[ Next: Year in Review: 21 Unforgettable Beauty Moments of 2017 ]
Biggest Fashion News Stories 2017
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Teddy Quinlivan Comes out as Transgender
In September, on the last day of New York Fashion Week, model Teddy Quinlivan — discovered by Louis Vuitton's Nicolas Ghesquière in 2015 — revealed her transgender identity on Instagram and in a CNN interview. Throughout the remainder of fashion month, Quinlivan — who walked in 27 shows total — gained more Instagram followers than any other model. Needless to say, it was a huge win for transgender visibility on the runways.
Image: @teddy_quinlivan
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Kaia Gerber Takes the Spring 2018 Runways by Storm
That same week, Kaia Gerber, daughter of Cindy Crawford, made her runway debut at Calvin Klein. By the end of the month, the 16-year-old supermodel-in-the-making had walked in 19 of the season's buzziest shows, including Versace, Alexander Wang, Off-White, Saint Laurent, Chloé, Valentino and Miu Miu. Two months later, she popped up on Chanel's Metiérs d'Arts runway. She's essentially fashion's Rookie of the Year.
Image: Imaxtree
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Kendall Jenner Stars in a Remarkably Tone-Deaf Pepsi Ad
Speaking of Cindy Crawford, Pepsi announced in March that Kendall Jenner would follow in the 90s super's footsteps and star in her own commercial for the soft drink. Upon hitting the airwaves, the incredibly tone-deaf ad — which evoked protest imagery to sell soda — sparked a massive public outcry. Within a day, Pepsi had pulled the spot and issued an official apology. At the time, Jenner stayed mum but a later episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians revealed her mental state: "It feels like my life is over,” she told Kim of the incident.
Image: Pepsi
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Teen Vogue and Nylon Say Goodbye to Print
2017 was a tough year for media brands. Teen Vogue, Nylon and Glamour U.K. did away with their print editions; Bullett Media and Style.com shuttered entirely. In August, Condé Nast sounded the death knell for four of Vogue Italia's (admittedly niche) sister magazines: L'Uomo Vogue, Vogue Bambini, Vogue Sposa and Vogue Gioiello. And don't get us started on the numerous high-profile layoffs.
Image: Teen Vogue
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British Vogue Gets Its First Black Editor-In-Chief
OK, we'd be remiss not to acknowledge the layoffs. Cindi Leive left Glamour, Graydon Carter Vanity Fair. Robbie Meyers stepped down at Elle, Nancy Gibbs Time, Keija Minor Brides. In June, Alexandra Shulman parted ways with Vogue U.K. — and did not go quietly. On the bright side, Shulman's ambivalent departure made way for the mag's first black editor-in-chief: industry bigwig and Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire Edward Enninful.
Image: @britishvogue
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The Game of Designer Musical Chairs Continues
Per usual, the design world saw a dizzying number of switch-ups, too. Jonathan Saunders left DVF (after just one year); Riccardo Tisci left Givenchy (after 12). Erstwhile Chloé designer Clare Waight Keller took Tisci's vacant spot; Natacha Ramsay-Levi, formerly of Louis Vuitton, took Keller’s. (DVF has yet to announce a new successor.) Rodolfo Paglialunga is out at Jil Sander, Lucie and Luke Meier are in. Bouchra Jarrar and Lanvin are off; Olivier Lapidus and Lanvin are on. Shayne Oliver's Hood By Air is on hiatus while he temporarily designs for Helmut Lang; J.Crew has yet to reveal whether it even wants another Jenna Lyons, Mickey Drexler or Somsack Sikhounmuong figure in its ranks, or whether it's pursuing a new direction entirely. Just today, LVMH announced that Phoebe Philo would be stepping down as creative director of Céline — and the Earth stood still.
Image: @helmutlang
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Intersex Model Hanne Gaby Odiele Speaks Out
In January, Belgian model Hanne Gaby Odiele — a favorite of designers like Alexander Wang and Dries Van Noten — revealed that she is intersex, born with undescended testes and without a uterus or ovaries. She spoke of the procedures and operations she had to undergo as a young girl and the trauma caused by these experiences. “It was important for me to make this declaration now, based on where I am in my life. I want to live authentically as who I am and help to break down the stigma that intersex persons face — but also to use the profile that I’ve built through modeling to give back to those without a voice. I want to be there for people who are struggling, to tell them it’s OK — it’s one part of you, but it’s not who you are,” the model told Vogue.
