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December arrives with the inevitable serving of roundups summarizing the year. Here at Vogue Runway, we interviewed the owners of independent boutiques across the U.S. to find out what sold best, identified 2023’s most covetable fashion items, and unpacked 18 of its most memorable fashion moments. What’s new this year is that we wanted to hear from you.
For our first-ever anonymous poll, we reached out to our colleagues—fellow editors, designers, stylists, publicists, creative directors, and more—and asked how you really feel about the year that’s coming to a close. We inquired about your favorite designers, who you were surprised to see in the front row, and even what your 2023 “Roman Empire” was. We received over 100 responses, which we believe shed some light on what the folks behind the scenes really think of the industry today.
Spoiler alert: Some answers may surprise you, and others will make you laugh. Shoutout to the editor who said their 2023 “Roman Empire” was the Paris Fashion Week bed bugs. “I just want to know where they went?” they said, and, trust us, we’d like to know, too, ideally before the fall 2024 collections in March. Another tidbit: Phoebe Philo figures here not just as a top designer, but also as a Roman Empire and as a trend in her own right (based on how heavily she’s been referenced in the past, we’re not going to argue with that).
Jonathan Anderson started 2023 by outfitting Rihanna at the Super Bowl and ended it picking up prizes at both the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York and London’s Fashion Awards. He came out on top in our Designer of the Year category, too. “He’s the ultimate left brain/right brain designer,” a publicist told us. But let us not forget that Anderson’s debut as a film costume designer is coming in April when Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor finally hits theaters. He may be celebrating 10 years at Loewe in 2024, but Anderon’s clearly just getting started.
“In a challenging year, Jonathan Anderson has been able to continuously challenge us and deliver new ideas,” wrote one buyer, with an editor adding: “The key story of 2023 seemed to be the continued over-commercialization of fashion—every brand needs to sell more, have a bigger cultural footprint, and compete on a global scale. In the face of this, Jonathan Anderson manages to operate on that level and still produce collections that feel human-made, born from the strangeness of human obsessions and personal taste rather than a marketing algorithm that prizes small leather goods. Whether you want to wear JW or Loewe, you can’t argue that it has an iconoclastic POV.”
Speaking of Mrs. Prada, it was the spring 2024 Prada ready-to-wear collection that this cohort crowned as its favorite collection of the year. “For the goo, but also the clothes,” wrote a communications consultant. Yes, the slime made headlines, but once it settled, it was the billowing sheaths, lived-in chore coats, and fringed ’40s dresses we couldn’t get out of our minds.
Our voters were particularly indecisive when it came to crowning the year’s most underrated designer, but one name rose above the rest: Martine Rose. The British designer launched her menswear label 16 years ago, picking up IYKYK name recognition once Demna hired her to consult for Balenciaga’s menswear collections in 2015 (she did so until 2018). But 2023 was really her year, even if she didn’t nab that Louis Vuitton menswear job she was rumored for: She started it off as a guest designer at Pitti Uomo, launched an It-shoe with her iteration of the Nike Shox, and picked up British menswear designer prize at the Fashion Awards in London earlier this month.
Dudes in skirts is not a particularly novel headline anymore, but our voters agreed that their favorite trend of the year was the genderbending of menswear. From shift dresses on the runways at Prada, Kiko Kostadinov, Rick Owens, and more, to “fruity” iterations of menswear classics—Eastpack crossbodies took the shape of women’s purses, athletic shorts shrank to upper thigh-baring lengths—this was the year of embracing the range that fashion has to offer. One voter, a publicist, referred to this as the rise of “babygirl” men, namechecking Jacob Elordi, Pedro Pascal, and Paul Mescal.
Another voter offered a more holistic POV, highlighting the way women have been wearing menswear this year: “‘menswear’ presents a more forward thinking approach to sizing and gender nonconformity than most other market categories.”
There’s been much hand wringing about the state of the It bag. Can anything break through in the clutter? Are bags even necessary when everything we need is on our phones? Telfar Clemens debunked tales of the It bag’s demise a few years ago, and Matthieu Blazy did the same in 2023. Our readers love his Andiamo and Sardine Bottega Veneta bags.
