SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2010
KLMNO 2010’s greatest hits} this year’s best fashion BY ROBIN GIVHAN The past year in fashion was
marked by the stunning loss of the industry’s most captivating iconoclast and the dazzling re- turn of its most charismatic star. Together these two outsize per- sonalities helped transform the 21st-century fashion industry intoanirresistible world ofHolly- wood theatrics, sexual provoca- tion and mesmerizing — and profitable — showmanship. Along the way, the two also craft- ed a host of exquisitely conceived and constructed frocks. But the year was not defined by personalities alone. Ideas and is- sues also took center stage, giving rise to lively debate. Instead of merely giving folks pretty clothes, the industry asked consumers to rethink the very definition of “attractive,” as well as who gets to pass judgment on the kind of women and men who measure up.
Former Gucci designer Tom
Ford returned to the fashion fold this year after making a name for himself in the movie business with “A SingleMan.” He present- ed his first womenswear collec- tion under his own name for spring 2011 in the intimate space of hisMadison Avenue shop. The clothes, shown on women of note
such as Julianne Moore and Be- yonce, exuded confident sexuali- ty and controlled flamboyance. His audacious decision to bar photographers from the show flummoxed fashion folks, but ul- timately heightened the anticipa- tion of the clothes’ arrival in stores. It’s bittersweet to declare Alex-
anderMcQueen’s fall 2010 collec- tion one of the best fashion mo- ments this year. But his final work, shown to small groups of editors at the elegant headquar- ters of Artemis, the brand’s hold- ing company, was breathtaking. It was a tour de force of skill and imagination. Finding inspiration in the visual arts as well as in religiosity, the collection was touched with grace, melancholy and beauty. Mississippi high school stu-
dent ConstanceMcMillen caused a national stir when she wanted to take her girlfriend to the prom, an event to which they both planned to wear tuxedoes. Their sartorial desires were more than the Itawamba County School Dis- trict could tolerate, andMcMillen was disinvited to the party. With the help of the ACLU, McMillen, who is lesbian, took on the school district and won. She received some $30,000 and legal fees. When she was honored as one of
THIBAULT CAMUS/ASSOCIATED PRESS GONEBUTNOTFORGOTTEN:Models wear AlexanderMcQueen’s collection
inMarch.McQueen was found dead in London on Feb. 11.
Glamour’s Women of the Year, she wore an IsaacMizrahi tuxedo to the awards gala at Carnegie
Hall.McMillen proved that while clothes don’t make the woman, they canmake a powerful person- al statement. Secretary of State Hillary Clin-
ton grew out her hair. It was a fine rebuke to the accepted adage that a woman of a certain age must cut her hair — a symbolic gesture that she is leaving sex appeal and youthful flirtatious-
ness behind. Clinton’s flattering shoulder-length style was a re- minder to women who have un- happily submitted to the scissors that they should not allow cultur- al assumptions to dictate their own perceptions about them- selves. When Essence, a magazine
aimed at African American wom- en, hired a white fashion editor, the decision rattled longtime readers and gave many in the media world pause. But the up-
roar about the hiring of Elliana Placas sparked a conversation about diversity within the fash- ion industry and precisely what that means. And that is nothing but good news. This was the year in which size
mattered. A vigorous debate erupted over what it means to be plus size. How big is too big? What exactly is big enough? At the second Full-Figure Fashion Week in New York, plus size women demanded trends and
high style and took aim at a design industry obsessed with making them look thinner. Ac- tress Gabourey Sidibe settled into life as a fashion cover girl. De- signer Jean Paul Gaultier used extremes in size — from the fat girl to the waif — as inspiration for his spring 2011
collection.And Vogue Italia launched a Web site dedicated to curvy women. Chub- by ladies didn’t rule the runway, but they were no longer ignored.
