In the ramp up to this year’s Forces of Fashion summit in October, with its special focus on the power, the drama, and the spectacle of the runway, the editors and contributors of Vogue came together to reminisce about and toast the fashion shows that have mattered most to them. Maybe it was the set that stood out (Chanel’s fall 2014 supermarket). Maybe it was the song that played on the soundtrack (The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” circa spring 1998 Marc Jacobs). Or maybe it was Kate Moss in hologram form. As Vogue put it at the time, Alexander McQueen’s breathtaking fall 2006 show—complete with the spectral image of Moss at the end—will “go down as one of fashion’s all-time highs.”
More often than not, though, it’s the clothes that we remember—the imaginative flights of fancy of John Galliano at Dior all those years ago or this past January at Maison Margiela Artisanal, feats of engineering à la Hussein Chalayan, and the collections that tilted fashion on its axis, like Phoebe Philo’s Celine and Alessandro Michele’s Gucci debuts.
The last time we made a list like this, the rule was you had to be in the audience to put it on your list, but more than a decade into the social media age, that requirement feels old-fashioned. There’s nothing like being there, of course, but tumblr, Instagram, and their brethren have produced fashion obsessives the world over, some of whom now work at Vogue. We think the final tally of unforgettable shows reflects the signal style moments of the last several decades, among them the Japanese arrival in Paris; ’90s grunge, goth, and “ugly chic”; Y2K glam; the return of minimalism; and the rise of both repurposed fashion and gender-fluidity. Enjoy!
Nicole Phelps, Global Director of Vogue Runway and Vogue BusinessVirginia Smith, Global Head of Fashion NetworkMark Holgate, Global Network Lead & US Fashion Features EditorSarah Mower, ContributorMark Guiducci, Creative Editorial DirectorChloe Malle, Editor of Vogue.comLaird Borrelli-Persson, Senior Archive EditorLuke Leitch, ContributorLaia Garcia-Furtado, Senior Fashion News Editor, Vogue RunwayJosé Criales-Unzueta, Fashion News Writer, Vogue RunwayIrene Kim, Production and Editorial Coordinator, Vogue Runway