Fashion's Year in Review

For some retailers 2011 was a year of thinking outside the box with great financial success.  For others, there was no outside the box thinking and no financial success.  One of the industry's great designers fell from grace and one made history posthumously.  Here are my picks for the top five events to happen in fashion this year.

#5 Discount retailer, Target, partnered with Missoni,  a couture Italian designer, in the summer to launch a limited supply collection to the Target customer.  Little did they know (or did they?) the sheer madness that would come of this.  The website launched the collection at 6 a.m. and by 8 a.m. the website had crashed.  By noon, the shelves at the actual stores were empty.  Despite this, everyone seemed happy with the outcome - customers got their coveted designer items for a huge discounted price and Target got free advertising for days.

#4 Like Target, high street retailer H&M partnered with an Italian couture designer, Versace, to launch a limited edition collection in November.  Due to the Target/Missoni frenzy they were well prepared and issued a set of guidelines beforehand such as wristbands with specific shopping times and quantity restrictions.   H&M’s U.S. website did not crash as it is not a shopping site so the shopping madness was left for in-store only.  And like Target, this was all considered a great success.

#3 American icon Gap Inc., which also owns the Old Navy and Banana Republic chains, announced closures of 189 Gap stores (21%) in the U.S. by the end of 2013.  While they were one of the first retailers to pave the way for lower price basics such as khaki’s and denim, they slowly lost their fashion edge to similar retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters in the 90’s and have struggled ever since.

#2 Famed designer John Galliano was fired from Christian Dior after being caught on video making racial slurs and declaring his love for Hitler.  Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise for Dior, who can now take this limelight opportunity to re-invent itself.  At this time, no one has been named his successor.

#1 Though the royal wedding made headlines in every media outlet known to man, fashion was definitely one of the main attractions for people world wide.  Never has there been such a spotlight on, not only the bride, but her maid of honor and guests themselves.  But despite all that, Kate Middleton stole the show in her breathtaking Alexander McQueen gown (by Sarah Burton) and with her remarkable composure.  She is a stunning fashion icon who will be influential in fashion for years to come.