Anna Wintour in sweatpants, Harry Styles in lace: the people who defined fashion in 2020
This would have been a Halloween costume in 2019. In 2020, it was what supermodels wore to travel by air. Noted germophobe Naomi Campbell was photographed in this hazmat suit, with goggles, face mask and surgical gloves, on 11 March, months before face masks were commonplace in the UK. The reaction encapsulated the angst of those doomscrolling days, ranging from celebration, for a moment’s light relief, to ire, at a time when so many medics were short of PPE (“They were acting like I was stealing supplies from the hospital … I got it on Amazon,” Campbell later said). Since donated to the Fashion Museum in Bath, it is certainly an outfit for the history books. Hannah Marriott
Paapa Essiedu
As a brown man, I have never expected to see the way I dress reflected on TV shows. Sure, bits of clothing here and there, but nothing that really mirrors my wardrobe. So it was with my mouth in an “O” of surprise that I took in Paapa Essiedu’s wardrobe as he played Kwame in I May Destroy You. Some items were exact replicas of mine (striped short-sleeved top, caramel teddy bear jacket) and others ( beanie hats, long sleeved T-shirts) that had a familiarity. But more than seeing myself reflected in Kwame’s outfits was the fact that here was a character whose wardrobe felt less costume and more, along with the rest of the show, brutally honest and authentic. The soft fabrics his character wore in early episodes gave way to more mature tones, such as mustard and teal, as his character unravelled and finally matured. Priya Elan
Jay-Z
Around the time of his “I’m sorry I cheated on Beyoncé” album 4:44, Jay-Z’s style did a 360-degree pivot. He effortlessly changed to suiting and bright colours. His switch from streetwear symbol to older gentleman embraced the riskier end of the style spectrum. In Beyoncé’s Black Is King film, he wore polo necks, draped Dior suits, polo necks and statement necklaces with no hint of midlife crisis. This was a rapper growing up in public with a dapper sense of maturity rarely seen before. My favourite bit of this evolution was his hair. He grew out dreadlocks and the result was one of the best hair makeovers of the last few years: relaxed locks with a slight nod to his hero, JeanMichel Basquiat. It was symbolic of the ease he felt in this new style, which he totally owned.
PE Nigella Lawson
Along with Strictly Come Dancing, the return of Nigella to our TV screens brought a much-needed dose of glamour into our homes, during what has been a long, dark and extraordinarily tedious autumn. Just like Strictly, Nigella is two-parts wholesome radiance to one-part wink-to-camera mischief. Chez Nigella is a temple of books and fairy lights, and she dishes out her generously salted nuggets of wisdom in shiny copper measuring spoons, while wearing fitted sweaters worthy of 1950s pin-ups and talking about Proust. What would we do without her? Jess CartnerMorley
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
I could have gone for the fringed Loewe power suit, as seen in Vanity Fair. Or the many white jackets, razorsharp shift dresses, crisp shirts, rosegold spectacles, gold hoops, Stila’s liquid lipstick in Beso red and Gabriela Hearst teal suits tworn by the congresswoman and – let’s be honest – future first socialist female president of the US. Instead, it was AOC’s snappy, possibly-but-probablynot electioneering campaign merch – and in particular her “Tax the rich”