The Final Countdown: Style File’s Top Stories of 2013

The fashion biz has had quite a year. 2013 was jam-packed with major designer shakeups, groundbreaking ad campaigns, celebrity collaborations, and pop star performance wardrobes filled with custom-made designer duds. In the final days leading up to 2014, we’re counting down Style File’s most popular twenty stories of the annum. So sit back, relax, and relive 2013′s unforgettable moments. Let’s kick things off with numbers twenty through sixteen, below.

20. Rihanna and River Island Take London Fashion Week

Rihanna stirred up some anarchy in the UK when she and Adam Selman debuted their risqué River Island collection at London fashion week in February. Style had a front row seat the the star’s design debut.

19. Maison Kitsuné’s Retro Pop Experience

Gildas Loaëc and Masaya Kuroki, the talents behind cult fashion brand-cum-record-label Maison Kitsuné, were Pitti W’s Fall ’13 guest designers. And in keeping with their quirky, multidisciplinary roots, the pair put on a riotous musical fashion presentation. Style was on the scene to document their sixties-themed extravaganza.

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18. Dior Walks the Red Square

Last July, for the second time in history, Dior staged a show in Moscow’s Red Square. As you can imagine, the festivities, which were hosted inside a purpose-built mirrored pavilion, were brimming with glitz and glamour—albeit of Dior’s sleek and tasteful variety. Designer and Style Map contributor Vika Gazinskaya took us inside the memorable affair.

17. Playboy‘s Artist Pals are Rethinking Sexy—But is it Porn or Art?

Playboy has had a big year, what with Kate Moss covering its sixtieth anniversary issue and Richard Phillips’ controversial Playboy Marfa installation. Back in May, the magazine’s new director of special projects, curator Neville Wakefield, asked artists Aaron Young, Malerie Marder, and Alex Israel to create works featuring Playmate of the Year, Raquel Pomplun. So we asked the question—were the results porn, or art?

16. Bike Like Baba

In 2013, just six years after Paris inaugurated its shared vélo progam, New York finally caught up and launched its ever-popular Citi Bikes. But traffic-inducing tourists aren’t the only ones using the vehicles—the bicycles were a popular mode of transport at New York fashion week. During the Spring ’14 shows, we talked to eccentric stylist and cyclist extraordinaire, Catherine Baba, about the dos and don’ts of biking about town.

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Pitti Weighs In on the Overcrowded Menswear Calendar

“We’ve offered so many olive branches,” Dylan Jones, the editor in chief of British GQ, and chairman of the London Collections: Men, told WWD last week. “[The Italian organizers] seem to be intransigent and don’t appear to be particularly interested in working with London, so we’re just going to go ahead.” His statement was in response to an ongoing scheduling conflict that the newly established London menswear shows, which will run from January 6 through 8, have with Florence’s long-standing menswear fair, Pitti Immagine Uomo, whose eighty-fifth installment is set for January 7 through 10. In an interview with Style today, however, Pitti CEO Raffaello Napoleone and director of special events and projects Lapo Cianchi argue that they’ve been more than cooperative. “We have had very good conversations with [British Fashion Council chairman] Caroline Rush,” offered Napoleone. “And we are totally open to finding a balance and solution to this situation.”

The concern on both parties’ ends is that, due to the current two-day overlap, editors and buyers will have to choose one fair over the other, and will miss key events in either city. Burberry, for instance, will present its Fall ’14 menswear lineup at 2 p.m. in London on January 7. Meanwhile, Diesel Black Gold—Pitti 85′s guest brand—is meant to hold its Fall ’14 show in Florence later that evening. Pitti’s (rather opulent) answer this time around is to charter a plane and fly about fifty editors to Florence immediately following the Burberry show.

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The problem ends up involving all four major menswear cities: If Pitti were pushed back to accommodate London, Milan and Paris would have to alter their calendars as well. According to Napoleone, the Pitti team proposed a fix, to which Milan and Paris are reportedly not opposed: London would always run from January 6 through 8, Pitti would begin on the 8th, Milan on the 12th, and so on. “We’d have to show on the weekend, which is not exactly what we feel would be best for our clients or exhibitors,” expressed Napoleone, noting that while there would still be a one-day overlap, it was at least an improvement. “But as the French say, faute de mieux—if there are no other solutions, you have to accept it. The last time I was in London with Dylan and Caroline, I left them this very fair proposal, and we didn’t receive any answer.” As for why Pitti didn’t just concede to start on January 8 this season, Napoleone said, “The seventh was decided with Milan and Paris two years ago, before the new London fashion week had started.”

