The race to go viral in 2023 produced many quirky and campy fashion moments.
Kylie Jenner set the bar high in January, controversially wearing a faux taxidermy lion head as a brooch to Schiaparelli’s Spring 2023 couture show. In February, Mschf had people walking like cartoon characters in their big red boots. Later that year, the brand also sold a handbag smaller than a grain of salt for more than $63,000. AI had everyone thinking Pope Francis was wearing Balenciaga in March, while Margot Robbie spent many months dressed as Barbie for the red carpet promotional frenzy of the film of the same name.
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To celebrate this year’s creativity, WWD is looking back at some of the campiest fashion moments of 2023 that will live on forever in the social media space.
The gravity-defying dresses from Viktor & Rolf
Viktor & Rolf’s spring 2023 show during Paris Fashion Week in January provided breathtaking moments with its inverted and floating ball gowns. The collection’s premise was “seeing the world through our phones and the subsequent disconnect between images and the reality behind them,” WWD reported.
Kylie Jenner’s wildest dress
Daniel Roseberry debuted his spring 2023 haute couture collection for Schiaparelli in January. The collection, inspired by Dante Alighieri’s ‘The Divine Comedy’, featured dresses ‘decorated’ with wild animals such as a leopard, a lion and a she-wolf – a reference to Alighieri’s work that uses the creatures as a representation of lust and pride. and greed.
Seated in the front row was Jenner, wearing one of the dresses seen on the catwalk. ‘The Kardashians’ star’s look consisted of a black dress with a faux taxidermy lion head on her shoulder. Although there was considerable controversy, PETA defended the look, saying it was “fabulously innovative.”
Doja Cat covered in red crystals
Jenner wasn’t the only one making headlines from Schiaparelli’s front row in spring 2023. Doja Cat covered her body in red paint and 30,000 crystals. Pat McGrath revealed it took almost five hours to complete her look. “The final product was a magical, enchanting masterpiece and a tribute to Doja Cat’s hard work and dedication,” McGrath wrote on Instagram.
Rihanna’s Super Bowl look
Rihanna has made breastplates trendy again thanks to her 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show look. The singer performed at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, in February, wearing custom overalls with a red bodysuit and breastplate from the British designer Jonathan Anderson and a jacket and gloves from Alaïa.
The Fenty Beauty founder also did a quick makeup touch-up during an appearance, revealing her second pregnancy and boosting search interest for Saloman sneakers online.
Mschf’s Astro Boy Boots
Mschf had quite a year when it came to viral moments. In February, the Brooklyn-based brand released its big red boots, inspired by the signature shoes of Japanese video game and anime character Astro Boy. The boots, made of TPU rubber and an EVA midsole, retailed for $350. Ciara, Iggy Azalea, Coi Leray, Lil Wayne, Steve Aoki and other celebrities wore the shoes.
AI x Pope Francis
Artificial intelligence made it possible for a photorealistic image of Pope Francis in a white puffer coat from Balenciaga to go viral on social media in March. The image raised a red flag after most people couldn’t tell it was fake.
“These fake images coming out have raised concerns about the long-term consequences. There is excitement about the rapid progress in the technology, but at the same time there are concerns about the consequences and that they could be harmful,” Mhairi Aitken, ethics officer at the Alan Turing Institute, told WWD.
Jared Leto’s Choupette costume
Karl Lagerfeld’s life and career were honored at the Met Gala in May. The late designer, who worked for Chanel, Chloé and Fendi, was also known for his devotion to his cat Choupette – the feline was the inspiration behind Lagerfeld’s cornflower blue Spring 2012 collection.
In tribute to Lagerfeld, Jared Leto attended the Met Gala in a six-foot-tall Choupette suit. The fluffy costume was the most searched male red carpet look on Google during the event.
Margot Robbie’s Barbie era
Margot Robbie began the press tour for “Barbie” at CinemaCon in Las Vegas in April. Since then, the actress has taken almost every red carpet opportunity to dress up as Mattel’s doll.
Robbie channeled the 2015 “Pink & Fabulous” Barbie at Valentino during a photo call in Los Angeles, recalling the original 1959 doll in a black-and-white striped Hervé Léger bandage dress in Sydney and nodding to the “Day to Night” Barbie from 1985 in a custom Versace suit in Seoul.
For the Los Angeles premiere in July, Robbie paid tribute to ’60s Barbie ‘Solo in the Spotlight’ in a custom Schiaparelli dress. Meanwhile, at the 2023 Gotham Awards in November, the actress wore a ’60s-themed Prada look inspired by the 1964 Barbie “Black Magic Ensemble.”
Jennifer Lawrence’s slippers
Jennifer Lawrence paired a red Dior ball gown with black slippers to attend the premiere of ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ at the Cannes Film Festival in May. At the time, social media praised Lawrence’s choice of footwear as a political statement – in 2015, women were reportedly denied entry to the festival for wearing flats. However, Lawrence made it clear in June that she knew nothing about the controversy surrounding flats on red carpets. Her shoes were simply too big, so she opted for a more comfortable choice.
Mschf’s LV tiny handbag
Mschf continued the mini bag trend, creating a tiny handbag measuring just 657 by 222 by 700 microns, smaller than a grain of sea salt. The piece, made from 3D-printed microscale plastic parts and embellished with Louis Vuitton’s “LV” monogram, sold for more than $63,000 at an online auction in June.
Crocs x Mschf boots
Mschf continued its streak of viral product releases in August with help from Crocs. The shoe brands created the Big Yellow Boots, inspired by the Astro Boy Boots released in February.
Crocs enlisted Paris Hilton to promote the shoes and published photos of the socialite in a “Kill Bill” inspired costume. Maluma and Victoria Beckham also tried the boots on for social media.
Christian Cowan’s giant furball dress
In October, at Christian Cowan’s Spring 2024 ready-to-wear show in Paris, model Mi’jon Woods got lost on the runway wearing a giant furball dress. Sam Smith, who performed during the show, tried to help the model, but she ended up sitting in the front row.
Cowan said backstage before the show that he was “obsessed with” the look, WWD reported. ‘It won’t fit through any door. We even got to our temporary office space and two of the looks just didn’t fit in the building, so they had to be parked on site seven days in advance, because luckily this space has huge doors,” he said.
The Illusion boots from Louis Vuitton
In November, Louis Vuitton caught TikTok’s attention with its Illusion boots that mimic the look of legs wearing high-heeled shoes and socks. The style was unveiled at the brand’s Fall 2023 show and is available now for $2,470 at louisvuitton.com.
The Balenciaga shopping bag
During the LA runway show in December 2024, Balenciaga unveiled a new collaboration with Erewhon, filled with viral pieces. In the front row, Kim Kardashian wore one: a Balenciaga-branded Erewhon paper shopping bag. The piece retails for $2,500.
“This is my bag for today, this is what Demna wanted me to bring, a little Erewhon Balenciaga bag with flowers, so I’m going to give him the flowers when it’s done,” Kardashian told WWD as he left the show.
The Balenciaga x Erewhon collection also includes wallets in the shape of coffee cups and water bottles.
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