We’re still deep in the midst of a pandemic but that didn’t keep us, or our favorite celebrities, from getting a few dope ’fits off in 2022. With fewer COVID-19 restrictions in the U.S. — though we’re keeping our eye on rising numbers — New York Fashion Week came back strong, Telfar dropped another sold-out collection, the trends were trending, and people were getting dressed for more than just Zoom meetings. Here were four style moments from the year that I just can’t stop thinking about.
Pregnant Rihanna at Dior Fall 2022
Stephane Cardinale/Getty Images
Rihanna really might be one of our last true superstars. No, for real. She not only understands how captivating her presence is on the stage, but in the street, too. Her street style is true to who fans know her to be: someone who is here for a good time. I wasn’t shocked that the woman who said she either wears a bra or a top but not both didn’t switch up once she became pregnant with her first child.
She arrived at the Dior Fall 2022 runway show during Paris Fashion Week in March wearing a sleeveless sheer black lace babydoll dress with her bra and thong on full display. A strategically placed leather trench coat left just a little to the imagination. She finished the look with layered silver earrings, necklaces, and a swipe of Fenty Beauty’s Icon Lipstick in Board Memb’r. This might have been the most Rihanna Rihanna has ever looked.
Megan Thee Stallion in Mugler
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Megan Thee Stallion is officially in her Fashion with a capital F era. For our girl’s 2022 Billboard Awards performance, she wore not one but two custom Mugler looks. Her moment with Mugler continued during her “Plan B” music video — directed by the French fashion house’s creative director Casey Cadwallader — where she rapped “Mugler suit in my meeting/Wagyu steak when I’m eating” while wearing a custom Mugler black cropped jacket, sheer bodysuit, a corset top with tights. To top it off, she appeared in Mugler’s Summer 2022 film serving body-ody-ody-ody.
Beyoncé’s Renaissance began
Carlijn Jacobs/Parkwood Entertainment
Do y’all remember when Beyoncé, aka Ms. Queen of the Triptych, was using her Instagram like a fashion blog? Because I do. And it feels like the Renaissance photos are taking us back there. Queen Bey shocked the internet when she announced her return to music in the July issue of British Vogue.
Now, little did we know that the glossy high-fashion editorials that accompanied the announcement, as well as the merchandise (did anyone else buy one of those mystery boxes?) would have to suffice for visuals. It’s been five months and we still don’t have any videos for Beyoncé’s seventh studio album. Not that I’m complaining, because I love that Beyoncé is back and having fun with fashion again. But, Bey, can we at least get a “Cuff It” video in the new year?
Loewe’s spring 2023 collection
LOEWE/Instagram
My absolute favorite thing about fashion is the way just letting my eyes land on something is enough to send me off into a private fantasyland. Who would I be in that dress? Those shoes? With that bag? Loewe’s creative director J.W. Anderson is so good at creating It pieces (those inflated cat-eye sunglasses, for example) and his spring 2023 ready-to-wear collection builds on this momentum. Anderson’s set at Paris Fashion Week included a huge fiberglass anthurium that “grew” out of a hole in the floor. One of my favorite looks from the collection is how I am envisioning my post-quarantine wardrobe: an oversize gray sweatshirt with long split arms worn with heels featuring glossy, heart-shaped leaves on one foot. See, florals for spring actually can be groundbreaking.
