Vogue Editors on Their Favorite Moments From the Spring 2020 Collections
Ask Vogue editors to name their favorite collections, their favorite looks, or their favorite bags of Spring 2020, and they’ll rattle off a list.
Ask them to name their favorite moments, the ones they’ll hold in their memories long after we’ve wrapped another season (and another, and another), and the answers will be a lot more intriguing. Less than a week after everyone returned from Paris, we’re still thinking about how designers tackled the sustainability issue (no one more beautifully than Sarah Burton); we’re reflecting on fashion’s ability to mirror what’s happening in the world around us; we’re meditating on the power of a transportive, immersive show; and we’re speculating about what this season will mean for the decade ahead.
In other words: It’s often about a lot more than clothes. But there’s no discounting the simple joy of a beautiful dress, either. Molly Goddard reminded us of that with her tightly-packed runway, where models in XXL tulle poufs literally brushed past editors. It was as if to say: Don’t forget, these are meant to be worn and loved! We’d certainly like to wear them, ditto Burton’s exquisite embroidered gowns and Simone Rocha’s ruffled silk ones. Below, revisit all of our favorite memories and moments from Spring 2020 in Vogue Runway’s seasonal “scrapbook.”
Sally Singer, Vogue creative director
Simone Rocha’s show was held in a historic theater in the Alexandra Palace (commonly known as the Ally Pally), a giant folly of a castle that overlooks the whole of London from the north. It is a stunning location but a big schlep during fashion week, and the kvetching by editors leading up to the event was not to be believed—akin to the grousing a week before in New York when Kerby Jean-Raymond staged Pyer Moss at the King’s Theater in Flatbush. Intrepid in their vision, fashion people hate an actual journey.
Well, I am grateful to both Kerby and Simone. In the case of the latter, in the moments before the show, it was a pleasure to sit among local holiday makers enjoying the fabulous weather on a weekend afternoon with ice cream and pints. It actually felt like a holiday! Then there was the collection—complex, stunning, historicist yet modern—presented in a theater that had not been used for something like 80 years. And Lesley Manville walked! Could there be a better celebrity-catwalk follow-up to Pete Davidson at Alex Wang? For fans of Phantom Thread, there could be no greater fashion moment.
Virginia Smith, Vogue fashion director
I can’t stop thinking about Kerby Jean-Raymond’s epic Pyer Moss show at Kings Theater. From Casey Gerald’s opening sermon to the Tabernacle Drip Choir Drenched in the Blood, it was a “goosebumps” moment. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the godmother of rock and roll who inspired the collection, would have been proud.
Hamish Bowles, Vogue editor at large
It was a balmy night under a perfect crescent moon, and the collection—set to a rousing, specially composed soundtrack by Vangelis and brilliantly staged by Villa Eugenie—combined shades of Capucci’s sculptural couture and the mysticism of Hilma af Klint with Mary Katrantzou’s own inventively antic spirit. It was presented as a fundraiser for Elpida, the association of friends of children with cancer, and Marianna Vardinoyiannis, the founder and patron, sat with Queen Anne Marie and a flotilla of Katrantzou-clad beauties. For the finale, Mary’s stately lineup of models was joined by Vardinoyannis and children who have benefited from Elpida’s program, as well as the teary-eyed designer herself: bringing the collections season to a powerful and moving close.
Nicole Phelps, director, Vogue Runway
I walked out of the Alexander McQueen show with tears in my eyes. The live orchestra, Sarah Burton leading her London team out for a group bow, the way the collection engaged with the sustainability issue by embracing upcycling, and the uplift that comes from humble—but noble!—handwork, and so, so much beauty. It was fashion at its most enchanting, and Burton just keeps getting better.
Chioma Nnadi, Vogue fashion news director
Molly Goddard’s show in London was easily one of my favorites. The runway was set up in narrow lanes so you could actually feel each one of her beautiful tulle dresses swish right by you. It was just the kind of up-close-and-personal experience that you want from Fashion Week but rarely get.
Lynn Yaeger, Vogue contributor
Under the Roofs of Paris is the name of Rene Clair’s famous 1930 film—but it was literally the models strolling atop the roofs of Paris that thrilled me during this most recent round of fashion shows. At Chanel, where you invariably leave humming the scenery, the conceit this time was those iconic gray gables themselves. It was as thrilling as looking out your imaginary garret window, dreaming of living in that dream city—and even the presence of a crasher on the runway could not steal the power of those mute roofs.
Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue archive editor
In his recent memoir, Isaac Mizrahi, writing of Anna Wintour, said: “She was the fashion editor of my life.” Well, Christian Lacroix is the fashion designer of mine. So, of course, Dries Van Noten’s collaboration with @fkachristianlacroix tops my Spring 2020 best list. As it’s sure to appear on many others as well, I want to shout out Yohji Yamamoto’s incredible and poetic walk through fashion history, too.
Steff Yotka, Vogue fashion news and emerging platforms editor
Over a month of fashion shows in New York, London, Milan, and Paris, I saw so much—and so much to love—from Rick Owens’s bubbles to Dries Van Noten’s incredible Lacroix collab. But for the first time, I also saw something I’d never seen before: An actually fun fashion show. In London’s Tottenham Hale, Jonny Banger put on a fashion-show-party-rave for his brand Sports Banger that was a singular, revelatory, really damn excellent time. We were out there, away from “the scene,” with almost no other fashion editors, buyers, or press present, just hanging out, witnessing a show that felt wholly in and of its time and place. Banger is wildly creative, and seeing him reinterpret fashion and cultural codes is a delight (with a side of thumping music and lethal cocktails, I should note). I loved his homage to Mugler, and the way his friends and models just hung out in the lot afterward, drinking champagne straight from the bottle, wishing Jonny the best. He earned it and then some.
Emily Farra, Vogue senior fashion news writer
It’s often said that “real clothes” make for boring fashion shows, and it’s often true! But after years of splashy, Instagram-y runway statements, it was refreshing to see a return to simplicity and ease. What kept it all from being snoozy was the attention to detail and beautiful materials. I’d buy the entire Prada collection if I could—my fellow Vogue Runway colleague Brooke Bobb and I have been searching for fine-knit polos ever since Freja opened the show in one!—but it’s worth pointing out that elevated, hard-working sportswear is a distinctly New York thing. The Deveaux collection was full of good vibes and great clothes—I want to live in this breezy top and green trousers next summer—and in the nearer future, I’ll be attempting to recreate Khaite’s luxe, vaguely Western head-to-toe-suede look all winter long.
Brooke Bobb, Vogue senior fashion news writer
There’s been so much discussion around sustainability this season—some of it probably just talk, and some of it real, actionable change. It’s a challenging, overwhelming, and frightening topic, one that in our everyday lives, we may feel somewhat distant from or ill-equipped to help with. But sitting outside at Hillary Taymour’s Collina Strada show, with her real-people models; the humble, heartfelt calls to action of her show notes; and the pop-up farmer’s market, I felt closer and more personally attached to the sustainability conversation than ever before. It was beautiful and relatable, and I left feeling like I could make even some small difference in the world. In my opinion, that’s how fashion should be inspiring us right now.
Liana Satenstein, Vogue senior fashion news writer
I loved the sweaty, low-slung, bare-it-all vibe of Barragán. The models were dewy and had red-rimmed eyes as if they had just come back from a hot night of clubbing.
Janelle Okwodu, Vogue senior fashion news writer
Alton Mason dancing at Tommy Hilfiger was a beautiful expression of joy in the middle of a week that could use more good vibes.
Anny Choi, Vogue market editor
My favorite moment from this fashion month was Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty show at Barclays Center. I had no idea what to expect, and the thought of trekking to Brooklyn for a 9:00 p.m. show on a Tuesday night wasn’t my ideal scenario. (I was also slightly annoyed that they locked everyone’s phones, if I’m being totally honest!) But once the lights went down and Rihanna came out to open the show, along with all of these incredible dancers, I was in awe. It was totally epic, totally worth the trek. What a cool way to showcase lingerie! I watched the entire show all over again on Amazon Prime the day it aired.
Amy Verner, Vogue contributor
When is a dormant fashion house worth reincarnating? I visited Patou just after the shows to make up for missing Guillaume Henry’s debut presentation. From the whimsical office within an old girl’s school overlooking the Seine, to the QR code traceability labels and fully recyclable hangers, each detail felt equally charming and conscientious—a certain youthful repackaging of Parisian couture circa 2020. And discovering Henry’s (relatively budget-friendly) dressed-up denim, pretty tailoring, and bubbly dresses instead of serious fashion closed my week with a jolt of joie-de-vivre. Here’s to more of you, Patou!
