Sit back, huddle your latex trench around you, pull up those tight PVC opera gloves, and cross your knees to let your clunky leather boots dangle as we dive deep into what will prove to be our first blog about the fashions of 2023. Indeed, there were stunning latex turns this year; we promise we’ll get to them. But there were many other interesting and sometimes completely alt. couture moments that we all saw…and might not have believed.
Barbiecore
Via Margot Robbie in the title role, we were all teleported to Mattel’s plastic world in Greta Gerwig’s live-action romp that, with Oppenheimer, dominated movie-dom this year. And once we all saw Robbie as the living doll, we seemingly couldn’t escape pink. In the movie and beyond, celebrities and everyone else could be seen in confectionary colors, led by Barbie’s signature color.
The Pope Is Puffy?
Due to some AI trickery, an image of Pope Frances blew across the net in March, showing the pontiff dressed in a puffy white winter jacket. Generated by AI software Midjourney, many were convinced the Catholic’s big man was indeed dressing so stylishly. The fake photo quite quickly earned the name “Balenciaga Pope.”
Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Madonna show off live.
On her Renaissance tour, Queen Bey sported fashions from designers specific to the cities she happened to be performing in, as well as relying heavily on Valentino, Mugler, Alexander McQueen, smaller houses like Anrealage, and, of course, her Balmain catsuits and mini dresses.
Swifties got a good eyeful (and earful with a 44-song setlist) of their leading lady as she took the world by storm with her Era’s Tour, wearing an array of bespoke wardrobe choices from across her past ten albums. Her infamous Versace bodysuit, a Roberto Cavalli two-piece, and Nicole + Felicia gown were just a few of Taylor Swift’s stage costume choices.
And lastly, Miss Madge, never to be outdone even as the senior member of this trio, brought her usual sartorial panache to her The Celebration Tour wearing bedazzled takes on the iconic cone bra, shimmering mini dresses, and a full disco mirror-ball-like one-piece.
In part two of this series, we will get into Singer Doja Cat turning heads wearing head-to-toe red body paint and Swarovski crystals, Salma Hayek at the Met Gala in latex and Sam Smith ‘puffier’ than the Pope.
Stay tuned…