Image: @hannegabysees
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Gucci and Net-a-Porter Go Fur-Free
In June, the Yoox Net-a-Porter group, widely seen as the leader in the high-fashion e-comm space, announced it was going fur-free. In October, It brand Gucci — known for its best-selling kangaroo-fur slippers and astrakhan coats — followed suit, stating it would no longer “use, promote, or publicize animal fur” in its collections beginning in Spring 2018. In so doing, Gucci joined the ranks of other big-name labels that have made the shift, including Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and sustainable fashion stalwart Stella McCartney. (And the Fur Free Alliance went wild.)
Image: Pietro D'aprano/Getty Images
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Fashion (Sort of) Embraces Body Diversity
It was a hallmark year for the body positive movement. The Spring 2018 season saw a record 93 plus-size model castings (90 of them in New York). Ashley Graham fronted Vogue U.K. (her first solo Vogue cover), New York Magazine and Glamour, among others. After 16 years in the industry, Candice Huffine finally covered a U.S.-based title (ELLE's May 2017 issue). In July, Project Runway announced that it would, beginning with its 16th season, feature size-diverse models. And millennial-targeting brands Glossier and American Eagle set a new standard for size-inclusivity in ad campaign.
Image: Imaxtree
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Designers Head to Paris
Forget sunny L.A.: in 2017, designers set their sights on Paris. Five notable American houses — Altuzarra, Thom Browne, Proenza Schouler, Rodarte and Monique Lhuillier — ditched New York to show in the City of Lights. (But Rihanna, never one to follow the crowd, brought her thrilling motocross runway show to New York.)
Image: Imaxtree
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Colette Closes Its Doors
After 20 years, Colette, the 213 rue Saint Honoré boutique known for serving up quirky-cool, high-low fashion product — everything from lighters to luxury apparel — closed its doors on December 20. “Colette Roussaux has reached the time when she would like to take her time; and Colette cannot exist without Colette,” wrote the brand on Instagram. Across the globe, fashion folk — including one Karl Lagerfeld — are mourning the loss.
Image: @colette
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Condé Nast, Valentino and More Cut Ties With Terry Richardson
We're living in a post-Weinstein world, one where the fashion industry can no longer ignore its Terry Richardson problem. In October, Valentino announced it would no longer work with the notoriously predatory photographer after its Richardson-lensed Resort 2018 campaign sparked a social media furor. Days later, Condé Nast International executive vice president and COO James Woolhouse sent an email to the brand's global presidents declaring Richardson persona non grata. (Bruce Weber's fate has yet to be decided.)
Image: Terry Richardson for Valentino
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Donatella Pays Tribute to Gianni
There wasn’t a dry eye in the place by the time Donatella Versace took her bow at the Italian fashion house's Spring 2018 show. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of her brother's untimely death, the designer sent out a collection full of homages to his most celebrated works. Modeling legends Carla Bruni, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen closed the show in chainmail. It was, in a word, iconic.
Image: Imaxtree
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Fashion Greats We're Leaving Behind
A moment of silence for the legendary fashion figures who left us in 2017, namely Tunisian-born couturier Azzedine Alaïa, Yves Saint Laurent co-founder Pierre Bergé, former Fendi president Carla Fendi and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. RIP.
Image: FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images
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2017: The Year of Bella Hadid
In 2017, Bella Hadid was literally everywhere. She fronted campaigns for Nike, Nars Cosmetics, DKNY, Tag Heuer, Max Mara, Giuseppe Zanotti and Bulgari, walked just about every major international runway and scored more magazine covers than any other model (30, including CR Fashion Book, ELLE U.S., InStyle, Teen Vogue and several international Vogue editions). Oh, and she designed her own Chrome Hearts collection, NBD.
Image: Patrick Demarchelier for Vogue Spain
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Supermodels Lure Adventure-Seekers to the Disastrous Fyre Festival
Perhaps the only poor business decision Bella Hadid made in 2017 was to affiliate herself with the clusterfuck that was Fyre Festival. (Well, technically, she and her crew took their sponsored romp through the Bahamas in December of 2016, but the festival "took place" in April 2017, so let's call it 2017.) What was advertised as a luxe "immersive music festival" complete with treasure hunts, snorkeling and seabobbing turned out to be a nightmare of poor conditions, unfinished grounds and cold cheese-and-bread sandwiches. Needless to say, attendees were pissed. (A $5 million class action lawsuit is currently underway.) Being the stand-up gal that she is, Bella took to Twitter to apologize for her pseudo-involvement.
Image: Twitter
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Gucci Mania Hits Fever Pitch
Ever since Alessandro Michele took the helm at Gucci in January 2015, the people's lust for all things double-G has been on the rise. To wit: in the third fiscal quarter of 2017, the Kering-owned house reported an unprecedented 49 percent sales growth, hitting around $1.82 billion. No doubt Rihanna's crystal-studded bodysuit purchase helped things along.