When asked what they would have liked to buy this year many replied with the spring collections in mind. There’s still time to save up for those spring 2024 uber high-waisted Loewe trousers, folks. As for products actually in stores this year, it was Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons who delivered the year’s most coveted items, namely the Prada Cleo bag and the fabulous wooly dickies from the label’s fall collections. Phoebe Philo’s “MUM” necklace also made the list.
A special mention for the fashion-philes who submitted full looks in this category, some with links straight off of Vogue Runway and others with look numbers as coordinates. See below for their picks:
Despite all the debuts (Sabato De Sarno at Gucci, Pharrell Williams at Louis Vuitton, Peter Hawkings at Tom Ford, etc)... Regardless of all the destination venues (Castles! Islands! Monuments!)... Sarah Burton’s swansong at Alexander McQueen was the show most of you would have liked to see in person in 2023.
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This was the only question in our poll that resulted in a tie. Our voters couldn’t get enough of Naomi Campbell’s signature strut (it was the year of the OG Supermodels after all), but they also liked rising star Colin Jones and her spellbinding sashay. “If anyone other than Colin gets this I’ll be asking for a recount,” wrote a designer and fervent fan. It’s not lost on us that this tie shows a bit of a generational divide—while we don’t know who voted for which model, there’s a clear old vs. new school split here.
What else but Pharrell Williams’s Louis Vuitton debut would win this category in 2023? The guy is a musician and producer with 13 Grammys, after all.
Each season comes with a new cast of guest stars, most predictable, but some less so. This year you were most surprised to see a bare-faced Pamela Anderson, at shows from The Row and Vivienne Westwood by Andreas Kronthaler. “She became one of the great cultural talking points of the week,” wrote a publicist.
When it came to social media, this was the year of the blue square. Beka Gvishiani’s @stylenotcom account—which is named after Style.com, Vogue Runway’s predecessor—received the most votes. It’s the go-to for “quick hits,” as one publicist put it. Gvishiani was closely followed by yours truly. Thank you to the voter who called my Instagram, @eljosecriales, “a repository of fashion knowledge and news with a distinct, critically astute voice.” Simon Porte Jacquemus is the one designer on the list, tied with the independent critic Jeremy Lewis of @lewissmag.
You’ve surely seen the “Roman Empire” trend on TikTok, so we’ll save you the long-winded explanation. When we asked our voters about their fashion obsessions, the answers were equal parts insider reflections and pop culture preoccupations. Phoebe Philo took the top spot, and how could she not? This was the year’s most anticipated debut. Other moments that this cohort kept top of mind were Cathy Horyn’s modeling debut on Balenciaga’s spring 2024 runway, the butterflies in the terrarium dresses at Undercover, the slime at the Prada spring 2024 show, Gwyneth Paltrow’s courtroom style, and, of course, where are the women creative directors?
For a behind-the-scenes person, Lotta Volkova sure does have a lot of fans. After making her name styling era defining Vetements and early Balenciaga-by-Demna collections, Volkova is riding high again with her partnership with Mrs. Prada at Miu Miu. “Miuccia and Lotta continue to set the bar at Miu Miu,” said an editor. “I’ve seen countless girls on the streets directly riffing on the styling, which says a lot.” Apparently lighting does strike twice.
Miscellaneous Musings…
The anonymous nature of this poll gave way to a variety of reflections—some hilarious, others a little shady, but all of them entertaining—that we thought to share below.
“The year’s most underrated designer is Ozempic: Everyone’s wearing it!”—writer
“I may be a cynic, but I can’t think of an underrated designer! Only several who are overrated…”—publicist
“Boyish looks are the year’s best trend because they are a cool way to dress over 50.”—designer
“My favorite trend is the bags in the elbow crooks at Miu Miu AW23. I’ve carried my bag the same ever since.”—editor
“My most surprising front row guest is all of them. I have no idea who anyone is anymore.”—writer
“The year’s best trend is men gettin’ a lil’ slutty, because men are a little slutty.”—designer
“The most surprising front row guests were real journalists and fashion writers; nice to see they haven’t been tossed aside in favor of ridiculous influencers and nonsense content creators.”—a fashion week organizer
“What is Fabio Zambernardi doing next?”—publicist
“The best show of the year? Phoebe Philo because it didn’t happen.”—designer
