A return to 1997? Yes please, it was one of the best years ever

After Labour’s by-election wins, many political pundits are predicting a return to 1997 – but that year was exciting for more reasons than politics, says Richard Benson. As the editor of ‘The Face’ during the time of ‘Cool Britannia’, he argues that it was a vintage era we would be lucky to ever experience again

In 1997 things felt like they got better and better and the energy of the UK was felt across the world (Condé Nast, iStock, PA, Shutterstock)

The day I heard Vanity Fair was coming to do a special report on London’s 1990s pop culture, I was at Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit’s home in St John’s Wood, trying to interview them for a cover story in The Face magazine.

I say “trying”, because Liam’s mum Peggy was also there, and she kept chipping in with thoughts about the new houses she and Liam had been looking at. Possibly distracted by their conversation (“I think I like the one with the tennis court better than the one with the big swimming pool, Liam”), I barely noticed when Patsy said Vanity Fair had been in touch about a special London issue. To be honest, it hardly seemed plausible – Vanity Fair was then commanding a huge Hollywood heft, and Liam and Patsy being, well, Liam and Patsy.

A few months later in February 1997, however, it appeared: a VF cover (featuring the happy couple in bed under the line “LONDON SWINGS AGAIN!”) and 25 pages on how London “got its groove back”. Of course the trendy response was to shrug and say it was all already out of date, mate, but as a Brit it did feel a bit flattering.