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| notonthehighstreet.com |
As it draws to a close 2016 for many, will be a year to be forgotten. David Bowie's untimely death in January seemed to set the precedent for a year of the unexpected and the downright depressing. The world of fashion has however marched on regardless, donning crocs on its way no less (the ultimate unexpected).
In the centenary year of British Vogue we were gifted with a rare peek behind those hallowed Condé Naste doors and, in her first book, the usually private Schulman bared all. It wasn't just a year of firsts for the British edition however, Kendall Jenner and Lily Rose Depp debuted on the magazine's French and American covers both cementing their supermodel status with preceding Calvin Klein and Chanel campaigns retrospectively. Despite multiple hugely successful covers (The British June issue was the best selling of all time) Vogue has continued to court controversy, waging war first on bloggers, and more recently on cleavage- the condemnation of boobs and bloggers has led many to question whether 100 years on, Vogue's finger slipped from the pulse.
"the 90s revival reigned on; seeing the slip dress slink its way into our wardrobes'
In regards to trends, the 90s revival reigned on; seeing the slip dress slink its way into our wardrobes, the high street once again proved that imitation is the highest form of flattery, with Topshop and Primark alike churned out variants of the 90s staple. Vetements and FCUK also ensured that the logo t shirt came back in a big way, both selling out of their new lines of cult T-shirts in hours. And although it's unlikely many Newcastle students will have bagged one, it was a trend we fully got on board with. Calvin Klein and Adidas logo tees took the Toon in en masse, flooding the floors of the Robbo and Digi with a sea of vintage labels that wouldn't look out of place paired with some socks and sandals on your dad .
Perhaps less suprising was that the great body debate raged on with as much furore as ever; whilst there did seem to be some progress made towards a more body positive and inclusive industry, including Vogue's first ever 'real' women issue' (does this mean all models up until this point have been fake women? is Kate Moss actually a robot? the questions are endless). On closer inspection however, progress was perhaps less than we would have liked. Gigi Hadid and Cara Delvigne were both caught up in media storms after allegations they had been turned down for certain shows for being too 'fat' or 'bloated', and there has been a somewhat worrying emergence of a corset trend, facilitated by Prada and Balmain and endorsed by the likes of the Kardashian Klan.
"Even the saviest of fashion forecasters would have struggled to predict 2016 would be the year of the croc, let alone the year of the brightly colour pantsuit"
I'm quite sure that even the saviest of fashion forecasters would have struggled to predict 2016 would be the year of the croc, let alone the year of the brightly coloured pantsuit, 2016 seems to have passed us in a flash of fashion weeks and controversies. Looking to the future I am in no doubt that many surprises await us in 2017, perhaps this time next year we will all be donning the darkest shade of st Tropez a la Trump?…or not.
