January 2002
This was intended as a rather odd combination of a patriotic gesture, as Britain sent troops into Afghanistan, and support for our fashion industry – hence the Fashion’s Force cover line. The Mario Testino shoot was captured by art photographer Andreas Gursky, who made his name photographing vast computer-enhanced panoramas, and was also filmed by a BBC crew for a documentary. It was a massive enterprise in every way. Our fashion director, Lucinda Chambers, dressed 18 British models in clothes she commissioned specially from British designers of the day using the Union Jack print. The whole cover was a gatefold image, with others inside including Sophie Dahl, a very pregnant Jasmine Guinness and Jodie Kidd. Also there is Cecilia Chancellor, who was breastfeeding her newborn son. Kate, wearing a dress by Hussein Chalayan, stands between her friend Rosemary Ferguson and Naomi Campbell, in a Julian Macdonald bikini, who had arrived, predictably, three hours late. It was Kate’s birthday and the shoot ended with a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday, cake and champagne.