1. Komplete Kardashian overload:
A day could not go by in 2011 without some sort of Kardashian coverage, and come to think of it, it seemed like every new product released this year had these ladies hacking it. Due to their less-than-stellar taste level, they stayed relatively far removed from the fashion heavy hitters—until recently. In the last 12 months, they’ve knocked off designer bags for their Kardashian Kollection at Sears, made false claims about the Skechers line of “Shape-ups” shoes, created a media frenzy around Kim’s Vera Wang wedding dress, and tried to preen their half sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner for the cutthroat world of runway modeling. Our parting message to the Kardashians as 2011 comes to a close? Kut the krap.The Rise of the Kardashians
2. The Jours Après Lunes lingerie line for children:
When Carine Roitfeld resigned her post at Vogue Paris late last year, to say that we were devastated would be a gross understatement. The woman is irreplaceable! Alas, someone had to take her place, and after months of speculation, Emmanuelle Alt was named her successor. The magazine’s former fashion director chose Gisele to cover the April issue—her first as editor-in-chief—and the result was, well, a little boring. From the beginning of her reign, Alt claimed that she had no plans to change French Vogue or take it in a more commercial direction, but that remains to be seen.
The fact that the androgynous male model had been named #98 on FHM‘s list of the 100 Sexiest Women in the World flew relatively under the radar, likely because Andrej’s entry was mysteriously absent from the magazine’s website. Eventually, a screenshot of the scathing article surfaced, in which the author calls Andrej a “thing” and says that he needed a “sick bucket” when he heard that the model had aspirations of becoming a Victoria’s Secret model. Following the inevitable shitstorm, the publication ended up apologizing, citing a lack of copy editing as the reason that the piece ran in the first place. Whatever you say, guys. This atrocity came on the heels of an equally infuriating story, in which Barnes & Noble forced Dossier to censor its cover that featured a topless Pejic at the magazine’s own expense.
Fall 2011 Fashion Week in Paris was dramatic enough with the whole Galliano situation unfolding, but things got even darker when the creative mind behind Balmain was not present at his show in March, reportedly due to a nervous breakdown that landed him in a mental hospital. It wasn’t long before it was revealed that Decarnin had been absent from the label for months—likely due to creative differences with the brand’s management—and that the collection was taken over by his in-house team and stylist Melanie Ward. The young (and very hot) Balmain womenswear designer Olivier Rousteing was promptly promoted to fill Decarnin’s position, but news of his departure and his possible buckling under the pressure of his position came as a very sad shock.
6-Victoria’s Secret Annual Fashion Show
When the discussion is about fashion and glamor, can the chic Victoria's Secret Angels and the annual fashion show be avoided? Absolutely not! The VS show is a much awaited fashion event of the year and this year, it was no different. Attended by a host of celebrities and fashionistas, the fashion show left yet another historical print in the industry.
What better way to end a year than to have an all-out war between all of the major Fashion Week cities? Long story short, New York Fashion Week planned to push back a week so that design teams wouldn’t have to work on Labor Day, and Milan subsequently scheduled their fashion week so that it would clash with London and New York. Obviously, this is a huge problem, and it didn’t take long before things started getting really catty. Stubborn Milan wanted to announce its own dates—”let the best Fashion Week win,” they said—which led Condé Nast International chairman Jonathan Newhouse to announce that every international Vogue editor would boycott the Milan shows if they moved earlier. Eventually, Milan caved—with a few conditions, mind you—but we’re guessing this situation will probably continue to rear its ugly head sometime in 2012. Here’s to the new year!
On August 6th, an anonymous tweeter who claimed that he or she was a Condé Nast employee, started sharing gossipy tidbits overheard in the elevators of the famed 4 Times Square. The conversations that occurred were almost too juicy to be true—vapid, snooty, catty, eating disorder-oriented—and the Twitter account amassed a whopping 60,000 followers in less than a week. The corporate folks at Condé Nast were not amused by the stunt, and a widely publicized witch hunt to find the culprit began. @CondeElevator was shut down a mere six days after it appeared, but the industry will likely remember this genius attempt at rebellion for a long time—not unlike @NoBtotheS who rose to fashion PR fame in 2010.
9. The John Galliano scandal:
When reports arose in February that John Galliano went on an anti-Semitic rant at a bar in Paris—and later, when video evidence of the designer saying “I love Hitler” surfaced on the Internet—we’re not sure that anyone knew how profound an effect his actions would have on the industry as a whole. Galliano was immediately suspended, and subsequently fired, from his 14-year post at Christian Dior, and was later let go from his eponymous label as well. This launched a vicious cycle of rumors regarding his replacement, and no big name has been left unconsidered, from Marc Jacobs to Riccardo Tisci to Alexander Wang. One of the most surprising aspects of this story is that over a dozen designers have reportedly been offered Galliano’s job, yet no one has accepted it. The fate of Dior still hangs in the balance, but hopefully this will be one of the first conundrums solved in 2012.
When reports arose in February that John Galliano went on an anti-Semitic rant at a bar in Paris—and later, when video evidence of the designer saying “I love Hitler” surfaced on the Internet—we’re not sure that anyone knew how profound an effect his actions would have on the industry as a whole. Galliano was immediately suspended, and subsequently fired, from his 14-year post at Christian Dior, and was later let go from his eponymous label as well. This launched a vicious cycle of rumors regarding his replacement, and no big name has been left unconsidered, from Marc Jacobs to Riccardo Tisci to Alexander Wang. One of the most surprising aspects of this story is that over a dozen designers have reportedly been offered Galliano’s job, yet no one has accepted it. The fate of Dior still hangs in the balance, but hopefully this will be one of the first conundrums solved in 2012.
