A few weeks back, the editors at Vogue gave their readers the opportunity to select the decade's most important moments in fashion. For each year, readers were able to choose one woman whose look embodied fashion, glamour, and originality. And now the results are in!
Here are the women the readers selected as the decade's most influential style-setters:
2000: Charlize Theron in orange Vera Wang at the Academy Awards
2001: Julia Roberts in vintage Valentino at the Academy Awards
2002: Reese Witherspoon in sophisticated Valentino at the Academy Awards
2003: Kate Hudson in glittering Versace, also at the Academy Awards (noticing a trend here?)
2004: Nicole Kidman in a Nina Ricci dress and Lanvin flats out and about shopping in NYC (finally, a non-awards show selection!)
2005: Cate Blanchett in ethereal purple Jean Paul Gaultier at the Golden Globes
2006: Michelle Williams in mustard Vera Wang at the...Academy Awards
2007: Reese Witherspoon (again) in show-stopping bright yellow Nina Ricci at the Golden Globes, which was also my favorite look from among the readers' choices
2008: Penelope Cruz in L'Wren Scott in Berlin at the International Film Festival (surely we've seen more memorable looks from Penelope Cruz than this?)
2009: First Lady Michelle Obama in regal Azzedine Alaia, championing in a new decade of original style (I think I've mentioned this before, but I love, love, love our First Lady!)
I must say that overall I'm pretty disappointed with these results. Nearly every dress was selected from an awards show. In other words, the best looks of the decade were selected by stylists, which I find very disheartening. Only Nicole Kidman and Michelle Obama were selected in outfits that they themselves likely elected to wear. Also, where was Kate Moss?? Is it possible that the decade in fashion can be summed up without Kate Moss, the ultimate trend-setter and rule-breaker? Where were the fashion originals, like Daphne Guiness? No socialites or women-about-New York? You can't get through fifty pages in Vogue without coming across LSD, Marina Rust, or Lisa Airan at least a dozen times. Could it be that the readers really do not care about socialites or privileged Vogue editors? Now, that is not something I have a hard time believing. Clearly, the editors at Vogue did not intervene here...
Nevertheless, what the readers have selected is a glorified In Style or People list of Hollywood A-listers. These looks say nothing about the years in terms of fashion. Where were the designers of the past decade? They were missing as well. The only newcomers that were selected were Olivier Theyskeins and L'Wren Scott. I was happy to see Valentino so widely represented, but he has already established himself as a household name in fashion. It would be nice to see other talented designers given that opportunity.
I would have expected these kinds of results from any other magazine, but I expected more from the readers of Vogue.
Disappointed...again...
** To see who I cast my vote for, check out my earlier post titled "The Decade's Best Dressed." ** To view the corresponding photos, check out the full list at www.vogue.com.
I really liked Julia's dress. I've watched the Oscars for, oh, years now, but that was the only one on the list where I went, yup, I remember that. And in a good way. (We're not even going to talk about Bjork's swan thing.)
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