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In 2011,
fashion was more accessible than ever before. The
world’s newest fashion icon and royal, Catherine,
Duchess of Cambridge, was photographed shopping at
affordable chain stores. Designers talked directly to
fans on TV and Twitter, and sold cheap chic collections
on EBay, and at H&M, Target and Macy’s. There was
so much information and so many opinions out there about
fashion, that at times, it was difficult to find any
consensus, much less a trend. But here are my picks for
the top trends of 2011:
McQUEEN
MANIA: It was the royal wedding of the century (April
29, 2011, to be exact), and Catherine wore Alexander
McQueen. The bad boy British designer died last year,
but his fashion label has never been more popular thanks
to the designs of artistic director Sarah Burton, who is
carrying on his legacy. More than half a million people
went to see “Savage Beauty,” the retrospective
exhibition of his work, at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York City, kicking off a frenzy among museum
curators the world over to come up with more fashion
programming.
HOT HUES:
Bright color is a trend that we saw simultaneously on
the red carpet, on the runways (at Jil Sander, 3.1
Phillip Lim, Prabal Gurung, Roksanda Ilincic) and on the
streets, or rather, the fields at the Coachella Music
and Arts Festival, where neon reigned supreme. And
it’s only going to get stronger for spring 2012.
DIP-DYED
HAIR: Kate Bosworth, Katy Perry and Lauren Conrad are
just a few of the celebs who sported rainbow-colored
tips this year. But I knew it was officially a trend
when the 10-year-old boy sitting next to me at Sally
Hershberger was getting a (very expensive) blue streak
put in his tresses. Only in L.A.
COLORED
DENIM: Are you seeing a theme here? Skinny jeans
didn’t go anywhere this year. In fact, they were more
popular than ever thanks to an expanding range of color
options available everywhere from J Brand to Forever 21.
NATIVE
ACCENTS: Fair Isle knits and Native American prints were
splashed across such wares as 1980s-era cropped tops,
chunky scarves, leggings and sweaters. If you’re
looking for the source, think back to the fall 2010
Dolce & Gabbana runway, Proenza Schouler’s fall
2011 collection inspired by Santa Fe, and the music
festivals.
WOMEN IN
TUXEDOS: Beyonce wore a sequined Dolce & Gabbana tux
at the MTV Video Music Awards, and Kim Kardashian (who
is not one to cover up) wore one to pose for her family
Christmas card. Tory Burch custom-made her first tuxedo
for pal Kanye West to wear to the Costume Institute Gala
in May, then debuted her own range of tuxedos for women.
But really, on a woman or a man, tuxedos (or le smoking
as Yves Saint Laurent called them) are timeless.
DESIGNER
DUDS FOR A SONG: Missoni at Target and Versace at
H&M, both out this year, were two of the most
successful cheap chic collections of all time, as
designers continued to go down market to increase the
visibility of their brands and bring their style to a
new generation of shoppers. The Missoni collection was a
zippity zigzag joy, and the Versace for H&M
collection — more Gianni than Donatella, more South
Beach than Milano — may have been the best Versace
collection in years.
THE NEW
SOBRIETY: Thank you Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, for
bringing modesty and appropriateness back to the public
forum with your demure shift dresses, tailored coats and
classic pumps.
SHOCK AND
AWE: It was a clash of tutus, animal prints and fried
chicken necklaces, as Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga tried to
out-weird each other with wacky outfits this year. But
fashion’s tolerance for weird is high (how else to
explain the fascination with Daphne Guinness?) and we
loved it.
FUR AND
FEATHERS FLYING: Whether feather hair clips or feather
earrings, ombre fur coats or oversized fur handbags,
this year we fawned over fauna. Except in West
Hollywood, where last month, the City Council passed a
ban on fur sales that will take effect in 2013 — and
could push some high-end fashion retailers out of the
neighborhood.
———
AND
DON’T FORGET …
Colorful
designer John Galliano shocked the fashion world and
lost his job as creative director at Christian Dior when
he unleashed a string of racist, anti-Semitic comments
in a bar in Paris in February. He headed for rehab, was
judged guilty of breaking French laws and paid a fine.
Dior spent the rest of the year searching for his
replacement.
The royal
wedding propelled Kate’s sister, Pippa, onto the
world’s style stage too. (“Hottest bridesmaid
ever,” said Us Weekly.) The bag she carried the
morning after the wedding sold out in the blink of an
eye; her bridesmaid’s dress — also designed by Sarah
Burton — was copied by mass market retailers; her
backside was lauded and entered in an informal annual
competition in Britain for the best bum. Although she
didn’t win, the world remains fascinated by Pippa and
what she wears. She was even the subject of an hour-long
TLC special. The royal wedding also left us fascinated
with fascinators. The antler-shaped Philip Treacy
headpiece worn by Princess Beatrice was debated around
the world: high style or hideous?
Royalty
of the rock persuasion got our attention this year. Lady
Gaga’s unique style won accolades from the Council of
Fashion Designers of America, which gave her its
American Fashion Icon Award in June.
Rihanna
made news for one thing or another all year long,
wearing interesting clothes (or wearing not enough
clothes, which got her booted from a farmer’s field in
Ireland during a video shoot). She launched her first
perfume, modeled for Armani (for whom she also designed
a small capsule collection) and was on the cover of
Vogue — a cover, it should be noted, that, along with
one featuring Lady Gaga, was credited with helping the
magazine increase sales in the first half of the year.
Few
product premieres were as successful as Justin
Bieber’s launch of his “Someday” scent over the
summer, which broke sales records for a fragrance launch
and racked up $3 million in sales in just three weeks.
And somehow the teen crooner also became a nail polish
salesman par excellence.
Performance
seems to be the reality of Kim Kardashian’s whole
life. We swooned over her 20.5-carat engagement ring in
May. But the ring — and husband Kris Humphries —
were gone by the end of October.
Demi
Moore and Ashton Kutcher teamed with jeweler Jack
Vartanian to design Valentine’s Day baubles shaped
like little handcuffs. But the jewelry wasn’t charmed:
a few months later this couple too split.
Coco
Chanel has been dead for more than 40 years, but three
books about her life were published this year. The one
that grabbed the most headlines was Hal Vaughan’s
“Sleeping With the Enemy,” in which he contended
that Chanel was a Nazi spy.
J Crew
creative director Jenna Lyons provoked much angst in the
spring by painting her young son’s nails pink in a
photo on the cover of the company’s catalog. An
assault against masculinity, said some. Lighten up,
it’s kids play, countered others.
Miss
Piggy made a comeback, serving as a celebrity judge on
“Project Runway Allstars,” serving as the “face”
of M.A.C. cosmetics in November and starring in a movie.
Fashionable
weddings: model Kate Moss got married (with exclusive
coverage in Vogue, of course); so did designer Stella
McCartney’s dad (Sir Paul) and, thanks to New York’s
marriage equality law, so did designer Michael Kors, who
wed longtime partner Lance Le Pere in Southampton.
—Susan
Denley
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