Carine Roitfeld found herself in some hot water for a sultry spread featuring very young girls in the Tom Ford-edited December/January 2011 issue of Vogue Paris. One of the models was 10-year-old French stunner Thylane Blondeau, and it came to our attention shortly after that there was a Tumblr solely dedicated to pictures of her. While the majority of the photos were tasteful, age-appropriate, and showed off Thylane’s incredible beauty, the inevitable backlash came—and fast. Not only did this story hit Good Morning America, Thylane’s own mother got involved, posting an open letter on her Facebook page before shutting it down for good.
So this happened—famed shoe designer Christian Louboutin filed a lawsuit against YSL in April for trademark infringement, claiming that red-soled shoes are a signature that is associated with his brand name. Louboutin lost it when YSL’s Cruise 2011 collection showed four styles of shoes with red bottoms, and the designer wanted them to be discontinued immediately. Not shockingly, the court ruled that “the color red” on the soles of shoes could not be granted trademark protection, and when this case ran on national news outlets like Huffington Post, MSNBC, and CNN, the world shared a good laugh.
On Friday, April 29th, Katherine Middleton married Prince William at Westminster Abbey, wearing a one-of-a-kind wedding gown by Sarah Burton. The speculation surrounding the dress was pretty insane—the McQueen camp adamantly denied any involvement in creating the Duchess of Cambridge’s gown, and bookies in the UK probably made a killing from people betting on who the designer would be. The legendary garment went on display at Buckingham Palace over the summer, and it drew a record-breaking crowd of over 600,000 people. Over 650,000 people stood in long lines to see the McQueen retrospective at the Met. Now, Burton is one of the most famous fashion designers in the world. Kate’s choice to wear Alexander McQueen was not only a triumph for British fashion, but also an incredible tribute to the late designer who had passed away the previous year.
2011 was the year of the Kanye West fashion rumors. First, he was going to enroll in the prestigious masters program at Central Saint Martins in London. Next, there were whispers of the rapper showing a Spring 2012 collection at New York Fashion Week with the help of Louise Wilson. And then came the talk of Raf Simons leaving Jil Sander to join forces with West on his new endeavor. After all of the speculation, what actually came about was an exclusive runway show in Paris, and one of the most critically slammed collections since Lindsay Lohan’s stint at Ungaro. Although every editor and buyer of importance was in attendance, the ill-fitting clothing and the collection’s lack of focus far overshadowed West’s star power.
14. Lady Gaga becomes fashion’s biggest muse:
15. Kate Moss’ wedding:It’s obvious that no wedding in the UK could top that of Kate Middleton and Prince William in 2011, but one came pretty damn close: Kate Moss and Jamie Hince tied the knot on July 1 with a celebration that was fondly referred to as “Mosstock.” The bride wore a bohemian, intricately embroidered gown by John Galliano, who made a controversial appearance in Moss’ Mario Testino-shot wedding portraits that ran as an exclusive in the September issue of Vogue. With guests like Daphne Guinness, Carine Roitfeld, Marc Jacobs, and Lara Stone, and an angelic group of flower girls that included Moss’ daughter Lila Grace and supermodel-to-be little sister Lottie, the three-day event was a fashion fairy tale.
16-Beyonce’s Pregnancy DebutBeyonce deserves a prize for this year’s most dramatic pregnancy revelation. She didn’t let an exclusive media interview or a tweet take away the glory of the moment. Her elegant red carpet announcement of the pregnancy at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards and again at the end of an electrifying performance of “Love on Top,” triggered a media frenzy and resulted in a new Twitter record.
The news of Beyonce and her husband, Jay-Z, expecting a child, broke the Twitter record of "most tweets per second recorded for a single event,” receiving 8,868 tweets per second.
The revelation shot up the viewership of MTV Video Music Awards of 2011, setting the record of most-watched broadcast in MTV history, pulling in 12.4 million viewers.
Google reported that “Beyonce Pregnant” was the most searched term from Aug. 29 to Sept. 4, 2011, reaching “breakout levels” – a term used by Google to describe a search with an increase of over 5,000 percent.
The world continued to be obsessed over the pregnancy and, in October, strong rumors started circulating that Beyonce was faking her pregnancy, triggered by a video broadcast on the Australian television program, “Sunday Night.” Her belly mysteriously folded as she sat down on a couch, leading to the video and photos of the same going viral on the Internet, in blogs and mainstream news sites alike. Her representative issued a statement denouncing the claims as "stupid, ridiculous and false."
17-DIY Ombre Everything — Whether you had ombre hair, nails, or your very own dip-dyed shirt, this DIY trend made the rounds from fashion to beauty. The best part about it was its low-maintenance — lazy girls everywhere know the power of a look that hides grow-out and
18-Victoria Beckham’s British Fashion Awards
Another significant moment for the year 2011 is the awarding of designer Victoria Beckham as the Designer Brand of the Year at the British Fashion Awards
allows for some messiness!
19-DESIGNER AND RETAIL COLLABORATIONS
First there was the Versace for H&M collaboration that had everyone in a frenzy and now Marni for H&M is the next partnership to hit the headlines and everyone’s shopping lists. The Italian label’s Consuelo Castiglioni is to create a spring collection for men and women that will go on sale on 8 March 2012 and promises all Marni’s signature prints and colours.Locally, Mr Price teamed up with the 2011 winner of the ELLE New Talent Designer Search, Cleo Droomer, and Edgars’ collaborations with Thula Sindi, Black Coffee, Christopher Strong and Clive Rundle also created a stir.
20-Missoni For Target Madness —In-store cat fights, criminally high markups, website takedowns… the Missoni for Target collection was probably the most anticipated and shopped for designer collaboration in history. Ranging from dresses to patio furniture, the huge collection prompted both suburban moms and urban dwellers to stalk Target.com before sunrise (which they promptly broke). .
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