2016’s Most Memorable Moments in Fashion

Maria Grazia Chiuri is named Dior’s creative director in July, and becomes the first woman to hold the role in the house’s 70-year history. Her Spring 2017 debut features ultra feminine textiles like tulle paired with basic t-shirts emblazoned with: “We Should All Be Feminists.”

For the first time Pantone chooses two colours of the year. Serenity and blush pink Rose Quartz. It smacked of fashion’s affair with fluidity, while foreshadowing 2017’s passion for pink. It’s also code for, calm the eff down.

Fashion Designer Sonia Rykiel, the Queen of Knits, and creator of the ultimate fashion girl accessory, the Poor Boy Sweater, passes away from complications due to Parkinson’s in August. You only need to look at her iconic unchangeable look to know she must have been one cool chick.

The Canadian retail landscape didn’t just evolve, it exploded. In 2016 alone, destination shops like Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Uniqlo arrived in Canada. Few seemed alarmed by Target’s technology-bungled retreat in 2015. Although as one editor commented recently, travel to New York isn’t the same now that everything is available in Canada.

Are these two the most fashion-forward siblings ever? Beyonce is the typical oldest, she does everything just right. And Solange, is the younger less famous, but braver one. Remember hers and Jay-Z’s elevator-gate? The way Beyonce stood back and let her little sister dole it out? 2016 saw these two equally fascinating women, worthy of admiration and awe. When Beyonce won the CFDA Fashion Icon of the Year award, she spoke of how her cash-strapped grandmother sewed clothes in exchange for her mother’s school tuition. How, back when she started out in Destiny’s Child, “high-end labels didn’t really want to dress four black, country, curvy girls, and we couldn’t afford designer dresses and couture.” Next came Lemonade’s release, then her Britney-crushing appearance at the VMAs. Meanwhile Solange released the aptly titled “Seat At The Table.” Her performance of “Cranes in the Sky,” on “Saturday Night Live,” sent chills down spines. Yes, she sounded great, but her hair was a spectacular halo/braid which took stylist Shani Crowe 50 hours and 2,000 crystals to make. Swoon. Then slay.

There’s a new derriere in town and it’s called the shoulder. You couldn’t be out at any bar or club this summer without seeing a bare shoulder. A rare instance where the runway filtered directly down to the street. Unlike the bum or the boob, the shoulder doesn’t require surgical augmentation or doing endless squats. And in a dark, dimly lit room, no one will notice the odd pimple or two.

The cruelty heaped on Hilary Clinton over her appearance, age and ‘stamina’ was at times too much to take. Pantsuit Nation started as a facebook page and hash tag and grew into a movement inspired by one person’s signature look.

In October, Kardashian West was bound, gagged and robbed at gunpoint in a Paris apartment. In all, she lost $11 million worth of jewels, including a 20-karat emerald cut diamond ring gifted to her by Kanye West. It was a shocking crime, but what made the crime even crazier was how quickly people turned on the celeb for flaunting her fashionable lifestyle. Suddenly an awful crime seemed more about greed, comeuppance and envy.

This is not entirely new but the merging of fashion and wellbeing is poised to grow. Gone are the days of late nights and rampant drug use in the business (or at least bragging about it). Now fashion people connect at a boxing class or in the yoga studio. Beauty advertising campaigns were once the gold standard of modeling. Today, Gigi and Bella Hadid and Cara Delevingne all have activewear lines. And “how to become a fitness model,” is one of Google’s most searched questions of 2016.