The biggest fashion event of 2010 was also the most tragic: iconic fashion designer Alexander McQueen took his own life in London on Feb. 11. His death cast a pall over the Fall/Winter collections-- he was honored during Naomi Campbell’s Fashion Relief for Haiti Show and he was mourned industry-wide as a genius, a visionary, and a true master. A private service was held shortly after McQueen’s death, followed by a 1,200-person memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in September. “He taught us that the runway was a place where dreams become reality,” Wintour said of McQueen at the memorial. Since his death, his business has been resilient: Sarah Burton, his right-hand woman of 14 years, officially inherited the mantle in May. She debuted her first collection for McQueen during Paris Fashion Week in October, which The Guardian said was “unmistakably the house of McQueen, but there were new, more feminine shapes too.” In December, McQueen received a posthumous prize for Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design at the British Fashion Awards.
Francois Guillot, AFP / Getty Images; Fred Duval, FilmMagic / Getty Images
While 2009 was the year of the celebrity blogger, 2010 marked the rise of the celebrity editor. These are the impeccably dressed international editors whose impossibly chic outfits were captured by street photographers—such as The Sartorialist and Jak & Jill— and then poured over by millions of fans worldwide. But of all these titans of the fashion industry, one led the pack: Anna Dello Russo, editor-at-large of Vogue Nippon. Dello Russo brought whimsy (such as a hat in the shape of cherries) to front rows filled with simple silhouettes. She turned heads on the streets of Milan in impossibly high heels, a see-through lace Dolce & Gabbana dress, and little else. This year, she also released a signature scent, which comes in a fittingly shoe-shaped bottle. As Dello Russo told The Daily Beast’s Paul Flynn: “I keep my eyes in movement for beauty. Fashion is everywhere. Everywhere! Flowers are fashion to me. The sky is fashion. My garden is fashion. My darling, the Sistine chapel is fashion.”
Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images for H&M
The year wouldn’t have been complete without a major designer creating an affordable line that results in a fashion free-for-all. This year, it was Lanvin, which designed an inspired 30-piece collection for H&M, which went on sale Nov. 23 and benefited the chain’s All for Children UNICEF project. The collection was presented in an elaborate fashion show at New York’s Pierre Hotel, where Anna Dello Russo and Dree Hemingway were among the models. Though Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz said that he had initial misgivings about collaborating with a “fast fashion” chain, as he told The New York Times, he explained, “Everything in life is timing. I feel that the world is changing.” But it was a runaway success—H&M’s sales jumped 8 percent in November and, as New York magazine explained, shoppers ironically spent as much on Lanvin’s H&M collection as they might have on the real deal.
Jonathan Nackstrand, AFP / Getty Images; Evan Agostini / AP Photo
She may be Serena van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl, but in 2010, Blake Lively inherited a new title: fashion industry it-girl. This year, Lively proved that she does have a great sense of style, even earning her a spot in Anna Wintour’s good graces. Though Lively famously doesn’t employ a stylist, she appeared in a series of jaw-dropping looks this season, like the first Lanvin dress from the Spring/ Summer 2011 runway that she donned for Spike TV’s 2010 Scream Awards. She also covered Vogue’s June issue, as well as the magazine’s Best Dressed special issue, which hit newsstands in November. As Lively told Marie Claire UK, “I was speaking with Anna Wintour and we were just talking about different fashion houses and I said, ‘I love Chanel,’ and she said, ‘You should come with me to the show.’” Lively added, “I also said I loved Dior. She said, ‘OK, well I’ll take you to the Chanel and Dior shows and we'll meet with Karl [Lagerfeld] and John [Galliano] afterward.’ Insane!” Lively has since turned into a close friend of Lagerfeld’s as well, and is reportedly shooting the Chanel 2011 accessories campaign.
