Fashion Garments

Emma Sibbles picks out the winners and losers in a voguish decade that has seen rows rage over size-zero models and a whole host of stars jump on the designer bandwagon.

It is 10 years since we pinned corsages to our jackets and marvelled at Kylie’s ability to wear tiny, gold hot pants. Since then, we’ve had boho, the rise and fall of the Wags, Botox and The Devil Wears Prada.

The excitement of the new millennium was signified by fashion’s obsession with glamour, disco and bling. Vogue’s first cover star of 2000 was the Brazilian model, Gisele Bündchen; along with Jennifer Lopez, Kylie and Beyoncé, who were lauded for their skimpy style and voluptuous figures, they summed up our fascination with the body beautiful.

Our style inspiration came from wide-ranging sources, including television shows like Sex and the City, from celebrities, and from fashion bloggers like The Sartorialist. But it was the pace with which we shopped that defined the decade: with the high street getting new deliveries weekly and 24-hour shopping courtesy of the internet, we were constantly craving the next new thing. We’ve since had to rethink this fast-fashion attitude, not least because of ethical factors and the recession.

It’s impossible to predict the next decade’s fashion trajectory, but it seems the mood for more durable, investment pieces is replacing the quick fix, while fashion is looking beyond itself in order to survive. A collaboration between Sir Philip Green and Simon Cowell – Greenwell Entertainment – is in the offing, and entertainment mogul Simon Fuller has a 51 per cent stake in Storm Model Management, home to Lily Cole and Kate Moss, as well as the 19RM brand, with designer Roland Mouret. This merging of fashion with music and entertainment comes at an important time, as the industry needs to win over new fans with spending power (investors need to be wary, though – actress Lindsay Lohan’s debut as creative adviser at French fashion house Ungaro in October was a disaster).

There is no doubt we’re on to something exciting on the cusp of the “Twenty Tens”. First, though, it’s time to say goodbye to, and to celebrate the defining fashion moments of the Noughties.

THE TRENDS

We’ve embraced playsuits, shorts in the office, leggings with everything, the boyfriend blazer, the trophy jacket and tricky trousers (skinny, peg, pyjama, high waist and harem), but it’s Sienna Miller who lays claim to the most enduring trend of the decade: the boho look.

It may seem naff now, but cast your mind back to the summer of 2004 when everyone was flouncing around in layered skirts, slouchy boots and gilets. Miller’s folksy dresses, wide, studded belts and elegantly dishevelled hair captured the public’s imagination, and catapulted her to iconic status. Its grip on the nation – Ugg boots and smock tops dominated the high street – lasted for two years and ended our fixation with exposure (think low-rise jeans, visible thongs and revealing vests à la Britney Spears).

Roland Mouret’s “Galaxy” heralded the return of the dress in 2005, as we swapped Uggs for Louboutin spikes and channelled a more womanly aesthetic. This season’s sharp shoulder, a homage to the classic Eighties’ silhouette, draws on this more grown-up take on dressing, with its attention on the waist rather than the cleavage and derrière, and draws the decade to a close with a different emphasis on the body.

THE ACCESSORIES

After a Sex and the City-inspired obsession with shoes – scarlet-soled Louboutins, Choos, Manolos, ballet pumps and brogues, to name but a few – we moved on to handbags. They had names: the Marc Jacobs Stam, the Chloé Paddington, the Mulberry Bayswater, the Fendi Spy and the YSL Muse, and they grew in price until it seemed perfectly normal to spend more than £900 for a tote that came with more hardware than your average B&Q.

Earlier this year, an American financial website calculated that Victoria Beckham’s collection of Hermès Birkin and Kelly bags must be worth £1.5million.

Meanwhile, the classic Chanel 2.55 quilted bag, promoted as the antithesis of the It bag because of its timelessness, generated a rash of copies on the high street.

THE ICONS

We had flirtations with Sarah Jessica Parker’s New York glamour, Lily Allen’s prom dresses, Alexa Chung’s brogues and Michelle Obama’s and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy’s modern takes on Jackie O, while Madonna rewrote the rule book for the over-fifties. We fell in love with Cheryl Cole on The X Factor as she inveigled her way into our hearts through a series of show-stopping gowns, masses of hair extensions and false eyelashes, bringing high fashion to prime-time television. But it was Kate Moss’s wardrobe we wanted to raid the most; even Agyness Deyn, dubbed “the new Kate Moss”, couldn’t steal her thunder with her bleached crop and Doc Martens. Kate Moss has reigned supreme and with her collection for Topshop, worth £3million, she has made the tricky transition to businesswoman. Our obsession with skinny jeans, waistcoats, blazers, faux fur and ballet pumps is down to Moss – and for that we salute her.

THE CONTROVERSIES

From Kate Moss’s cocaine allegations to Primark’s sweatshop furore, there has been plenty of controversy, but one topic has dominated: size zero. Moss was recently lambasted for saying that “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”, but the debate surfaced in 2005 when Rachel Zoe, an American stylist with clients including Hollywood It girls Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan, was accused of encouraging her “girls” to lose weight, a claim she denied. Dubbed the “Zoebots” by the New York Post, her clients all wore oversized accessories – bug-eye shades and enormous handbags – which emphasised their frailty. Richie later sacked Zoe.

When model Ana Carolina Reston died in 2006 from anorexia, the industry acted. Madrid and Milan imposed a minimum BMI on models, and the British Fashion Council set up the Model Health Inquiry. This year, Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman added her voice to the debate in an open letter to designers: “We have now reached the point where many of the sample sizes don’t comfortably fit even the established star models”.

However, towards the end of the decade, more positive messages were filtering through. The size-22 singer Beth Ditto appeared naked on the cover of Love magazine; curvy model Lara Stone was Vogue’s December 2009 cover girl – she’s a size 8, which is, by no means, an average body shape, but she’s significantly bigger than many of her counterparts; and designer Mark Fast used plus-sized models in his spring/summer 2010 collection.

THE DESIGNERS

The success of H&M’s Stella McCartney collection in 2005 kick-started the trend for designer/high-street collaborations. Other designers followed for H&M, including Karl Lagerfeld, Comme des Garçons, Jimmy Choo and Sonia Rykiel. Meanwhile, Giles Deacon worked with New Look, and Debenhams landed Matthew Williamson and Julien Macdonald. These collections gave credibility to the high street and introduced the designers to a larger audience – a win-win situation. Celebrities (Madonna for H&M and Kelly Brook for New Look, for instance) jumped on the bandwagon, but with varying degrees of success – Kate Moss for Topshop, launched in 2007, remains the barometer for celebrity/high-street collaborations.

Away from the high street, we caught “Balmainia”. Christophe Decarnin’s £1,000 ripped jeans, super-short body-con dresses and sharp-shoulder jackets inspired copycats, while Victoria Beckham finally shook off her Wag image with her own collection of critically acclaimed dresses.

London Fashion Week’s 25th anniversary drew Christopher Bailey for Burberry, Antonio Berardi and Jonathan Saunders back to the city, and thus much-needed international press and buyers.

It wasn’t all good news, though. Yves Saint Laurent, one of the greatest designers of the 20th century, died in June 2008. Responsible for some of the most enduring fashion trends, including the trouser suit and safari jacket, his work defined the last century and continues to inspire designers today. Meanwhile, Valentino retired in 2007 after 45 years in the industry; Christian Lacroix presented his last collection due to financial problems this year; and Luella Bartley ceased trading in November.

source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/6904959/Fashion-decade-in-review-2000—2009.html