2023 is coming to an end and although the fashion industry often prides itself on looking to the future rather than the past, the time is ripe for a fashion assessment of the year that is coming to a close. However, a look at the annual “Year in Fashion” report from the British fashion search engine Lyst raises the question of the extent to which the fashion of the year was actually dictated by fashion and its creators – and how much the viral hype and perception in the social media have played a role.
While short-video platform TikTok has been a major player in fashion industry visibility for several seasons now – and has been included in reports in the past with categories like “TikTok” Aesthetic of the Year – Lyst took things a step further this year. The report took into account several gems of popular culture, of which 2023 offered plenty, and their influences on the fashion industry. While Lyst claims that “fashion drove some of the year’s biggest cultural conversations,” FashionUnited looks back at 2023 and asks whether it was hype or fashion that set the tone.
What do a 73-year-old sneaker, a bag for 20 euros and micro shorts have in common?
At first glance, the categories of the “Year in Fashion” report are relatively straightforward with subdivisions such as ‘Brand of the Year’, ‘Logo of the Year’, ‘Shoe of the Year’ and ‘Sneaker of the Year’ as well as ‘Bag of the Year’. Things get more complicated when it comes to ‘Trend of the Year’, because the past 12 months have been characterized by continuous change, with “core” aesthetics – from Quiet Luxury to Barbiecore to Office Punk. The continuously and rapidly changing trend cycle makes it not exactly easy to define a single trend for an entire year. And so it is hardly surprising that the fashion trend that emerged as the winner in the end – the “underwear-as-outerwear” trend – has made waves, especially on social networks.
The biggest propagator of micro-shorts that resemble underwear and at the same time the most popular brand of 2023 is Miu Miu. Contrary to the old legend of the “Hemline Economy,” which states that hemline length drops when the economy tanks, shorts have never been shorter. Miu Miu may have started the trend with actress Emma Corrin’s tiny gold sequin panties for FW23, which caused searches for the brand to skyrocket by 257 percent in just 24 hours, but the trend continued throughout the year into the SS24 season continued. Brands like Tom Ford and Gucci jumped on the hot pants trend, with searches for them increasing by 133 percent compared to the previous year.
Personal hype is no longer a foreign concept for brands, because the influence of the right brand ambassadors, both on the street and in the front rows, is unmistakable. Celebrity fans like Harry Styles, who dominated social media with “Clean Girl Aesthetics” and hype-generating collaborations, helped the 73-year-old Adidas sneaker model ‘Samba’ from Herzogenaurach win the title of ‘Sneaker of the Year’ and a Uniqlo bag through viral word of mouth over 119 million views on TikTok. A fact that not only saw the crescent-shaped competitor fly off the shelves, but also earned it the laudable name of ‘Bag of the Year’. The ‘Logo of the Year’, the Anagram logo of Spanish luxury brand Loewe, is comparatively subtle, but designer Jonathan Anderson put the Loewe logo on every conceivable surface, from tops to bags, making it an inescapable mark of the brand – and the wearer – which caused search queries to increase by 170 percent compared to the previous year.
The year pop culture became fashion
While the report’s initial categories were dedicated to fashion and its viral moments, Lyst’s second half is entirely devoted to popular culture. However, one by no means excludes the other, because in hardly any other year have cultural events – from viral court hearings to concert tours – been as closely intertwined with the fashion industry as in 2023.
While A$AP Rocky and Rihanna’s nomination for Fashion Couple of the Year probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise – he was just named creative director of F1 x Puma, while she recently revived her collaboration with the German sportswear brand, just two of her fashion achievements – other items on the Lyst list, such as the “viral moment” and the “television show” of the year, do not at first glance have anything to do with fashion. Indirectly, these three categories are not only the most telling when it comes to the current relationship between pop culture and the fashion industry, but also those that contributed significantly to the trend conversations of the year.
Quiet Luxury, one of the loudest trends of the past 12 months, was largely driven by the HBO series ‘Succession’ and its influence on social media. When the final season of the epic series began, the clothing of the family based on media mogul Rupert Murdoch at the center of the show was just as hotly debated as the actual plot. And anyone who thought that quiet luxury only existed in the wardrobes of fictional characters was proven wrong in a courtroom in Utah, USA. The “viral moment” of the year took place there, when actress Gwyneth Paltrow appeared in court for a skiing accident in a parade of “Quiet Luxury” looks and turned the dock into her personal catwalk and the searches for the brands she wore like The Row, Celine and Loro Piana skyrocketed.
From the courtroom to the stages of the world, because according to Lyst, 2023 was “the year fashion and music collided in spectacular arena performances.” While singer Taylor Swift’s ongoing “Era” tour featured some outfits with designers like Versace and Oscar de la Renta’s collaboration is nothing like the fashion show that Beyonce turned her “Renaissance” tour into. The singer collaborated with both emerging and established designers for a total of more than 600 looks – a whopping 150 of them according to Lyst, hasn’t even seen the light of day yet. During the 56 shows she did in 2023, the demand for replicas and interest in the brand she flaunted has skyrocketed – even a Loewe bodysuit alone has sparked interest increase in the brand on Lyst by 140 percent.
It remains to be seen whether the symbiosis of fashion and pop culture has already reached its zenith this year, or whether the interaction will reach even further heights next year – also thanks to creative directors like the singing designer Pharrell Williams at Louis Vuitton. What is already certain, however, is that fashion in 2023 will also be a topic of conversation, especially away from the catwalks.