L: Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for Chanel
Nov. 17 was a scary day for fashion start-ups everywhere-- Google officially unveiled Boutiques.com, its first major foray into the fashion world. Its concept involved harnessing the influence of starlets and celebrity bloggers (from Mary-Kate Olsen to Jane Aldridge) to sell clothes. As Google’s first output from its acquisition of Like.com, Boutiques uses recognition software to quiz users about what they like and customize the shopping experience based on personal tastes. It then drives users to online retailers, making its money by directing people to other e-commerce sites. According to Google’s Director of Product Management Munjal Shah, Boutiques is a “collection of curated experiences.” And so far, so good. “It's a fun free service that is easy to use and can get you thinking out of the box when it comes to fashion,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Bets were placed, oddsmakers were consulted, photos were leaked, but still, America couldn’t figure out which designer would outfit Chelsea Clinton on her highly anticipated August wedding day. As late as the day before the wedding, a number of sites guessed Oscar de la Renta would win the race, due to his relationship with her mother Hillary. But when the big day finally came, Clinton glided down the aisle in a strapless Vera Wang, featuring jewels, bundled lace, and yards of swirling drapery. As the world gushed, New York Times style critic Cathy Horyn begged to disagree: “It was a flattering dress on a woman with pretty shoulders and a small waist, but it was not an especially high-styled choice,” she wrote. “We do not really know anything about Ms. Clinton’s style, and in a way her pretty dress, with its modestly embellished waist and romantic layers, reflects a woman whose focus is not directed in that way, and maybe is not that vain.”
Barbara Kinney via Getty Images
We had always admired her jodhpurs and architectural hats, but when Kate Middleton appeared in a blue silk Issa dress to announce her engagement to Prince William, the fashion industry was forever changed. The dress sold out in 24 hours at British department store Harvey Nichols and budget imitations were quickly unveiled... and subsequently also depleted. QVC released a $39.54 Kenneth Jay Lane “Princess Simulated Sapphire Ring” modeled after Middleton’s engagement stone and articles speculating about her fitness regimen and facial treatments contributed to the Middleton Mania. But as her April wedding to Prince William nears, the biggest question remains: what will she wear? Many speculate that Middleton will choose a British designer and the fashion world is searching for clues following the announcement that the wedding will be modeled after Queen Elizabeth’s 1946 “austerity wedding.” Several designers have already thrown their hats into the ring, submitting sketches for the royal wedding dress to Women’s Wear Daily.
Chris Jackson / Getty Images
This year, we watched them embark on blind dates, visit the pediatrician, and give themselves at-home bikini waxes. But when they’re not shooting their hit E! reality series Keeping up With The Kardashians, the family is moving major dollars in the fashion industry. Though The New York Times called the Kardashian’s fashion sense “the standard uniforms of Southern California nightclubs,” and, said they look like they’re styled by an “enthusiastic 5 year old,” the Kardashian train roars on. Kim signed deals with QuickTrim and Carl’s Jr.; the sisters inked (and then voided) a contract with a predatory credit card called the Kardashian Kard; they opened a New York City branch of their retail store Dash; and Kim launched a fragrance, unveiled the K-DASH by Kardashian line for QVC, and designed a collection of jewelry for Bebe. All aboard?
AP Photo
Mixed textures, simple silhouettes and the color camel all returned to the runway this year and we largely have one person to thank– Phoebe Philo, who has redefined Céline since taking the helm of the fashion house in 2008. Philo, 36, developed a cult following and her Fall/Winter 2010 collection for Céline received wide praise. ( The New York Times noted everything was "impeccably cut and refreshingly unfussy.") At the onset of the Spring collections, T’s Sally Singer wrote, “The main question on the minds of fashion editors was how much Céline would there be on the catwalks.” The Times of London's Fashion Editor Lisa Armstrong added, “There's this incredible mystique about Phoebe... Everyone talked about her first Celine show as if it was the second coming.” Philo’s Spring collection departed slightly from her minimalist credo as she dabbled in Moroccan mosaic prints and loose fabrics – but her new approach also received critical raves.
Nick Harvey / Getty Images; AP Photo
The most anticipated event of the Spring/Summer 2011 season was the debut of Tom Ford’s women’s collection. Ford presented his clothes in a secretive and over-the-top extravaganza for 100 editors in his Madison Avenue store. Standing atop a podium like an old couturier, Ford narrated his show, presenting each of his models to the crowd. The lineup was impressive: Beyonce Knowles, Julianne Moore, Daphne Guinness, and Rita Wilson were among the women modeling the collection. And in a world of camera phones and Twitter pictures, the designer pulled off a remarkable feat in managing total lock-down on photography in his salon, allowing only Terry Richardson to photograph the event. “I want fashion to be fun again, like it was in the ’60s,” Ford told The New York Times of his collection. “You couldn’t wait to get the clothes and put them on, and I think we’ve lost that.” The International Herald Tribune’s Suzy Menkes called Ford’s debut “a heroic return to fashion.” The first official pictures of the collection were published in a spread photographed by Steven Meisel for Vogue’s December issue.
