Top 10: A Decade of Fashion Memories

The 2000s are coming to a close, and I’m wondering what will be the fashion epitaph of this decade.  Perhaps it will be remembered as the decade where fashion fell in love with almost every single decade of the 1900s? For me vintage styling and individualism through the rise of bloggers stand out as big trends, but as for the fashion memories, here’s my list…

1: Marc Mania

Everyone loves a bit of Marc. One of the most influential designers today, he really came to claim his throne this past decade. Joining Louis Vuitton in 1997 and then starting Marc by Marc Jacobs in 2001, the man designs three of the coolest collections around and I for one am always waiting to see what he’s doing next. Where he leads, the high street follows. Love it!

2: Avant Garde

Alexander McQueen has given me plenty of goosebumps moments over the years, such as the Kate Moss hologram at the A/W 2006 show, the amazing feather and crystal dress Björk wore to Fashion Rocks (I stitched on some of those feathers underneath by hand myself…! Coughing up feathers all night after) and most recently the Plato’s Atlantis SS2010 show. He certainly gives fashion a good name.

Equally Hussein Chalayan’s fondness for incorporating technology and unusual materials is seriously captivating. His Video dress and Transformer dresses aren’t exactly ”just clothes”.

3: Fashion Collaborations

The 2000s seemed to be when everyone who was anyone had a collection, and big fashion chains like H&M, Topshop and just about everyone else cashed in on the fashion public’s hunger for labels and a slice of luxury. H&M had collaborations with Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld (who didn’t think fat women should bother with his clothes), Matthew Williamson, Roberto Cavalli and Jimmy Choo, whereas Topshop hit a streak of genius teaming up with fashion icon über alles Kate Moss and have also fronting some very cool young designers such as Christopher Kane, Preen, Louise Goldin, Peter Jensen, Richard Nicoll, Marios Schwaab and Jonathan Saunders. From the wonderful to the weird – Heidi Klum for Birkenstock, Lindsay Lohan for Ungaro and Miley Cyrus for Max Azria are all filed under my WTF section.

4: Shoe’s The Limit

This past decade has been all about the shoes. For perhaps the first time there is such a thing as an ”it” shoe, which has previously been reserved for very expensive handbags. Yet nowadays, if a shoe has been seen an appropriate number of times on the right kind of celebrity, then later on the wrong kind, and then even later in numerous high street copies – you have yourself an ”it” shoe. Noteable ”it” shoes include the Dior Extremes, the YSL Tributes, the Balmain Crystal Studdeds, the Louis Vuitton Spicys, Alexander McQueen Faithuls, and of course the blogger favourite Acne Atacomas.

5: Sex & The City

The combination of Sarah Jessica Parker’s quirky cool looks and the magic touch of über stylist Patricia Field has proven itself to influence fashion heavily in the past ten years. Six seasons and one and a half film has opened our eyes to wearing stilettos with everything, mismatched patterns and always dressing up, never down. The show also really cemented the importance of the ”it” shoe. Let’s hope Manolo Blahnik is planning on keeping SJP and Pat Field in shoes for the rest of their lives.

6: The Return of the Supes

Since the heyday of the superhuman supermodels like Cindy, Kate, Naomi, Christy, Linda, Helena, Claudia and Tyra, fashion went through a bit of a lull in terms of models. After the amazon days, along came the angular, androgynous look, but in recent years the super Supes have made a comeback. Established names such as Gisele, Heidi Klum, Adriana Lima share the fashion spotlight with a new breed of supes – relative newcomers such as Agyness Deyn, Lara Stone, Abby Lee Kershaw, Bar Rafaeli, Lily Cole, Miranda Kerr, Jessica Stam, Doutzen Kroess, Coco Rosa, Jordan Dunn, Chanel Iman, Raquel Zimmermann, Shasha Pivovarova and Natalia Vodianova. Perhaps recently deceased Daul Kim could have been added to that list too.

7: WTF

For every moment of avant garde brilliancy there is a moment of fashion WTF. Many of these moments over the past then years have been brought to you by Maison Martin Margiela, Gareth Pugh and Victor & Rolf (often when worn by Lady Gaga, it has to be said), but I never thought I’d see the day that Marc Jacobs would provide me thus… Like, I mean do these people really think we wake up in the morning thinking “Today I want to dress like Deceptacon, I think that’ll be really good for that important meeting later today. Then I can just throw on some heels and go to the pub straight from work”? WTF.

8: Spice Up Your Life

Ever since the Spice Girls went their separate ways yonks ago they have come a long way fashion-wize. For their 2007/2008 reunion tour the Spicettes were far richer, far thinner and somehow more plastic looking, and clearly the Posh one had a watchful eye over the costumes, since there were no leopard print Buffalo boots to be seen (I had a pair myself, feeling a bit sorry that I threw them out). For the tour the Pop tarts had signed up not-at-all-tacky designer Roberto Cavalli, who did a fine job of updating their signature far-more-tacky looks.

9: Celebrity Takeover

The 2000s have been the decade of celebrities. Now, of course, anyone can be a celebrity, you just need to sign up for some reality show, but the real A-list stars have suddenly become the fashion icons to watch.  Our culture of celebrity obsession has lead to models being replaced by film and music stars on the covers of Vouge and Elle, and I for one will be more than happy to see the end of that particular trend. The fashion icons of the decade are people like Sarah Jessica Parker, the Olsen sisters, Alexa Chung (who’s not even that famous), Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Sienna Miller, Rhianna, Rachel Bilson, Taylor Momsen, Victoria Beckham, not to mention Rachel Zoe and her “Zoebots”. Sure, these girls have style, but pretty please can we divert our fashion crushes to people who don’t actually get styled?

10: Isabella takes a Blow

Tatler fashion director, Philip Tracey muse, discoverer of AMQ and infamous style icon Isabella Blow passed away suddenly in 2007 after several failed suicide attempts. Her life story makes for interesting reading, but really it was her sense of style that was most captivating. Always in a hat, something structured and red lips, she was a true institution in the fashion world.