The Royal Wedding, one of the biggest fashion successes of the year
In the past 12 months we have seen fashion successes, challenges and a lot of controversy to say the least.
January saw Carine Roitfield leave the position of Editor-in-Chief at French Vogue after a ten year reign, but she was swiftly replaced by Emmanuelle Alt.
A scandal that hit the headlines in February was when John Galliano made anti-Semitic remarks in a Parisian café.
Galliano who was the creative director of fashion house Dior at the time was fired from the company after footage of him surfaced showing him declare his love for Hitler.
In the trial in September Galliano was found guilty of racist and anti-Semitic abuse and was ordered to pay a fine of €6,000 to the French courts.
Currently designers are being lined up to take his position at Dior, Belgian designer Raf Simons is the hot favourite.
The Royal Wedding in April was one of the biggest triumphs in the fashion world this year.
Sarah Burton the creative director of Alexander McQueen designed that dress for Kate Middleton. The Grace Kelly inspired style was seen by millions of people around the globe and several replicas has been made since.
But it wasn’t just Princess Catherine’s dress that was the talk of the wedding day, her sister Pippa looked equally stunning in a figure hugging dress also designed by Sarah.
Later in the year Sarah was given the accolade of Designer of the Year title at the British Fashion Awards, mainly due to the hysteria caused by the Kate Middleton creation.
Another famous Kate got married this year…Kate Moss’s wedding was another success in the 2011 fashion calendar.
Who would have thought party girl Kate would have tied the knot eh? Well, she married The Kills front man Jamie Hince, in a July ceremony in the Cotswolds
accompanied with 15 young bridesmaids.
She wore a 1920s style vintage dress with matching floor-length veil, designed by John Galliano – classic Kate, very bohemian.
2011 was definitely the year of Gaga, and her fashion screamed louder than her vocals. From arriving to the Grammy’s in an egg, to wearing a fake pregnancy bump at Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Gaga wore everything and anything, but of course with her unusual Gaga twist.
Another fashion controversy that hit the headlines this year is the ongoing “red sole” debate between Christian Louboutin and Yves Saint Laurent.
The case involves Louboutin’s signature scarlet red soles and the allegation that YSL infringed the trademark by selling shoes with soles the same colour.
In 2008 Louboutin was granted a patent of the “Chinese red” colour to be used on Louboutin shoes and now YSL has allegedly used this colour on their shoes.
Still nothing has been settled, the debate continues…
Another scandal that hit the fashion industry was the use of teenage actresses Hailee Steinfeld and Dakota Fanning in advertising campaigns.
Hailee Steinfeld modeled for a Miu Miu campaign, where images show Hailee lying on a railway track. The ad was banned for being “irresponsible” and for "showing a child in a hazardous or dangerous situation".
Dakota Fanning was the model for Marc Jacob’s fragrance Lola, and again the ad was banned but this time under the grounds that it "could be seen to sexualise a child".
This year, Kayne West turned his hand to fashion designing, but unfortunately his debut collection was slated by the press and the industry. Sorry Kanye, clearly you need to stick with what your good at.
Another success story of the year was the now infamous H&M designer collaborations, where this year saw iconic brand Versace team up with the high street retailer.
The collection opened to the public in mid-November and saw thousands of fashion fanatics queue for hours to get a chance to get their hands on designer gear for less.
The fashion year of 2011 ended with Tamara Mellon, the co-founder of Jimmy Choo abruptly leave the company to pursue personal projects; however nothing has been confirmed as yet.
So with 2011 long gone and 2012 just beginning it will surely be another year of trials and tribulations in the fantastic world of fashion.
Emma Gordon
Tagged in fashion