2011's Fashion Newsmakers

It wasn’t just the dress that rocked the fashion world but the suspense leading up to its big reveal. So much depended on the answer. If the soon-to-be duchess chose a little-known British designer, she’d change his or her career forever. If she chose someone like Erdem, she’d skyrocket him to international fame. And if she chose Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen—as she was rumored to do—she’d give Burton the ultimate vote of confidence and throw the newly famous woman into the ring of Dior potential. Middleton selected a Grace Kelly­esque McQueen that looked, according to everyone, fit for a queen."

The whole of fall 2011 Paris Fashion Week fell under the shadow of John Galliano’s racist rant. On February 25, a video showing Galliano hurling anti-Semitic remarks at Le Perle, a bar in Le Marais, surfaced online. The house of Dior suspended him that same day, and Natalie Portman, a longtime face of the brand, issued a statement expressing her “disgust” over the incident while plenty of fashion folk came to his defense. Dior officially fired Galliano on March 1, and, after he did a stint in rehab, his case went to trial this fall. He was found guilty.

That Kate and William would look perfect on their wedding day was a given. That Pippa, Kate’s younger sister, would cause such a stir with that silk-covered bum was more surprising. Her white maid-of-honor dress started a new trend in bridal-party style as well as the official Pippa Middleton Ass Appreciation Society on Facebook.