This October the singer grabbed Paris fashion week with both hands and took on the front-row challenge as if it were a fashion decathlon. From harem and lace at Balmain, to sheer bandages at Gareth Pugh, to tweed and pearls at Chanel, Rihanna was perfectly, if joylessly, on-message at every show. And you thought that Lady Gaga worked up a sartorial sweat. Photograph: Tony Barson/Tony Barson/WireImage.com
Once upon a time, LBD was about as taxing as fashion acronyms got. This year things became more complex. Here’s Madonna in her Over The Knees showing us why they mattered. Photograph: Sipa Press / Rex Features/SIPA
The super-sexy Carine Roitfeld (editor of French Vogue) look went mainstream this year, so we needed a new editor to fixate on. Enter Anna dello Russo. Not only does she have (probably) the longest job title in fashion – fashion director at large and creative consultant for Vogue Japan – but she reportedly changes in her car between shows. Anna’s look is pure front-row high-voltage – she will quite happily mix a one-shouldered bronze Chloe blouse with a tangerine Rochas skirt. Photograph: www.streetpeeper.com/www.streetpeeper.com
It was a close call with French label Isabel -Marant, but if you really wanted to prove that you totally got where fashion was going in 2009 then new British designer Peter Pilotto was the label to sport. Designed by Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos, their distinctive short, draped and printed dresses denoted insider-fashionability. Witness Claudia Schiffer in hers at the British fashion awards this month. Photograph: Eamonn McCormack/Eamonn McCormack/WireImage.com
Last winter peep-toe ankle boots were greeted with minimal affection, largely thanks to their ludicrous impracticality. A year on, they’re everywhere. And here to stay too – next season’s Balenciaga show boasted peep-toe works of art in all manner of urban sci-fi marvellousness. Photograph: Full Stop Photography
In a big hair year – from Jedward’s double quiff to Madonna’s Louis Vuitton bunny ears – there was one double casualty. Step forward Agyness Deyn. In May, the model went for a bouffant blond look that drew comparisons with Margaret Thatcher. By September, it had been dyed black and was best described as a goth shag cut. Photograph: David Fisher / Rex Features/David Fisher / Rex Features
Both tried way, way too hard, but in the end Dannii edged it. Mainly because Cheryl scored a styling own-goal with the too weird curved David Koma dress (you know the one) and didn’t go far enough with the hair extension removal. Round two to Dannii. Photograph: Ken McKay/TalkbackThames / Rex F/Ken McKay/TalkbackThames / Rex F
For a while it looked as if shoulder pads would be the haberdashery hit of 2009 but instead the humble zipper reigned supreme, appearing on dresses by everyone from Victoria Beckham to Whistles. Photograph: PR company handout
Hotly contended. Prince Charles, unofficial ambassador of double-breasted suiting, won Esquire’s best dressed prize in March, while October saw Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox embrace the look in corduroy. But after much deliberation, the prize must go to Hamish Bowles, American Vogue’s European editor at large. Bowles made the look simultaneously dapper and eccentric with his strict moustache and series of clashing patterned shirt-and-tie combos. Photograph: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
Gaga does a stage-look better and Alexa still pulls off the military blazer and flat shoes with more panache. Plus we’ve not felt very ethereal in 2009, so no matter how hard Florence-chic has been pushed on us, it just hasn’t seemed relevant. Photograph: Beretta/Sims / Rex Features/Beretta/Sims / Rex Features
We’ve seen it happen before – good trends with a short shelf life – but no one expected the Balmain-esque sharp shoulder to turn sour quite as quickly as it has at the close of 2009. At first the look was edgy and Parisian and worn by the fashion editors at French Vogue, then came the Zara rip-off and suddenly Charity Dingle was wearing it on Emmerdale. Final proof that the look is tragic? Katherine Jenkins. Photograph: Rex Features/Rex Features
