4 Wednesday December 22 2021 | the timesfashion
We did get to put
our glad rags on
occasionally in
- Here are the
sharpest looks. By
Harriet Walker
F
rom “Freedom Day” to
“Hot Vax Summer”, was
there ever a year with
so much pressure to
scrub up well? It was a
welcome change from
simply scrubbing at least,
and singing Happy
Birthday to You twice as we did so. The
relaxing of the winter rules brought
with it more delicious sartorial
anticipation than a night out with the
girls; even getting dressed for work
again felt like a reason to celebrate.
Never mind best dressed, perhaps
there should be a prize for getting
dressed at all. In a year when even
Kate Winslet had obvious roots during
her turn as the careworn detective in
Mare of Easttown, there seemed little
hope for the rest of us. Then came the
return of the glam squad and what
stardust the style set pulled out of the
bag! Let’s enjoy a refresher of the
stylish heights of 2021 — before we’re
Zooming in our pyjamas again.Adele
If any one outfit can embody the
mood of 2021, it is Adele wearing aThe Duchess of Cambridge
Attending the opening of No Time
to Die at the Royal Albert Hall,
the Duchess of Cambridge chose
the perfect moment to unveil her
new ultra-glam look in gold-
beaded Jenny Packham with a
subtle hint of transparency.
There is one left on Net-a-Porter
if you have £4,000 to spare and
enough lateral flows to guarantee
that you could actually leave the
house in it.Regé-Jean Page
This is a nice suit and everything
(see cover), but it isn’t the
raiments so much as the deshabille
that gets Regé-Jean Page (aka
Bridgerton’s duke of ding-dong)
a mention on here. There’s been
nothing like it since Colin Firth
jumped into the plunge pool
at Pemberley.Sarah Jessica Parker
A true Carrie Bradshaw confection,
this Oscar de la Renta cape and
gown (see cover). A return to form,
too, after the costume styling in theleather trouser suit and
monogrammed Louis Vuitton coat
to a... basketball game. This look
had such strong “putting Saturday
night make-up on to go to the big
Sainsbury’s” energy that it will be
pored over by historians in centuries
to come for what they may one day
call Ritz spirit: dressing for the
hotel while sitting at home eating
the crackers.Billie Eilish
If you spent much of the year in a
tracksuit wistfully looking at photos
of yourself in nice clothes from 2019,
spare a thought for the Gen Z pop
sensation Billie Eilish, who was
dressing for lockdown well before
the Wuhan bat. That the 19-year-old,
once famous for wearing only
genderless baggy T-shirts and joggers
with dyed-green grungey hair,
chose this year to emerge in blonde-
bombshell mode (arrayed in corseted
Alexander McQueen at the Met Gala)
tells you all you need to know about
how the young people are feeling
about being cooped up.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Also at the Met Gala: “Tax the Rich”,
read the scarlet letters on the white
silk gown worn by the hipster’s
favourite US congresswoman.
Designed by New York label Brother
Vellies, the dress became the subject of
online debate as to whether AOC was
helping the cause or not by attending
an event that reportedly costs brands
$300,000 to host a table. Better to be
in the room virtue-signalling out, I say.
In the age of social media this dress
might just be the new third way.Lady Gaga
From the meat dress of 2010 to the
Quality Street dress of 2021. Sure,
she still has her pants on show, but
Lady Gaga’s purple Gucci gown at
the premiere of the film House of
Gucci represented a maturing of the
singer’s style. Fishnet tights, giant
swirling parachute-like sleeves and
bovver boots.Emma Raducanu
Two days after winning the US
Open, the tennis star, 18 at the
time, took to the Met Gala stairs
wearing a printed Chanel two-piece
and matching cape, thereby ticking
off several rites of passage in the
space of a long weekend. Then, two
weeks later she wowed on the red
carpet in Grecian-style Dior. Most
post A-level students make do with
smoking a joint on an Interrailing
trip before having their wallet stolen.
Raducanu’s was a masterclass in
how to emerge from one’s corona-
crisis chrysalis.Helen Mirren
The actress’s sea-foam shade of
glitter at the Venice Film Festival
came courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana
with matching headband and —
yes — facemask, thereby setting
the standard for all 2021
occasionwear. At 76, Mirren is a
poster girl for the cohort that were
vaccinated early, then really went
for it on the party front, leaving
fortysomethings to complain that
their parents had better social lives
than they did. As someone with
two young children, I can’t wait for
this phase.Helen MirrenBillie EilishAdeleThe year’s most stylish dressers —
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez