All eyes in the fashion world were locked on Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge, as she shopped the high street and brought a fresh, down-to-earth simple elegance to whatever she wore, whether to a rodeo in Canada or a charity gala in London.
Royalty of the rock persuasion got our attention this year. Lady Gaga's unique style won accolades from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, which gave her its American Fashion Icon Award in June.
The royal wedding also left us fascinated with fascinators. The antler-shaped Philip Treacy headpiece worn by Princess Beatrice was debated around the world: high style or hideous?
Performance seems to be the reality of Kim Kardashian's whole life. We swooned over her 20.5-carat engagement ring in May. But the ring -- and husband Kris Humphries -- were gone by the end of October.
Rihanna made news for one thing or another all year long, wearing interesting clothes (or wearing not enough clothes, which got her booted from a farmer's field in Ireland during a video shoot). She launched her first perfume, modeled for Armani (for whom she also designed a small capsule collection) and was on the cover of Vogue -- a cover, it should be noted, that, along with one featuring Lady Gaga, was credited with helping the magazine increase sales in the first half of the year.
Colorful designer John Galliano shocked the fashion world and lost his job as creative director at Christian Dior when he unleashed a string of racist, anti-Semitic comments in a bar in Paris in February. He headed for rehab, was judged guilty of breaking French laws and paid a fine. Dior spent the rest of the year searching for his replacement.
Miss Piggy made a comeback, serving as a celebrity judge on "Project Runway Allstars," serving as the "face" of M.A.C. cosmetics in November and starring in a movie
J Crew creative director Jenna Lyons provoked much angst in the spring by painting her young son's nails pink in a photo on the cover of the company's catalog. An assault against masculinity, said some. Lighten up, it's kids play, countered others.
Coco Chanel has been dead for more than 40 years, but three books about her life were published this year. The one that grabbed the most headlines was Hal Vaughan's "Sleeping with the Enemy," in which he contended that Chanel was a Nazi spy.
Alexander McQueen continued to cast a large shadow more than a year after his death. McQueen, the designer, was the subject of a blockbuster posthumous retrospective, 'Savage Beauty,' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Fashion Institute. It was the eighth most visited exhibit in the musuem's history.
And Alexander McQueen, the label he founded, was responsible for the most speculated about, photographed and copied garment of the year: the wedding gown Kate Middleton wore to marry Prince William of England .That dress made Sarah Burton, who took over as McQueen¿s creative director, a star in her own right. (And it drew a record 600,000 people to Buckingham Palace when it was displayed over the summer.)
The royal wedding propelled Kate's sister, Pippa, onto the world¿s style stage, too. ("Hottest bridesmaid ever," said Us Weekly.) The bag she carried the morning after the wedding sold out in the blink of an eye; her bridesmaid¿s dress -- also designed by Burton -- was copied by mass market retailers; her backside was lauded and entered in an informal annual competition in Britain for the best bum. Although she didn't win, the world remains fascinated by Pippa and what she wears. She was even the subject of an hour-long TLC special.
Fashionable weddings: model Kate Moss got married (with exclusive coverage in Vogue, of course).
Sir Paul McCartney dad to designer Stella McCartney got married.
High-low designer collections for mass retailers were an ongoing theme - think Versace for H&M, Karl Lagerfeld for Macy's. Missoni's capsule collection for Target was so in-demand that it crashed the company website, caused long lines at stores and angered consumers who couldn't find what they wanted. Some of those who did tried to cash in, though: well over 20,000 pieces wound up on eBay.
West Hollywood adopted the nation's first ban on the sale of fur clothing, which is slated to take effect in 2013.
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