Picture: JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP©
These days trends come thick and fast on social media, but there’s no doubt that celebrities still have the power to make certain ones go ultra-viral. Some can even boast of turning everything they touch – or promote – into a genuine fashion phenomenon. This year, that was the case for these three celebrities who left their mark on the fashion and beauty history books, at least for the year 2023.
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Even if you didn’t go to the cinema to see the Barbie movie, you’ve at least heard of it as it was impossible to miss this phenomenon, the year’s highest-grossing feature film, which also meant a never ending series of pink outfits worn by one of the film’s stars, Margot Robbie. Not content with showing off her exceptional outfits, including numerous dresses by Chane (of which she is a spokesmodel) at screenings of the Greta Gerwig-directed comedy, Margot Robbie also shone on the red carpets of multiple fashion events.
From the Oscars, where she caused a sensation in a long black sequinned dress by Armani Privé, to the Met Gala, where she wore a vintage creation by Chanel, to the Chanel Cruise 2024 fashion show in Los Angeles, where she stood out in jeans and visible lingerie, Margot Robbie was clearly in the spotlight this year. On TikTok, which has become a true incubator for fashion and beauty trends, not only does the #barbiecore hashtag now boast more than a billion views, but #margotrobbie has tallied almost 14.5 billion views, including 340 million dedicated to the #margotrobbiebarbie hashtag.
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It wasn’t on a catwalk that the platinum-album-selling American singer made her mark this year, but on stage. On the occasion of her “Renaissance World Tour,” Queen Bey treated showgoers to a veritable wardrobe marathon, with hundreds of outfits custom-designed by top fashion designers and couture houses. In total, this series of concerts enabled her to put on no fewer than 56 musical “fashion shows”, a record for the Break My Soul performer, who has more than 319 million followers on Instagram.
Among the multitude of outfits in which Beyoncé appeared on stage were clothes and accessories specially designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, Balmain, Schiaparelli, Mugler, Jacquemus, Marine Serre, Paco Rabanne, Loewe, Alexander McQueen and many others. This sartorial showcase also enabled these labels and designers to gain – even more – visibility.
It’s an image that shouldn’t have caused such a stir – why point the finger at a woman who doesn’t wear makeup? – but it did propel Pamela Anderson to the top of this year’s beauty trends. And not just any beauty trend, since it’s the ‘no makeup’ trend that the Canadian-American star catapulted into the spotlight, an aesthetic choice that prompted even more questioning of societal beauty norms. This despite the fact that Pamela Anderson confided to Elle magazine she abandoned her beauty routine after the death of her makeup artist, Alexis Vogel.
This flash of attention dates back to last fall, during Paris Fashion Week, where the 2024 spring-summer collections were on show. While Pamela Anderson has been starring in a moving, candid documentary on Netflix since January 2023, she made several appearances without a trace of makup at the fashion event of the year, causing a sensation in mainstream media and on social networks. And this was no ‘one shot’ move: the actress repeated this tour de force in early December at the Fashion Awards 2023. An “act of courage and rebellion”, as Jamie Lee Curtis described it on her Instagram account.
“The natural beauty revolution has officially begun,” the American actress enthused. A revolution for something that should no longer require a revolution, but one that is helping to shatter a few more of the expectations made of women’s appearances.
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