The year in fashion: 20 moments we’ll remember most from 2021

Photo: Netflix

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

We were glued to our TVs—and actually got into the clothes

Not so long ago, the fashion we saw on TV was reliably terrible. In 2021, we’ve been spoiled with fascinating on-screen clothes, from the painstaking period costumes in Bridgerton to Succession’s take on power dressing and Halston’s Studio 54 gowns. Even when we love to hate it—ahem, Emily in Paris—we’ve never talked about TV fashion as much as we did this year. The fashion-entertainment connection evolved, too, from collaborations between designers and streaming services to new platforms that “shop out” every item from your favorite shows (as well as similar or inspired items). Are you obsessed with Molly’s confident tailoring on Insecure, or curious about the products And Just Like That’s makeup artist used to give Carrie such a healthy glow? Seek has every detail.

Photo: Courtesy of Marc Jacobs

Marc Jacobs stages a major comeback at the New York Public Library

While his peers experimented with virtual shows and lookbooks to stay on track with the fashion calendar, Marc Jacobs was absent from the runway for well over a year. The time away was worth it: In June, he brought us to the New York Public Library to see Marc Jacobs couture: cocoon shapes, giant platform shoes, holographic dresses, trailing faux furs. “This collection was less about where we’ve been or the current fashion conversation than it was a raising of the fashion bar,” wrote Vogue Runway’s Nicole Phelps. Jacobs titled the collection “Happiness,” and that’s precisely how we all felt as we walked out.

Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga

Photo: Courtesy of Acielle / Styledumonde

Photo: Courtesy of Balenciaga

Demna Resurrects Balenciaga couture

As debuts go, nothing in recent memory has felt quite as impactful as Demna’s first couture collection for Balenciaga. After 53 years, he brought it back in spectacular fashion, from the clothes—sculptural gowns, trench coats, haute jeans—to the setting at Avenue George V, the house’s original salons. Each detail was historically accurate, down to the faded paint and pin-drop silence. “People put me in the box of someone who designs hoodies and sneakers—and that’s not really who I am,” he told Vogue Runway. As Sarah Mower wrote in her review: “The feat he managed with this ultra-aspirational collection was not to turn his back on the aesthetics of the street and underground but to give the inclusive values of a generation a sensational elevation. Confidence, grandeur, ease: His focus was on how to imbue these clothes with ‘couture allure, posture, and attitude’… How to give equal value to a black turtleneck, pair of jeans, utility jacket, or T-shirt as to a grand ball gown or skirt suit?”

Just two months later, Demna reimagined the fashion show yet again with his spring 2022 collection, a meta “red carpet” followed by an ingenious Simpsons collaboration episode. His explanation was simple enough: “We needed something fun to happen.”

Photo: Courtesy of Alaïa

Pieter Mulier introduces Alaïa to the Next Gen

Another debut we couldn’t stop thinking about? Pieter Mulier at Alaïa, the first designer to succeed the house founder Azzedine since his passing in 2017. A longtime collaborator of Raf Simons—he worked with him at Calvin Klein, Dior, and Jil Sander—Mulier brought a combination of deep experience, masterful skills, and a reverence for the “family-scale” business Alaïa built. As he told Vogue Runway, his task was to present the house codes—body-skimming knits, laser cut-outs, sculpted leather—to a new generation. “I wanted to make it democratic again,” he said, hence the luxe hoodies, couture leggings, and cycling shorts. The collection met its young audience via its first celebrity endorsement: Zendaya, who wore look 15’s sensational mulberry crop top and fur-trimmed skirt to the Venice Film Festival.

Photographed by Théo de Gueltzl, Vogue, October 2021

Photo: Getty

Samir Hussein

Schiaparelli becomes the go-to label for the World’s most influential women

Speaking of film festivals and year-defining celebrities, one of the most memorable looks of 2021 was no doubt Bella Hadid’s Schiaparelli couture number, complete with gilded “lungs,” at the Tre Piani premiere at Cannes. It cemented Schiaparelli designer Daniel Roseberry as a new celeb favorite; his clothes also garbed Lady Gaga at the inauguration, Lorde on the cover of Vogue, and Adele at her “One Night Only” live performance. The label has surely enjoyed the exposure, and it’s fair to expect surreal jewelry and accessories to be an even bigger trend in 2022.

Photo: David Prutting / Courtesy of Pyer Moss

Kerby Jean-Raymond makes an historic couture debut in New York

It was meant to be one of the biggest shows of 2021: Pyer Moss’s Kerby Jean-Raymond had been invited by the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture to participate in the fall 2021 couture season, the first African American designer in history to do so. And he did it in New York, not Paris. On July 8, he brought editors by shuttle bus to Irvington, New York, where he’d set up a spiral runway on the lawn of Madame C.J. Walker’s home. But what began as a sunny, hopeful day ended with one of the worst storms New York has seen in years, flooding the subways and grinding Raymond’s plans to a halt. The show never even began, and it became something of a cautionary tale for designers looking to stage outdoor, mid-pandemic fashion shows. But a few days later (on a warm, dry afternoon), much of the crowd came back for round two. The turnout was a testament to the excitement around Raymond’s work, and the collection was unlike anything else at couture: a surreal tribute to Black inventors through history, from the beauty mogul Madame C.J. Walker (represented by a model with larger-than-life hair curlers) to Jan Matzeliger, the inventor of the shoe lasting machine, honored with a look resembling a sandal.

