It was the year public figures crawled back into the limelight, first tiptoeing out at the presidential inauguration, then a socially distancing red carpet at the Oscars — then a full-throttle, ball gowns-to-the-max explosion. of pent-up costumes at the Cannes Film Festival, as if to compensate for the previous year’s forced isolation.
Our celebrity avatars were no longer Just Like Us, stuck at home in sweatpants, T-shirts and Tevas; they had become vessels through which we could peacock vicariously. Skirts kept getting bigger, suits more untethered, gender differentiation more irrelevant, and the definition of who could message what they were wearing grew more extensive. The basic black tuxedo and little black dress turned into relics of the Before Times. Who wants sartorial understatement when you’ve been violently muzzled for months?
Instead, give us color, personality, and a horn bead (or 10) as symbols of a new age; vehicles of unfettered self-expression. Maybe it’s wishful thinking. Maybe the 2020s will really be the redux of the 1920s. Either way, the sheer visual statement-making lit up our feeds.
When Amanda Gorman went to the lectern to read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at Joseph Biden’s inauguration on January 20, her sun-yellow Prada coat and cardinal-red headband seemed to symbolize the clarity and hope of her words and the promise. of a new dawn – and new role models.
Harry Styles in not one but three feather boas at the Grammys — purple, green and black — sent searches for the accessory up 1,500 percent in 48 hours, according to Lyst. “Clothes are there to have fun, experiment with and play with,” he told Vogue last year in an interview, and he’s been living out what that means ever since, inspiring legions of fans to follow suit and become involved. to dress for his concerts and transform the touring experience into an explosion of id. And identity.
Speaking of which, when Deb Haaland was sworn in as Secretary of the Interior and made history as the first Native American to run a cabinet-level office, she also made history by eschewing the usual Washington uniform of fruit bowl-colored pantsuits in favor of traditional Native attire. She wore a dark jacket over a sky-blue rainbow-trimmed ribbon skirt, embroidered with images of butterflies, stars, and corn; moccasin boots; a turquoise and silver belt and chain; and dragonfly earrings. It was another sign that we entered an era where the personal statement, as reflected in clothing worn for moments that will be captured for posterity, became the biggest trend of the year.
When it came to big, no one could beat Carey Mulligan’s gold Valentino couture skirt and bandeau top at the Oscars, the first real (if socially distancing) red carpet of the year. Essentially a wearable form of social distancing, it took what had been a warning sign of the pandemic (stay six feet away!) and transformed it into something beautiful.
Colman Domingo was also indispensable in a bright pink Versace suit, a choice that set the tone for a year when men no longer played a background role on the red carpet. Instead, they strode in plumage as striking as any ball gown, insisting on their own individuality. Started with the penguin suit of yesteryear. Enter the age of everything.
There was no better example of that shift than Spike Lee, the first black director to chair the jury at the Cannes Film Festival, who showed up for the occasion in Virgil Abloh’s custom wardrobe for Louis Vuitton menswear. From a fuchsia suit that opens with matching sunglasses to a final look bathed in sunset shades; a black suit with bright red buttons, black shoes with red laces and a green, red and black beret; and a patterned “houndstooth” suit actually made of little basketball players, he defined what independent style really meant.
That baton was picked up by Timothée Chalamet, who helped promote his films “The French Dispatch” and “Dune” by dressing, if not exactly on theme (phew), then in as eclectic and captivating range as possible. He traded Tom Ford’s silver moiré for a glittering Haider Ackermann for a Stella McCartney mushroom toile de Jouy for a zip-up Alexander McQueen—just in case anyone doubted his image belonged to him. No brand owns it.
Billy Porter may have pioneered gender-agnostic fashion on the red carpet, but this was the year Lil Nas X established herself as the champion provocateur. Case in point: Andrea Grossi’s infanta-ready dress he wore to the BET Awards, complete with mega skirt, corset, cropped jacket and suspenders, all printed with references to war and religion. He later changed into a flared Richard Quinn floral suit (and changed again for his performance). Much like his controversial “Satan Shoes” partnership with MSCHF (and his Twitter feed), his styling rewrote the status quo.
After all, this was the year in which a new generation of tastemakers came to the fore. For example, see pop star Olivia Rodrigo at the White House meeting with President Biden and his team to discuss a campaign to promote vaccination among Gen Z while wearing the uniform of her peers. Her vintage pink Chanel bouclé suit symbolized two of their signature obsessions: frugality (because of its sustainability implications) and the ’90s (that time before social media).
For pure visual drama, though, none could top Zendaya, who (with her stylist Law Roach) set a new standard for making an entrance. That was never more true than at the Venice Film Festival, where she appeared in a wet-look nude tone Balmain molded to her body and worn with a 93-carat emerald green necklace from Bulgari.
The combination was as stunning as Emma Raducanu’s triumph as the first unseeded player to win the US Open women’s tournament. Her talent, age (18, at the time of her win) and multicultural background (a British citizen, half Romanian and half Chinese) made her a heroine at this point. Her taste for fashion (she attended the trophy ceremony at Chanel — and sneakers) simply reflected her ambitions.
The year in fashion could be summed up in two outfits worn at the one-off Met Gala in September. First, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a surprise appearance in a white Aurora James mermaid dress from Brother Vellies with the graffiti message “Tax the Rich” sprayed on the back. It became the talking point, not just of the party, but of the week, taking the idea of wearing your position on your sleeve to a new level.
Then Kim Kardashian appeared in a head-to-toe black Balenciaga body stocking and frock, essentially turning herself into a meta-commentary on her own cultural ubiquity: Even with her face erased and without words, everyone knew who she was. Together, the two women demonstrated the yin and yang of how social media, fashion and politics together shaped our shared experience in 2021.
However, it was Jennifer Lawrence who gave a nod to what’s next in 2022 when she appeared on the premiere of “Don’t Look Up” in full pregnant glory and golden Dior, as the promise of an even more glittering future. Dress for it, and it may come.