I had a very different vibe then, I was very into minimalism. I was kind of obsessed with Helmut Lang and [Martin] Margiela.

I really loved when Prada Sport came into fashion, which kind of created all the nylon which she had for quite some time. You also wanted a Prada bag, you wanted a Prada shoe, not that you don't today, but that craze for Prada accessories was really big. It was a really big deal.

What we considered to be so much part of our everyday fashion vocabulary today, where we see all these designers restarting with these big houses, was just beginning then [in the 90th].

I went to Bergdorf Goodman as an assistant in the fashion office and that was really my first exposure into the world of retail. Dawn Mello was president at the time and she had just left Gucci where she found Tom Ford.

Tom Ford just started at Gucci and was getting great notoriety - like Madonna wearing that head-to-toe velvet suit at the MTV awards. I remember it like it was yesterday.

At the time it really was the social women, the society ladies. There were the cool girls, like Aerin Lauder - everyone loved to see what Aerin was wearing. Carolyn Bessette was very much in that time period. Calvin [Kleine] was very influential in the '90s.

I feel like fashion was much more exclusive. There weren't as many parties. There weren't as many social gatherings. It wasn't required that designers have events to lure customers or editors or any of that - it was about a show. If there was a dinner or a party, people would go out after. New York nightlife was about late nights and dancing.