Photo: Getty

Future Publishing

Photo: Getty

Samir Hussein

Photo: Getty

Emma McIntyre

Zendaya becomes a fashion icon—literally

A brief scroll through Zendaya’s page on Vogue.com calls up many of the year’s best red carpet looks. From the aforementioned Alaïa number to Loewe’s metallic breastplate, Balmain’s wet-look dress, and Rick Owens’s draped sequins, Zendaya hasn’t just been the first person to wear the year’s most-talked-about runway looks, but she wears them in ways no one else possibly could. Much of it comes down to her natural sense of style and attitude, but her longtime partnership with Law Roach also plays a part. Ahead of Zendaya’s Fashion Icon Award at this year’s CFDA Awards, Roach spoke to Vogue about their collaborative process: “Everything we do is 50/50. Yes, it’s me finding the clothes and styling her, but it’s also her wearing them, going out to do her thing,” he says. “Picking out pretty clothes for a pretty girl isn’t particularly exciting. You have to create a moment.” Lucky stars might have a few “moments” a year; with Zendaya, we’ve simply lost count.

Photo: Getty

John Lamparski

Telfar Clemens reimagines the streetwear “Drop” with Telfar TV

Telfar’s slogan is “Not for you—for everyone.” It sums up his vision of fashion as something that’s affordable, accessible, and anonymous. Where other brands seek exclusivity and intentionally manufacture desire they can’t meet, he’s interested in ubiquity. Suffice it to say, when the demand for his vegan leather bags grew overwhelming, he was eager to find a solution. Every release was selling out instantly, often thanks to bots that were cheating the system; how could he make sure his fans who’d saved up for a bag could actually buy one? His answer was Telfar TV: a first-of-its-kind public access channel to stream content, Telfar runway shows, and QR codes for viewers to shop securely. As Clemens put it at a press conference in September: “It’s not a drop, it’s a drip.”

Photographed by Phil Oh

Fashion month resumes, starting with a high-energy New York Fashion Week

After a year-and-a-half of glitchy livestreams, Zoom appointments, and a few masked IRL shows in Europe, September 2021 marked Fashion Week’s official return. The New York schedule felt as busy as ever, and for the first time, the focus was really on the city’s new guard: Collina Strada, Luar, Eckhaus Latta, and Maryam Nassir Zadeh (who isn’t new, exactly—her store is 10 years old—but remains an indie favorite, and broke into Vogue Runway’s top 10 most-clicked shows of the season for the first time). Those runways reflected the exuberant, individual spirit of the streets, where people wore clashing prints, vibrant colors, and unlikely pairings. The good vibes continued on in London, Milan, and Paris, where shows became more OTT (see: Balmain’s music festival with Doja Cat). Fashion Week snapped back to “normal” much faster than we expected. Still, what sticks in our memory is the energy of New York, where personal style and self expression overtook flashy spectacles and trends.

Photo: Getty

ANGELA WEISS

After two-and-a-half years, the Met Gala returns to celebrate American fashion

Last year’s Met Gala was an early casualty of the pandemic, set to take place on May 4, 2020. By the same time in 2021, most of us had just gotten our second vaccine, and in-person events were still next to impossible. But by September the gala was back, and celebrities made up for lost time on the red carpet. Rihanna and A$AP Rocky became the night’s best-dressed couple when they finally arrived, but it’s Kim Kardashian’s jet-black, head-to-toe Balenciaga body stocking that defined the night for many of us.

Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com

40 designers honour Alber Elbaz with a special show at Paris Fashion Week

As Nicole Phelps wrote of Alber Elbaz’s shocking death in April, “fashion lost not only one of its most celebrated designers, but one of its best cheerleaders.” A regular at friends’ runway shows and a generous supporter of emerging talents and students, it’s only fitting that his peers would honor Elbaz in collaborative, communal fashion. After the spring 2022 season wrapped in Paris in October, 40 of them staged a show for AZ Factory, the label Elbaz launched in January, with looks inspired by his most celebrated signatures. Gucci’s Alessandro Michele and Jean Paul Gaultier incorporated his familiar heart motif; Rosie Assoulin, a former intern of Elbaz’s, created a trompe l’oeil dress that mimicked his suit and square glasses; and Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli and Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton referenced his vivacious ruffles. It was a heartfelt end to a busy month, but we think Elbaz would have been happy to see everyone coming together in new, creative ways.

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