The Year in Fashion: 12 Muses Who Inspired Designers in 2015 Inline
Photo: (from left) Imagno / Getty Images; Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com1/12Adele Bloch-Bauer
Fashion (and art) enjoyed a golden moment in 2015 that kicked off with “The Woman in Gold” show at the Neue Galerie and had its denoument with Pat McGrath’s takeover of the Tuileries, where she gave makeovers using the limited-edition gold makeup she first launched on Prada’s Spring runway. Also taking a shine to the gleaming metal, were Valentino’s Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli who cited as an inspiration for their Fall ’15 show, Gustav Klimt, the painter of the world-famous portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, the subject of the Neue Galerie show.
Photo: (from left) Fin Costello / Redferns; Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com2/12Siouxsie Sioux
Alexander Wang’s “all-black” Fall collectsion had, reported Vogue.com’s Nicole Phelps: “attitude for days.” The “Frankenstein boots,” spiked hair, flannels, and studs, also linked the collectsion to the Goth subculture that flourished in the 1980s, thanks to people like Siouxsie Sioux and Robert Smith, who paved the way for the likes of Marilyn Manson (name checked as an inspo by Wang), and Brooke Candy, who sat front row.
Photo: (from left) Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com; Patrick Lichfield, Vogue, January 15, 19703/12Talitha Getty
Vogue.com’s Lynn Yeager described New York’s Fall Fashion Week as a battle of “punk harlots vs. overprivileged peasants,” with Alexander Wang’s show being an example of the former, and Tory Burch’s Moroccan reverie the latter. For fashion types, the archetypal haute hippie remains Talitha Getty, whose tragedy (addiction) is lost among the glory of Patrick Lichfield’s photos of her in Marrakech.
Photo: (from left) Buena Vista Pictures/ Photofest (steps); Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com4/12Margot Tenenbaum
Geek chic à la Margot Tenenbaum—was a real thing in 2015 and credit for the trend goes to Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, whose winsome, vintage-inflected debut for the brand introduced not just the year’s trophy shoe, a slide lined in kangaroo-fur and festooned with a horse-bit, but also chunky eyewear, ascots, and knit beanies.
Photo: (from left) John Kobal Foundation / Getty Images; Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com5/12Anna May Wong
Even before the Met’s "China: Through the Looking Glass" exhibition introduced Anna May Wong to a new audience of admirers, designers had made a muse of the stunning Chinese-American actress. Valentino designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli seemed to pay homage to Wong, and her famous Travis Banton–designed dragon dress, in their Fall show.
Photo: (from left) Adrian Boot / bobmarley.com; Gianni Pucci / Indigitalimages.com6/12Bob Marley
Kobe Bryant might be retiring, but the athleisure movement is just getting warmed up. And we’re not talking yoga pants, either. We’ve been charting the rise of the track suit. While no one will ever wear the look with as much panache as the soccer-mad Bob Marley, the unisex track pant works for almost everybody and can transition, with few alterations from court/pitch/field to fashion. Score!
Bob Marley in 1977; Tommy Hilfiger Spring 2016
Photo: (from left) Everett Collection; Yannis Vlamos / Indigitalimages.com7/12Ava Gardner
Gender fluidity wasn’t a topic at Oscar de la Renta this spring. The inspiration behind Peter Copping’s breakthrough was Ava Gardner, an archetypal femme fatale—and a favorite of the house founder. Touted as “the most beautiful woman in the world,” Gardner, who liked drama on and off set, was able to play the lady as easily as the tramp. The former was Copping’s focus as he crafted subtly sexy clothes for 21st century temptresses to simmer in.
Photo: (from left) ©Bettmann / Corbis; Monica Feudi / Indigitalimages.com8/12Nina Simone
Coincident with the #freethenipple movement was the appearance of transparency—and nudity—on the catwalks this year. At Proenza Schouler’s spring show, a fiesta of Latin influences, the designers preferred tease was a thick mesh that recalled not only fishmermen’s nets, but seemed to nod to a knockout ensemble once worn by Nina Simone, the subject of a popular Netflix documentary released in 2015.
Photo: (from left) Keystone-France / Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images; Gianni Pucci / Indigitalimages.com9/12Mae West
Fashion’s love affair with the surreal is far from over. Simon Porte Jacquemus played with it for Fall, and for Spring, Marc Jacobs, Gucci, and Vivienne Westwood were among those to blow a kiss to the trend, referencing Salvador Dalí’s jeweled lip brooch in their designs. The inspiration for this ruby and pearl trinket, was the actress Mae West, whose figure-eight silhouette once inspired Elsa Schiaparelli’s Shocking perfume bottle.
Photo: (from left) Gianni Pucci / Indigitalimages.com; DMI / The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty Images10/12Courtney Love
2015 was a year of flourishing 1990s revivalism—at Vogue.com and on the runways. The slip dress made a triumphant return at Calvin Klein Collection, where it first appeared on the catwalk about 25 years ago, and it also made a memorable appearance at Saint Laurent. Here the reference wasn’t fashion so much as rock ’n’ roll. Accessorized as the slips were with tiaras at YSL, there was no giving the, er, slip, to the memory of Courtney Love at the Oscars in 1995.
Photo (from left): Gianni Pucci / Indigitalimages.com; Courtesy of Optimum Productions11/12Fernanda Ly
We have the future-focused Nicolas Ghesquière to thank for our introduction to the pink-haired Australian modeling sensation, Fernanda Ly. For Spring, his collectsion and his muse adopted a cyberpunk look that was informed by both by manga and anime characters “from Sailor Moon to Evangelion”.
Photo: (from left) Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images; Gianni Pucci / Indigitalimages.com12/12Brigitte Bardot
At Chanel’s Métiers d’Art show in Rome, the clothes were tutto Cinecittà, but the bouffant hair? To many observers the ‘dos conjured Brigitte Bardot, that doe-eyed Frenchie whose unfading allure is only bolstered by the regular appearance on the modeling scene of dopplegangers like Claudia Schiffer, Lara Stone, and Anna Ewers.