givhanr@washpost.com
EZ EE
E9
classical music
BY ANNEMIDGETTE The major record labels are
struggling notably, and sales are sinking. But this has opened up a path for somany small labels and self-produced discs there’s noway to listen to them all. The result might not bemaking a lot ofmon- ey, but it’s a boon for listeners: Therewere dozens ofworthy con- tenders for the year’s-best title. The following10CDswouldease a sojourn on any desert island. “Jeremy Denk Plays Ives”
[Think Denk Media]. Denk’s pia- no playingmingles urbanity with unabashed beauty. The combina- tion, coupled with an engaging intelligence,has broughthiminto the limelight in the past couple of years, and it sheds plenty of light on Charles Ives, who’s become something of a calling card. This self-produced CD illuminates through thoughtful liner notes and playing that removes the spines from this usually thorny composer, making him less off- puttingthandownright seductive. “Die Zauberflote” [Harmonia
Mundi, three CDs]. In this much- awaited continuation of his Mo- zart cycle, Rene Jacobs approach- es the famous singspiel “TheMag- ic Flute” as if it were a radio play, including all the spoken dialogue, often with musical commentary from the keyboard, and sound effects froma veritable battery of percussion. It certainly shakes the piece out of the quasi-pantomime territory it so often inhabits (though it’s even better if you know German); the young cast offers light, conversational, capa- ble singing;andtheorchestra(the Akademie fuer AlteMusik Berlin) is terrific. Benjamin Britten, “Songs &
Proverbs ofWilliamBlake.”Ger- ald Finley and Julius Drake [Hy- perion]. The superb baritone Fin- ley’s recital at Vocal Arts DC in Marchmademewant tohear a lot more of him.Happily, he gaveme plenty of opportunity by releasing two solo CDs this year: a compila- tion of opera arias and this in- sightful recording of Britten works early and late, enhanced by his frequent accompanistDrake. “Hilary Hahn Plays Higdon
and Tchaikovsky Violin Concer- tos” [Deutsche Grammophon]. This year’s Pulitzer Prize-winning compositionwasdocumentedina fine recording by the violinist for whom it was written. Jennifer Higdon’s music is energetic and attractive,with undeniable crowd appeal and finger-twisting virtu- osity; and it’s paired with a prob-
MATHIAS BOTHOR PRIZE EFFORT:HilaryHahn.
ing reading of the Tchaikovsky concerto that’s enhanced by the conducting ofup-and-comerVasi- ly Petrenko. Tchaikovsky, “The Three Pia-
no Concertos.” Stephen Hough; Osmo Vanska,MinnesotaOrches- tra[Hyperion].MoreTchaikovsky. Hyperion’s marvelous “Romantic Piano Concerto” series, which of- fers excellent performances of scholarly editions of more- and less-known works, marked its 50th release with a bang: the big- gest romantic concerto in the rep- ertory, paired with its less-known siblings, played by an artist who mines the nuance (yes, nuance) of the scores, supported by one of America’s best orchestra-conduc- tor teams. “Katrina Ballads” [New Am-
sterdam Records]. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the young composer Ted Hearne be- gan writing amusical response, a compilation of news accounts, eyewitness quotes and editorials that mingles American musical vernaculars from jazz to rock to the avant-garde in an impas- sioned oratorio, a kind of operatic journalism, uneven but exciting, that appeared on CD for the fifth anniversary of the disaster. Mahler, Symphony No. 2,
“Resurrection.”KlausTennstedt, London Philharmonic Orchestra [LPO]. A live recording (startling- ly good in quality) of a 1989 con- cert shows theidiosyncraticinten- sity this late, great conductor brought to Mahler. Tennstedt leaves lots of room around his phrases and delivers each with a slightly different inflection, tug- ging at tempos in a distinctly un- contemporary fashion, holding out silences so yourhair stands on endwhen themusic resumes, and offering each passage as if it were being torn, with effort, from his heart. Brooklyn Rider, “Dominant
Curve” [In a Circle Records]. Call it alt-classical or simply progres- sive: This recording illustrates how musicians today move
throughmanystylisticworldsona single, sensible trip. This crack quartet is composed of alums of the Silk Road Ensemble; their crisp vital reading of the Debussy quartet is at the heart of a record- ing exploring Eastern influences in music by everyone from the Japan-born Kojiro Umezaki to JohnCage. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, “Rav-
el,Debussy,Massenet.”YanPas- cal Tortelier, BBC Symphony Or-
chestra [Chandos]. Not everyone appreciates Debussy’s early pia- no-concerto-like “Fantasie,” but Bavouzet does, and he and Torte- lier make an eminently convinc- ing case for it on this strong and very French disk, which traces a jazz influence from Debussy through swinging performances of both Ravel concertos. Boulez and Aimard offered another fine (and French) recording of them this year, but this SACD hasmore
bang (and verve) for the buck. James Levine, “Celebrating
40 Years at the Met.” DVD box set: 12 operas, 21 DVDs; CD box set: 11 operas, 32CDs [PolyGram]. It’snot a single release; it’s a chap- ter of opera history, documenting the longest-tenured director of the Metropolitan Opera in a gen- erous cornucopia of his perfor- mances starting in 1978 and in- cluding some of his great signa- tureworks (like Berg’s “Lulu” and
“Wozzeck,” contrastedin1980and 2001). The DVD set, in particular, not only captures some memora- ble performances (“Bartered Bride” with Stratas, Gedda and Vickers?) but serves as a reminder that there were brilliant singing actors at the Met long before the current crop: Renata Scotto can work a camera close-up (in “Don Carlo”) as well as anyone singing today.
midgettea@washpost.com
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