Image: @badgalriri
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Plagiarism Accusations Fly
Still, Gucci did face some (literal) trials this year. The Italian luxury brand is currently fighting Forever 21 in court, arguing that the fast-fashion retailer's use of red-and-blue striped banding constitutes trademark infringement. (Right now, things are looking good for Gucci, but the case is nowhere near closed.) Other brands who got dragged for plagiarism this year include Gucci itself (the irony), Khloe Kardashian's Good American and Chanel, which released some very Dolce and Gabbana-esque column-heeled sandals. (Kendall and Kylie also got threatened with a suit, their main crime being cluelessness.)
Image: Case Document
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The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Goes Less-Than-Smoothly
The 2017 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show wasn't all bad. It took place in Shanghai, which is pretty cool. It featured a collaboration with Balmain — also cool. Brazilian model Lais Ribeiro was given the honor of wearing the Fantasy Bra, plus eight Chinese models walked, up from last year's four — so, two moderate wins for diversity. That said, Gigi Hadid didn't show, Julia Belyakova, Kate Grigorieva, Irina Sharipova and Dasha Khlystun were forced to sit out the show due to visa issues and the lingerie giant made the incredibly tasteless decision to air Ming Xi's runway fall. Plus, the show itself, which aired on CBS, suffered its worst ratings on record. Are lacy push-up bras over?
Image: @victoriassecret
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Virgil Abloh Fronts the Collaboration Movement
In 2017, Virgil Abloh of Off-White teamed up with no less than nine different brands, including Nike, Warby Parker, Ikea, Jimmy Choo, Levi's and Kith. Gigi Hadid and Tommy Hilfiger debuted Tommy x Gigi part three (in London, at a faux rock concert). Balmain and L'Oréal collabed on a line of lipsticks, Rihanna made crystal-studded Manolos. Et cetera, et cetera.
Image: @virgilabloh
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More Tales of Model Mistreatment
In February, Balenciaga cut ties with casting agents Maida Gregori Boina and Rami Fernandes after fellow casting director James Scully reported that “a number of girls” had told him the same story: that Boina and Fernandes made models wait three hours in a dark stairwell while they took their lunch, instructing them not to move or else they wouldn’t be considered for the brand’s upcoming Paris Fashion Week show. In June, Danish model Ulrikke Hoyer called Louis Vuitton's casting practices into question, claiming that she was cut from the brand's Resort 2018 show at the very last minute for being “too big.”
Image: @ulrikkehoyer
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Paris Bans Retouched Ads, LVMH and Kering Ban Too-Thin and Underage Models
In response to criticism that the industry encourages distorted body ideals and eating disorders amongst models (in addition to allegedly locking them in stairwells), this September, on the eve of New York Fashion Week, fashion conglomerates Kering and LVMH announced a ban on models below age 16 or a US size 2. Additionally, back in May, France’s Autorité de Regulation Professionnelle de la Publicité passed a measure whereby all retouched ads much be labeled as such. (Ostensibly, said measure will help remind young people that unrealistically thin representations of the body are just that — unrealistic.) Furthermore, as of May 6, all models working in France (even the non-French ones) are now required by law to provide a medical document certifying the “overall state of health of the person older than 16 years old, evaluated notably in regard to their body-mass index.”
Image: @ysl
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Designers Get Political
When President Trump’s immigration ban went into effect, and again when Planned Parenthood lost its government funding, the fashion world mobilized. Designers held runway-based protests, raised money through the sale of cause-toting tees, showed face at the Women's March.
Image: Imaxtree
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Halima Aden, It Girl
In 2017, hijab-wearing, Kenyan-born Somali-American model Halima Aden took the fashion world by storm. She covered industry notables like Allure and CR Fashion Book, walked the runways of Alberta Ferretti, Max Mara and Yeezy and starred in campaigns for Fenty Beauty and American Eagle, to name just a few of her accomplishments. Aden's acceptance into the fashion fold, heartening in and of itself, was, happily, emblematic of the industry's greater movement toward inclusivity.
Image: Allure
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Male Rompers Have a Moment
And now for something completely different. "My timeline is purely rompers and Russia,” Chrissy Teigen, America’s fairy godmother and foremost cultural critic, tweeted one fine Tuesday this past May. She was referring, of course, to Kickstarter-campaign-turned-internet-sensation RompHim. Last spring, RompHim’s star product, a male romper featuring an adjustable waistband and built-in zip fly — which is, in our opinion, cheating — launched a fierce, mostly silly debate about who, apart from Hannah Horvath circa season one of Girls, could wear rompers. Our answer: of course everyone can wear them — not that anyone should.
Image: @originalromphim
