The 5 most important fashion moments of 2022

After 2020 and 2021, it might seem hasty if not exaggerated to describe 2022 as "eventful." Nonetheless, in the face of a year in which the industry found itself more confronted with problems than producing masterpieces, the 12 months ending in a few days have held great surprises. «In cauda venenum» the ancients used to say, the poison is in the tail, and they were right: after an unremarkable first half of the year, the second half of 2022 has been fire and brimstone, setting the stage for a 2023 that, it seems, will in turn represent a move closer to resetting the entire system. 

And so, without further ado, here are what were the top 5 fashion moments of 2022.

1. Alessandro Michele exits Gucci

The earth shook at the announcement. The news, greeted by some with relief and by others as the ultimate catastrophe, marked the end of an era - like it or not, Michele's work restored the world's love of vintage, anticipated the fascination with «the nice things of bad taste» of which Gozzano spoke, as well as a taste for monograms and overflowing styling, and essentially forged the concept of wokeness in fashion. Certainly, those show notes that claimed to give collections an ever more magnificent sense of what they had tasted like smoke and mirrors, and, sure, that obsessive, hyper-saturated world, so curled up on itself had grown tired by then - none the less Michele left a much deeper mark on fashion in his seven years than Frida Giannini did in ten. With his tenure the last glimmer of the hipster aesthetic that had enchanted geeks and romantic dreamers halfway around the world back in the early 1910s wanes, but we are also reminded of the hard lesson that you can have too much of something good.

2. Raf Simons closes his brand

First an icon of intellectual fashion circles, and later becoming a total icon through the endorsement of the fashionista rappers of the 2010s, the Raf Simons brand was now a creature as venerable as it was tired. The whole idea behind the brand was to conceptually channel the resentment of the disenfranchised youth of the late 20th century, the disillusioned and the ravers, monumentalizing their insouciance, elevating the concept of teenage rebellion to the plane of mysticism, almost. Hard thing to do when the brand's creative director is not only an aging gentleman, but has also become a mainstream industry institution. No less, the closure of his brand marked the end of an era, and since this closure also implies Miuccia Prada's impending retirement, Raf Simons' decision this year had all the air of an important sign of the times.

3. Bella Hadid and the Coperni show finale

It has not happened since the days of Lagerfeld and McQueen: a single, precise moment that made everyone, fashion followers and laymen together, stop. That the moment itself had little connection to the rest of the show and that the technology put on display was not completely revolutionary has already been said but it still remains of little relevance in front of the sheer entertainment value that the sight of Bella Hadid dressed "live" gave us. More and more than for the brand, this moment solidified Bella Hadid's status as a new, true supermodel on the same level as legends such as Kate Moss or Naomi Campbell - sure, it will take years of honored career to enjoy the same prestige as the two supermodels just mentioned, yet the Coperni finale showed us that Bella Hadid has the makings of a true star.

4. Mathieu Blazy's debut at Bottega Veneta

Daniel Lee had taken a brand that lay half-forgotten and made a legend of it within a season. From comatose, Bottega Veneta had become a supremely exciting brand, the herald of a new aesthetic. Then the disappointment of Detroit, Lee's ruinous and mysterious fall amidst the most unconscionable gossip, the appointment of second-in-command Matthieu Blazy - a designer respected but unknown to most. Finally, the debut: it was not Daniel Lee's Bottega Veneta but it was the Bottega Veneta we didn't know we needed. Within a very short time, the quiet, humble, and cultured Blazy made Lee's revolution seem almost superficial and materialistic, making the brand the flagship of a fashion that dreams of the world of intellectuality, art, and purest craftsmanship. 

5. Linda Evangelista returns on the scenes

The Fendi show may or may not be liked. It would be hard, however, not to feel contentment for Linda Evangelista who, after a medical accident that altered her face, returned to both the catwalks and the cover of Vogue amid public acclaim. And although the story of a supermodel who ends up the victim of a cosmetic procedure does not seem all that poignant, since Evangelista had returned to reveal herself to the public by talking about the accident, she in particular had represented the way we all feel imperfect or inadequate thinking back to how we were in the past. In the year in which we all emerged somewhat bruised and distorted from the two-year pandemic, the story of this victim of chance who rediscovers the splendor of the past to realize that her beauty and importance had never gone away touched everyone.