Dominique Charriau, WireImage / Getty Images
When James Franco posed in drag on the cover of the Fall/Winter Candy magazine in October, it caused quite a stir. The actor contributed to images of gender-bending that swept fashion and media this year. Before long, 2010 became what The New York Times called “the year of the transsexual.” Along with Franco, Marc Jacobs cross-dressed on the cover of Industrie magazine and Lady Gaga disguised herself as a man for Japan’s Vogue Hommes this year. Designer Riccardo Tisci tapped his transgender assistant Lea T., as the face of Givenchy’s fall campaign. And it looks like the androgynous aesthetic is sticking around this Spring: 19-year-old Serbian male model Andrej Pejic has the fashion world asking, “Who’s the blond girl?” He’s a gorgeous platinum blonde with effeminate features who has already been cast in spreads in both the French and Italian Vogues.
It was a big deal when Halle Berry appeared on the cover of Vogue’s September Issue-- she was the first African American woman to do so since 1989. (Supermodel Naomi Campbell appeared on the magazine’s September cover that year.) “What (being on the cover of the September Vogue) means for a woman of color and what that means in the fashion world, what that means to pop culture, there was no way I could say, 'No, I'm not going to be on the biggest issue of the year,” Berry explained of the honor.
“Lady Gaga’s Outfit Raises the Steaks,” read one headline. “Lady Gaga’s Meathead Move,” said another. And a third, in The New York Post, read, “Gaga in All Her ‘Gory.’” The meat dress that pop star Lady Gaga wore to MTV’s Video Music Awards in September caused a major stink. There was, of course, an immediate outcry from animal rights groups, and PETA condemned the look, asking, “What’s next: the family cat made into a hat?” And Ellen DeGeneres, herself a vegan, presented Gaga with a veggie bikini. But according to Gaga, the dress “has many interpretations... If we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones. And, I am not a piece of meat.” While Gaga’s meaty ensemble landed her on Time magazine’s list of fashion statements of the year, the dress itself reportedly found a different fate: beef jerky.
Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images
This year, we saw her picking pumpkins in a pair of Tory Burch boots, playing hopscotch with Indian school children in J.Crew, touring Spain in Jean Paul Gaultier, and appearing on Ellen in Talbots. Michelle Obama’s fashion star soared high in 2010-- so high, in fact, that it was valued at a $2.7 billion market by the Harvard Business Review. This was the year Obama succeeded in advancing her image and communicating her agenda through her wardrobe. As The Daily Beast’s Kate Betts wrote of the First Lady: “Mrs. Obama uses her own image and appearance to connect with other women and to teach them how to take care of themselves, how to improve their lives. That look is not expensive; it's priceless.” (Obama, left, at the Wounded Warrior Soldier Ride last April, wore a floral jacquard dress designed by Barbara Tfank.)
For the nation’s top editors, 2010 marked a changing of the guards: Stefano Tonchi left T Magazine to helm W, Vogue’s Sally Singer moved to T, and Domino’s Deborah Needleman took on the top spot at The Wall Street Journal. But arguably the biggest shakeup of all came late in the year when industry stalwart Carine Roitfeld announced on Dec. 17 that she was leaving French Vogue. After the announcement, rumors circulated that Roitfeld had been ousted by Conde Nast’s international chairman due to pressures from advertisers. But Roitfeld offered few clues: “I had so much freedom to do everything I wanted,” she told Cathy Horyn. “I think I did a good job…When everything is good, maybe I think it’s the time to do something else.” Despite speculation that the accredited editor will team up with her friend Tom Ford to work on his women’s venture, he claims that so far, nothing has been discussed. We’ll have to wait and see in 2011.
Tony Barson, WireImage / Getty Images