Luke Leitch, Vogue contributor
Thanks to the distance and traffic between the Issey Miyake show and Balmain’s before it, many editors missed Satoshi Kondo’s debut for this Japanese house. For those who got there (metro!), it was the most invigorating show of the season. While the clothes were pretty typically Miyake-ish, it was how they were presented that impressed. As the models danced in circles, carved around in front of us on skateboards, pirouetted in bubble-hemmed dresses that inflated as they twisted, or ran in a happy ululating onrush at the end, the show unfolded as a display of clothes which enhance a joyful physical interaction between the wearer and the world around her. Which is surely exactly what you want clothes to do: bring joy.
No moment encapsulated the message more than when three dresses (and hats) were lowered from the roof onto the hands-upraised bodies of models below, who then started bouncing—a bit Muppet-ish-ly—to Afrobeat, surrounded by similarly dressed colleagues. It seemed simultaneously futuristic and primitive. This being Miyake, the pleated sponginess of the garments made it appear as if the dresses were dancing, out of time but elegantly so, against the models. No influencers, no celebrities, and no hype—we weren’t even tipped off about this coup de theatre before the show started. This was a moment that demonstrated the power of a fresh idea in fashion to catch the imagination of the wider world. Deservedly, it did.
Tiziana Cardini, Vogue contributor
There was much talk this season about the state of fashion, with shows and collections providing copious food for thought on the many relevant issues the industry is facing today. The list would be long, so I’m just picking a couple of topics that had the conversation fired up and which were big on designers’ agendas. On one hand, while there’s evidence of a certain fashion fatigue in audiences and consumers, shows were testing new formats of entertainment to generate excitement; at the other end of the spectrum, the elephant in the room for many labels was how to effectively address the sustainability conundrum and the social and ethical engagement that is unavoidable today. I found Milan rather on point on both themes. When it comes to upping the ante on entertainment, Donatella Versace certainly knows how to play the game. She staged the ultimate coup de thêatre having Jennifer Lopez closing the show wearing the famous 2000 Jungle Dress. It pretty much obliterated any other memory of even the most elaborate, fanciest performances this season provided. I was probably the only person in the audience unable to take a video or a picture, as I was completely stunned by J.Lo’s presence and confidence, not to mention by her sensationally luscious body; she strutted at such close distance, the dress actually brushed past the people in the first row. It was as glamorous as it gets, but the moment also had a potent emotional, almost personal feel. Which brings me to Francesco Risso’s great Marni show, at the sustainable end of the fashion spectrum. His engagement was as authentic, touching and human as it was higly spectacular. The Marni jungle was of a rather different kind then Versace’s: Sprouting from a recycled-cardboard seating maze, a forest of lithe palm trees, made of recycled plastic from previous backdrops, was populated by a flock of fantasmagorical creatures. They fluttered about clad in a riot of colorful dresses, printed to recreate a dense foliage, or new species of hallucinogenic blooms or else the exotic plumage of parakeets and birds of paradise. Julien d’Ys’s extraordinaire coiffures just added to the magic. Risso’s connection with the Amazon is deeply personal, having spent time there; his “save the planet” battle cry felt as powerfully raw, emotional and intense as it was poetic and delicate in its visual rendition. Today, to get a strong fashion message across you need to convey emotion—and honesty.
Maya Singer, Vogue contributor
I’m going to cheat and combine two NYFW highlights into one endorsement. Full disclosure: Batsheva Hay, of the cult-fave Batsheva dress, is one of my best friends; on the other hand, I didn’t know anything about the brand Jahnkoy or its designer Maria Kazakova until I arrived at F.I.T. for the show. But Batsheva’s fashion-défilé-cum-academic-symposium on the meaning of her clothes, and Kakakova’s weird, ecstatic dance performance celebrating global athleisure-ism and the durable power of traditional handicraft gave me a similar buzz, because both designers, in their own ways, were attempting to set style in the broad context of culture writ large and wrestle with the social impacts of their designs. Plus, it’s always rewarding to see designers try something utterly new.
BY EMILY FARRA from Vogue