Napoleone insists that he has “no idea” what inspired Jones’ comment. “Dylan Jones is a supporter of Pitti. He always attends,” said Cianchi. “The real olive branch in this story is that every city is open to renouncing something. We are completely open,” Napoleone added.

Drink, eat and be green

It's so easy to be wasteful over the festive season. From catering for 12 people when there are only six of you for Christmas dinner, to leaving unnecessary lights on and running water when you really don't need to, we're all guilt of a little bit of wastefulness over the season.

Here's how you can have a genuinely eco-friendly Christmas and ensure that those resources you use aren't spent in vein.

Christmas cards

Instead of sending the original holiday cards, made of paper, send e-cards instead.

If you're determined to send out real Christmas cards, make sure you buy cards printed on recycled paper.

If you've got time, recycle old Christmas cards by using the lovely picture on the front and sticking it to recycled paper for that personal and homemade touch.

Shopping

Plan your shopping trips carefully to ensure that you don't have to go backwards and forwards to the shops.

Don't overcater. Get a rough idea of whose coming to dinner and cater for that many people plus two. That should do it and it should ensure that you'll have one or two leftovers for those who get peckish later on.

Take your own carry bags and avoid asking for plastic bags where you can.

Decline unnecessary receipts print outs if you don't need them for gifts. Especially if you bank online and can see what you've purchased that way.

The tree

In South Africa most people go for the artificial tree as you can use it over a long period of time, yet a real, indigenous tree could also be used and replanted after the festive season.

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A twist in the traditional tree. Get hold of a gorgeous indigenous tree such as an acacia, a white stinkwood or a delicate leopard tree for an homegrown South African take on Christmas.

Avoid buying more of those plastic Christmas tree ornaments. Use your old ornaments from last year and focus on natural material ornaments instead.

Make edible ornaments by baking Christmas cookies, punching holes in them when they're still dough and then stringing ribbon and hanging them on the tree. It will look gorgeous, not to mention delicious.

Gifts

Don't wrap big gifts, using reams and reams of wrapping paper. Instead, get the kids to do a bit of a treasure hunt to find their larger gifts.

Try to recycle gift wrap for next year — waste not, want not!

Buy fewer gifts for everyone and look for products that clearly state their allegiance to organisations that look after the environment.

You could also agree to buy one meaningful gift for each person instead of tons of stuff that they might not necessarily use. Get everyone to write down a list of things they'd really like and then you can all pitch in to buy them that gift.

Agree to donate to each other's chosen charity as a gift to each other. There's nothing like making a difference in other people's lives as the perfect Christmas gift to yourself.

Food

Make sure you shop for local ingredients as much as you possibly can. You can get great local foods at markets. Alternatively, always check the packaging to see whether or not the product is local.

Reduce your meat intake. It's a tough one over Christmas, but look for alternatives to those meaty snacks and go for tapas. Check out our range of tapas and dips here.

Recycle all those glass and plastic bottles. Put two bins just outside your kitchen door, or in view of your guests and mark them 'glass' and 'plastic'. Then encourage everyone to get rid of these two waste products here. You can take these along to your local rubbish dump where there should be tips for the various materials. Alternatively, visit this page to find out where you can recycle.

This is the perfect time to start your compost heap or your worm farm as there will be plenty of biodegradable waste to get it started.

Kim Kardashian Is Single White Female-ing Elizabeth Taylor

Kim Kardashian claims Oscar-winner and renowned beauty Elizabeth Taylor as her personal idol, and in a new Instagram selfie posted earlier this morning, Kim proves she and the star do have a few things in common.

Kardashian appears to have a famous 1991 picture of Elizabeth Taylor by Herb Rits hanging in her home. In the photo, Elizabeth Taylor’s face is visible only from the eyes up, but even with her hair wrapped up in a towel, Taylor is instantly recognizable just from her famous, heavily made-up violet eyes and a diamond ring that is the size of a golf ball.

