MTV's House of Style Is Back!

9:00 AM, July 24 2012

By Lauren Sherman

I didn't have cable growing up. Yet somewhere, somehow, I managed to watch pretty much every episode of MTV's House of Style. It first aired in 1989 and was hosted by the super-est of the supermodels, Cindy Crawford. There were plenty of other models involved, too: Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Helena Christensen. (You know, the usual crowd). And lots of designers as well: Jean Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana, Marc Jacobs. Oh, and Kim Gordon. And Sofia Coppola. And Winona Ryder...

The best part of the whole thing was that all those fancy people were just a little fancy back then. Sofia, standing on the sidelines of a guerrilla fashion show, was years away from the Virgin Suicides. Winona, record still intact, was talking about the beauty of Edward Scissorhands. It would be years before Kim Gordon would design for Urban Outfitters—she was still doing her own thing (X Girl) back then.

They were totally relaxed, still yet to be weighed down by all that crazy fame.

So after hearing all of that, do you want to go back to the House of Style as badly as I do? Good, because the network is relaunching the brand in three stages. Today, it's the House of Style Collection, a digital archive at MTVStyle.com. (There's a crazy amount of footage, including Naomi Campbell putting on zit medicine.) Then there's the documentary airing August 7—House of Style: Music, Models and MTV. Finally, the channel will start creating new segments, which are slated to air everywhere MTV is—on the web, on television, on your phone—starting in early October. The new host will be announced on the red carpet of the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards on September 6.

And in honor of the revival of House of Style, I've found pieces that'll bring you back to the days when Cindy Crawford looked most comfortable in a leather biker jacket. Because they did exist.