2012 IN FASHION: The Year In Review

By Angela Bethea | January 8, 2013

2012 was definitely a year of firsts for the fashion scene. First on the list of fashion firsts was the very first time London Fashion week dedicated an entire week only for menswear. This happened in June 2012 and designers of men’s fashion have been reporting good sales perhaps indirectly as a result of the new attention being given to it.

Then the fashion scene was in frenzy over the spat that has apparently been going on for years between New York Times critic Cathy Horyn and Hedi Slimane who is now creative director of Saint Laurent. The hullaballoo started shortly after the house of Dior went head-to-head against Saint Laurent. Horyn came out with a review of the Saint Laurent show even as she was not invited to it. She revealed what she felt was the root cause of her not being invited to the fashion event. Slimane fired back with personal insults which he posted on twitter while the rest of the world watched the spat in the sidelines. It is likely that the spat will continue to 2013 when Saint Laurent presents its next show in March.

A welcome death, while temporary, is that of the extreme high heels and the coming back of flats, slippers and stilettos. The perilous high heels became so extreme that even professional models could no longer carry them, as evidenced by the various spills a number of them took while on the runways sporting the extreme heels footwear dominating the fashion scene of recent years. Comfortable wedge sneakers by Marant and the comeback of Monk shoes courtesy of Victoria Beckham are back in vogue. A whole gamut of shoe lines presented the slippers in many a fashionable form as well. Finally!

Bare midriffs are also back in trend. Rihanna was the first to sport this style taking it out of hiatus. Kirsten Steward came out to show her fabulous abs perhaps in defiance soon after the news of her affair with her married director came out in August. Not to mention Diana Kruger who sported this trend on the red carpet wearing a Rochas coordinated ensemble which is the defining moment of this style’s comeback.

The Chinese invasion is not to be disregarded either. Not only is China taking the attention of the world as the fashion world’s new frontier as evidenced by the opening of the third Armani store in the country; it has also spurned the debut of several of its young fashion designers’ entry into the mainstream of fashion. The fashion of Uma Wang and Huishan are just two of the Chinese designers who spearheaded this much touted invasion.

As seen in Lane Crawford’s Fall 2011 campaign is Ju Xiao Wen along with well known Chinese models like Liu Wen, Fei Fei Sun, Ming Xi and Shu Pei.

Models way over sixty have also come into play in the fashion world. Foremost of them is Iris Apfel who at 91 became the signature model of MAC for its new makeup collection which incidentally was a sell-out. Perhaps this indicates that fashion for the older generations are finally coming of age.

Ari Cohen with actress and model Mimi Weddell at her New York apartment.

The French style came back into power, headed by Carine Rothfield who has a loyal following among the fashionable set and whose CR magazine sold out its premiere issue of 50,000 in September. Emmanuelle Alt, fashion editor of Vogue Paris is the other style icon of 2012 whose loyal following of fashion bloggers have posted her fashion style via photographs by the thousands of her street style on the internet.

What could be in store for us in the fashion scene this 2013?