20 Years in Image for Kenneth Cole & Moschino

What do a very New York footwearcompany with a smart take on trends and an extremely Italian fashion house known for cheerful chic have in common? Both were started by young men out to lighten fashion's serious demeanor with a little lighthearted trendiness. And both have survived, if not thrived, the last 20 years in the cutthroat business of fashion.

Their 20 year anniversary marks a shared irreverence toward advertising. Cole's early ads didn't show a model or a single pair of shoes: instead, in stark black type on a plain white background, there were eye-catching, eyebrow-raising quips like the famous "Imelda Marcos bought 2,700 pairs of shoes. She could've at least had the courtesy to buy a pair of ours." Moschino played with convention, too, mixing traditional fashion images with surrealism in ads and window displays. And in an industry where opinions are often avoided for fear of spooking customers, both took the risk of making social commentary a part of the company personality.

Cole's ads have talked about homelessness, gun control, and abortion, while Moschino has decried drug addiction and government corruption; both aggressively addressed AIDS (of which Franco Moschino died in September 1994) early on. "Can it be good business to point out social failings?" Cole asks in his new biography, Footnotes. "Conventional wisdom says no. But that has never made sense to me as a businessman, nor as a human being."

Source Janet Ozzard, Conde Nast New York. 'Footnotes' is on sale now at most bookstores.