Gucci 'party in the lift' Amber Valetta,Tom Ford, Mario Testino, Carine Roitfeld

Gucci 'party in the lift' Amber Valetta,Tom Ford, Mario Testino, Carine Roitfeld Several factors contributed to why the Gucci campaigns of the mid-1990s impacted on fashion in the way they did. Firstly the clothes themselves: skinny velvet jeans, second-skin shirts, lace kaftans and cut-out white evening gowns by Gucci's creative director, Tom Ford. Also, his collaboratrice, French stylist, Carine Roitfeld, who introduced us to her glossy grunge signature. And Mario Testino's overtly sexual pictures, inspired by the idea of getting "stuck in a lift" at a party with the hippest, most happening, most beautiful people on the planet. Last but not least Amber Valetta and a bevy of male and female models. It was the first time an advertising image had more clout than fashion editorial and captured the zeitgeist in every way, clothes, photography, models, styling... The ads allowed Ford to complete his overhaul of the logo-laden Gucci brand. The new image oozed a sophisticated sex appeal, which reaped vast financial rewards for the Italian house. When Ford joined Gucci in 1990 the company was almost bankrupt. By 1999 it was worth about £3bn.