cover. So they were super happy. And then the phone rang, and it was. It was Tom Ford. And I knew him because Kathy Hardwick was one of the lines that we bought for our women's store. And he was working at Kathy Hardwick. And everyone was like, oh, this is Tom Ford. He's the boyfriend of Richard Buckley, who at the time was a huge journalist. So he was like the new kid on the block. But he called and he said, I just moved to Milan. I'm about to start a Gucci. We've done one show, which is just not what I'm about. And he just said, would you guys be willing to come over and get this started? And that was, for me, that, you know, for all of us, that really, on top of Kevin was already on the map, but this put him on the map and put us all on the map. And, yeah, literally, that show, the. The very first show, which I remember, we did the men's show in Florence, and it was at that point I had a lot of. We did a lot of menswear shows and a lot of shows in New York. So it was also the first time in American was coming to deal with the agencies, and they're all like, yeah, we don't know who you are. We don't care who you are. Like, nobody's doing this. And I remember we did the show in Florence, and I got off the train. I was waiting for the train because all the Italian agencies said they put the boys on a train. I got to the train, nobody's there. And I was like, this is bad. So then I just called all their American agents, and I was like, look, get them on the train. All the boys wound up on the train, and every Milanese agency was like, whoa. I'm like. I was like, yeah, don't. Don't mess. I was like, these boys know me. They know us. This is going to be a great thing. And, like, don't, you know, don't throw an opportunity out the window. But these boys all did it as a favor to me. So they all got on train, they all came. The show was a huge hit. And then the next season was the. Was. Was the Velvet. Yeah, the Velvet. The. The famous. The first famous show. And the same thing I remember, like, every girl. Christy said no, Linda said no. Naomi said no. Kristen McManmy canceled the night before the show. Like, they were all just, like, didn't want to do it. And at that point, this was just the beginning of Amber, Shalom and Kate. Like, so I wouldn't say they didn't have the power to say no, but they were like, it's a show, you know. But it was funny. During the fittings, everyone, all the girls were talking like, oh, my God, these clothes are amazing. They're amazing. You really. This is going to be something. And I don't think anyone really knew. And I have to say, one of my favorite places to be. Being in the audience is fun, but being in the backstage is really incredible because when a moment happens, you really, you feel it coming from the audience and you just, you feel that energy backstage and you're just like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. And, you know, this was also, again, the peak after the Gulf War. Minimalism was in. Everyone was depressed. Everyone. The most important designer in the world at that point was Jill Sander. And she had just set a level of like, this is simplicity. This is the show. Like, and everyone sort of followed suit. So I remember the. When literally the Amber walked out, the music started and people just started applauding. And then Shalom came out and they started applauding and, like, people were just losing their mind. And we were just. Nobody knew that was going to happen and we were just all like, wow, like, and then, you know, standing ovation and, you know, it was just incredible. And like, after that, like, you couldn't. And he is funny. He really established at that moment, like, you know, there weren't enough clothes, you know, shows at that point also, that's something he changed. Shows at that point were 150, 200, 300 outfits long. So shows were like 45 minutes to an hour long. There weren't enough clothes to make the show. So he's there. There were probably like eight, 18 women's outfits. And he's like, we're going to bring the men in. We will do a men's and women's show and we will spotlight them because that will take the time to spill up the, you know, and it ended up being like a 30 minute show. But I think people were also blown away with, like, wow, here is A very quick statement and a very. It also changed the way people, you know, people started cutting down outfits and cutting down, you know, because he was just so laser sharp about how, you know, how that was going to be. And that really, like I said, that established his style. It established a lot of things that went on, you know, to change in the industry. And it was also the first time someone really worked, you know, with a collaborator, because he worked a lot with Karine. And there was just, you know, Paris Vogue was about to happen. So all the girls knew, like, oh, you know, there's just something going on here. And that was just a super, like, magic moment. And, yeah.
