2020 was the year that fashion folks declared to be the death of the medium. Coming out of 2019, there were already cries that the runway show was dying and that fashion week was defunct – both claims I felt, and continue to feel, are exaggerated. But then there was COVID and you can imagine tizzy in the fashion circle’s airwaves.
Not that there shouldn’t have been a tizzy; if there ever were a year to have a tizzy, this would be it. COVID restrictions limited not only the traditional runway show, but the all-important networking events that compose the thrust of fashion weeks around the globe. More importantly, it created the uniquely diabolical experience of industry members watching their businesses change abruptly while their long-term prospects dwindled and wilted away in the not-so-distant future. Design teams couldn’t meet, supply chains were interrupted, and, of course, retail sales ground to a halt.
It is not in spite of all the tizzy-driving events of 2020, but because of them that I propose that we actually had a remarkable year for fashion. Perhaps I should say “Fashion” with a big F because I’m not referring to trends or sales (I rarely do), but to Fashion as a collective of art and innovation. Limitations, as they say, spur creativity and this year I can confidently say that we have all reached the Absolute Limit.
So – here are my picks for the 10 best fashion shows of 2020. Each show was selected not for its trendiness or conventional appeal, but for its message and innovation. We saw a lot of strong messaging and creativity this year, so narrowing the list down to 10 was rough – but what a good problem to have, no?
In no particular order, these are the 10 best fashion shows of 2020, according to yours truly:
Hanifa: Pink Label Congo Collection
Helmed by Anifa Mvuemba, Hanifa is a favorite around here. Her groundbreaking 3D digital collection released earlier this year to much-deserved praise. Read more about it in this post!
Maison Margiela Spring 2021
This forty-odd minute film piece blew my freaking mind. As explained in this post, it’s a mix of product and process, analog and digital, the arc of history versus the frayed edges of the present. In other words, it’s good stuff.
Prada Spring/Summer 2021
Ah, the looming eye of the ever-present-yet-ill-defined digital realm! That’s what Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons (!) explored in this joint collection. Read more about it in this post.
Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2021
I haven’t yet wrote about this one, as it’s recent, but if I had to sum it up in one sentence, this would be it: It explores the painful yet hopeful boundary between the analog and digital in a peri-COVID world, one that mirrors our increasing dependency on the digital for connection and identity while acknowledging our primal struggles such as fear, loneliness, and viral plague, and ends by stating that collectively-yet-alone we are embarking on a hero’s journey that invokes the essence of individual and corporate metamorphosis.
Yes?
Christopher John Rogers
He’s one to watch – and his clothes so beautifully define without constriction the evolution and identity of the American female. Read more about him here.
Alexandre Vauthier Fall 2020 Couture
Vauthier’s photojournal presentation (you can view the stills here) is a cross-section of what COVID collaboration looks like. Three photographers across the continents, three models, and creative free rein produced an honest, fun, and raw representation of fashion and its purpose in today’s world.
Viktor and Rolf Fall 2020 Couture
A perfect example of how some clothes are not meant to be pretty – they are meant to scream at us, shake us awake to the hell scape around us, then somehow make us laugh and snuggle us back to sleep. Only Viktor and Rolf could produce such a collection, and they did it with doses of hilarity and unflappable honesty with their video presentation.
Valentino Fall/Winter 2021 Couture
“Of Grace and Light” was, on the surface, an aerial balm for the soul. Yet a closer look reveals a more poignant message about this year and how we view ourselves – read more on that here.
Balmain Fall 2020 Couture
Olivier Rousteing voiced his dreams of democratizing high fashion in his interview in Vogue’s Global Conversations and this collection was step one towards realization. The Balmain couture archives, a barge on the Seine, and public performances from France’s best artists, all livestreamed for all to see – this is an example of how to produce and consume fashion as art. Read more about this show here (and read here about Rousteing’s more recent collection that almost made the cut).
Versace Spring 2021
Ending on this gift from Donatella – if you feel like you’re drowning, just join the party in Atlantis (metaphorically, don’t try it at home please and thank you) because we’re all in over our heads. Indulgent? Yes. But we all needed to see some starfish-sequin bustiers in an underwater dreamscape.
And that’s it for the 10 best fashion shows of 2020! Any collections you would add?
love,
Stig
Cover photo from Balenciaga via Vogue
