SOME DISENCHANTED EVENING Models in wait
But just in case you haven't got a clue about what to say to all the pretty people elbowing you out of the way as they try to chat up a B-list star, we've put together little primer on some of the moments that made style headlines in 2007—or should have.
Behold, Radar's Fashion Awards!
1. The Most Suitable Fashion Finger-Puppet Award: ESTEBAN CORTAZAR
He's portable, practically prepubescent, and now more powerful than ever. It's been a good year for Esteban Cortazar, who, at 23, was recently named chief designer for French fashion house Emanuel Ungaro, proving that the fashion world's lust for younger and younger designers is unabated. The crafty Colombian showed his first collection back in 2003 as a wee 18-year-old, and has since gone on to show seven more and picked up the ever-soulful Lenny Kravitz as his mentor. At Ungaro, Cortazar follows in the plucky, PETA-loving footsteps of one Stella McCartney, who helmed the brand back when she was just 24. All that, and he's barely the size of an Olsen. Though these days you'll have to fly to Paris to catch sight of this fashion leprechaun.
2. The Most Compelling Cat-Fight of the Year Award: MARC JACOBS AND SUZY MENKES
It wouldn't be the fashion world without someone bitching about someone else, and this year's juiciest spat was between Marc Jacobs and Suzy Menkes. First, Marc had the audacity to begin his September show an appalling two hours late, and then Suzy took it out in her IHT column, ranting, "I would like to murder him with my bare hands," and calling his clothes, "a freak's costume party." MJ shot back in WWD, claiming he had been at the office for three days straight and not boozing it up at the Mercer Hotel as was rumored. The bottom line? If you're invited to M.J.'s show this year, prepare to wait, and shut up about it already. It's worth it.
3. The Viral Hipster Bangs Award: KATE MOSS
First Kate, perhaps inspired by former Pete Doherty flame Irina Lazareanu, truly brought back bangs. In 2007 it was an epidemic: Katie Holmes, Tyra Banks, and every hipster in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, now has fashion-forward blunt fringe à la Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, or, come to think of it, Anna Wintour since, well, forever.
4. The Trend That Needs to Die Award: HIGH-WAISTED PANTS
What started as a reaction to those ultra-low-rise, need-a-Brazilian-wax to wear 'em stretch jeans quickly turned into one of the most unflattering trends to hit fashion since gaucho capris. Hiked up to boob level, cut slim through the torso, and flaring out at about saddlebags, the mom jeans of the new millennium have embarrassed everyone from Scarlett Johansson to Mischa Barton to Jessica Simpson, the latter prompting the blog Go Fug Yourself to coin the term "Doom Trousers." Let's hope this trend stays where it belongs next season: on the 75 percent-off rack at TJ Maxx in Dubuque. Runner-up: Headgear. Even if they made a splash on the Prada runway, the turban hasn't looked good on anyone since Yul Brynner in The King and I. We're talking to you, Rachel Roy. Tied, naturally, with the weird sexist shoes of last season.
5. The Superfluous Newly Minted Celebrity Fashion Designer Award: CHLOE SEVIGNY
While she may not capture the aspirational tween market quite like recent celeb designbots Sienna Miller or MK and Ashley Olsen, Vincent Gallo–lovin' Chloë Sevigny proved that dressing like Alexis Carrington meets Darien, Connecticut, can take you all the way to a capsule collection at self-conscious concept store Opening Ceremony. For her debut effort, "the former creative director of Imitation of Christ" put together a 30-piece collection with oh-so-daring original influences, including grunge, rock 'n' roll, and the '80s. We hope she'll be duking it out with all the other celebrity designers this week. Who do you think would win in a rumble between Lauren Conrad, Mandy Moore, and Gwen Stefani? We'll be watching!
Related: Fashion Week, Style