For her selfie version, Kardashian copied the picture and applied a black and white filter. Comparing oneself to Elizabeth Taylor is pretty ballsy, considering that Taylor was one of the most beautiful women in the world, but the photo does highlight some notable similarities between Kim Kardashian and Elizabeth Taylor.

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For starters, there is the ring. Elizabeth Taylor had a love of very high-end jewelry, and her 33.1-carat engagement ring from Richard Burton is estimated to be the single most expensive engagement ring in the world. Kim Kardashian’s rock is about the size of a human eyeball.

Then there are the lashes. Elizabeth Taylor had a genetic mutation that gave her two rows of eyelashes. Kim Kardashian’s lashes are equally enormous, though she lives in an age when eyelash extension technology exists.

But while Internet commenters are already making jokes about how they have a lot of marriages between them, Elizabeth Taylor had had five husbands by the time she was Kim Kardashian’s age. Kardashian has had only two, and when she and Kanye tie the not, we actually suspect that one will last. Maybe we’re hopeless romantics, but we believe that the couple that gilds toilets together and self-promotes together is a couple that stays together.

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Why fashion is having a fairytale moment

As we get older our taste becomes more sophisticated but there's no harm in injecting a little magic and nostalgia into our fashion now and then.

This year some of the high street's biggest names have gone all out with fairytale-inspired campaigns that aim to fill us all with festive joy and wonder.

John Lewis went with the concept of a children's story book and is rumoured to have spent a whopping £7million on The Bear And The Hare TV animation.

Also on our screens is the enchanting offering from Marks & Spencer, set in a magical forest and inspired by a trio of classic childhood stories.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley stars as Alice in Wonderland, Dorothy and Little Red Riding Hood alongside David Gandy as the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter as the powerful Wizard of Oz.

Showcasing everything from chic coats, sparkling dresses and red patent heels to pretty hair bows, it's a fashion dream come true.

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However, styling based around classic stories didn't start with popular advertising campaigns.

The autumn and winter catwalks saw touches of fantasy-inspired outfits with structured, appliqued gowns at Marchesa, worn with bossy, boxy jackets reminiscent of a wicked queen or magical witch.

If you fancy trying out this trend then just remember to steer clear of anything too fancy-dress.

Instead take your cue from the celebrity world and stars such as actress Claire Danes who was spotted in an eye-catching Red Riding Hood-esque ensemble.

You could copy Helena Bonham Carter's M&S style, add some red glitter heels to your party season outfit or keep things fun and Alice inspired in heart-print tights.

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Calvin Klein Collection’s Pre-Fall Menswear

Italo Zucchelli, the creative director of Calvin Klein Collection’s menswear, was unexpectedly enthusiastic about a subject in fashion—at least in men’s fashion—that most prefer to ignore: pre-collections. “It’s kind of new for men,” Zucchelli said. Not long ago, the situation was much the same for womenswear: Pre-collections were commercial lines, meant to bolster store buys (in practice, they often make up to 70 percent, or more, of many retailers’ annual purchases) and distill the themes of the mainline “editorial” collections presented on the runway into more wearable, salable form. But anyone reading over the past few years has seen pre-collections boom, often into runway shows of their own. (See our complete coverage if you disbelieve.)

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ould the same happen for menswear? Zucchelli, for one, makes such a thing seem possible. (His sales, he reports, are split fifty-fifty between pre-collections and Spring and Fall collections.) “The pre-collections became bigger and bigger,” he said. “Now I’m injecting fashion.” The Pre-Fall 2014 collection, debuting here, makes the point. The airy palette of the Spring ’14 collection, inspired in part by the work of James Turrell, turned darker, but blue remained dominant. Makes sense: Navy is a color no man is afraid to buy. But Zucchelli made good on his promise of more fashion in this traditionally sales-friendly offering. A bonded flannel car coat, easy and approachable, was spliced together with a panel of contrast fabric. “Techy” was Zucchelli’s word for it. That future-leaning, technological bent, which has characterized many of his collections for the label, was evident throughout: In the moire jacquard motif on suits and jackets, the slash details worked into the seams of tailored garments, and, most of all, the printed graphic sweatshirts and tees that the designer said were already attracting significant sales attention. They featured blue-tinted aerial illustrations of one of the world’s techiest cities: Tokyo.

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