10 Things You Didn't Know About MTV's House of Style

Image via Complex Original

Believe it or not, Cindy Crawford wasn't the first choice to host House of Style. The show's producer, Alisa Marie Belletini, suggested Johnny Rotten. For those of you who don't know, Johnny Rotten (his real name is John Lydon) is best known as the lead singer of punk rock band, the Sex Pistols. As the story goes, MTV executive Doug Herzog told Belletini to "go back to the drawing board." So, Belletini started reading fashion magazines and found Crawford, who at the time said she was tired of modeling. Can you imagine someone other than Crawford hosting House of Style? We can't.

At the time, Kurt Loder, MTV's main news anchor, was the one covering fashion stories. Loder wasn't thrilled and eventually MTV's Tom Freston sent out a memo saying, "What the fuck? Why do we have Kurt Loder talking about fashion?" So Alisa Marie Bellettini, a producer on the station, wrote a paragraph explaining why MTV should do a show about style. Her idea was picked up and she was given $25,000 to work with, which isn't a lot when you think about it. Consider this a reminder that you don't always need big budgets to make a successful show.

Cindy Crawford was one of the most in-demand models at the time. So when MTV's producers offered her the job and told her they didn't have any money to pay her, her agents told her it was a waste of her time. But Crawford agreed to do it anyway and worked for free the whole first year. No worries though, she'd come to make millions from the show and her modeling jobs.

Many of you might know Jean Paul Gaultier as a designer, but in the late '80s, he was also a singer. House of Style aired Gaultier's single, "How To Do That," which was released in 1989 on Fontana Records—the record would go on to be remixed as "Aow Tou Dou Zat." Photographer and videographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino, who also directed Madonna’s “Justify My Love” and Björk’s “Violently Happy,” directed the video. Watch the visuals here.

House of Style was great for candid moments, interviews with some of the best designers in the fashion industry, and behind the scenes footage. But the show also did a great job of covering serious topics, such as eating disorders, date rape, and AIDS awareness. They called these segments "cause" shows. In an episode from 1993, supermodels Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Lauren Hutton, and Beverly Johnson talked about the standards of beauty in the fashion industry, body image, and their frustrations with the business. Yup, models are real people, too.

As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke don't fix it." Gorgeous models continued to host the show, even after Cindy Crawford left in 1995. Molly Sims, Rebecca Romijn, Amber Valletta, Shalom Harlow, and Daisy Fuentes all took turns hosting House of Style.

Season 10, episode 66 of MTV's House of Style may just go down as one of the best segments in the show's history. Why? RZA, UGOD, and Cappadonna were the correspondents. They took MTV to their favorite shopping destinations, such as Transit and Training Camp. Plus, they showed us how to properly rock ski goggles (i.e. on the top of your head). PLUS, RZA wore a Pelle Pelle logo windbreaker over a Pelle Pelle logo sweater.

At this point, a couple of things have changed with House of Style. For one, Rebecca Romijn was now the host, and the show evolved from being a fashion news show to a full fledged red-carpet live report of MTV's events. In 1999, Romijn interviewed Jay-Z at the 1999 Video Music Awards. Hov debuted his Rocawear line, which at the time was not available in stores yet.

In 2009, MTV partnered with Teen Vogue to revive the show for just one episode. The segment included a breakdown of the hottest trends and a behind-the-scenes look at the debut of Justin Timberlake's clothing line, William Rast, at fashion week. The show wasn't much like the ones we saw in the '90s, but Bar Refaeli hosted the special episode and Chanel Iman was the correspondent, so that has to count for something.

New hosts Joan Smalls and Karlie Kloss are both are revered in the fashion industry—Smalls currently holds the number one spot on models.com's list of Top 50 models and Kloss is right under her—so the move makes perfect sense. We're sure they won't have any problems accessing designers and celebrities, much like Cindy Crawford.

In a recent interview with Elle, Smalls revealed that she'd like to interview Kanye West, Rihanna, and Lady Gaga on the show. Hey MTV, let's make this happen.