The world may have been burning, but at least we had these outfits as a brief but pretty distraction… We’re not saying these are all of the ‘best’ celebrity looks of the year, but they’re the ones that caught our eye.
Best declaration of authentic style
Despite the TikTok and Spotify algorithms shoving her in my face, Chappell Roan had passed me by until weekend one of Coachella when I sat down on the couch to watch the livestream, saw her name on the schedule and thought, 'I think I've heard about her, I'll give it a watch'. I'm so glad I did; that performance was a game changer with its fun energy and incredible vocals, uber lo-fi graphics and on-stage outfit that instantly conveyed who Chappell was – and positioned her as 2024's most exciting pop and fashion star. As a big fan of 80s yuppie fashion, I was charmed as she power walked on stage in that double-breasted plaid suit carrying a customised suitcase and vintage mobile phone. Then she ripped it off, in true pop star fashion, to reveal latex, leather and leopard print.
Chappell had so many epic looks throughout 2024 - including Coachella weekend 2's homage to Lady Miss Kier, her Statue of Liberty and Divine cosplay, VMAs look and insane costumes for SNL – but this ensemble was the one that set the tone for newbies like me. – Zoe Walker Ahwa
Best duo
Somehow Challengers was released in 2024. Wild, I know: it feels like decades have passed since we had the pleasure of Zendaya and Law Roach having fun with tennis couture. Was it theme dressing akin to the Barbie tour, sometimes intelligent and often ridiculous? Yes. Did we love every single minute of it? Absolutely. – Rebecca Wadey (Editor's note: special mention to Zendaya's iconic Mugler fall 1995 cyborg couture look for the Dune 2 premiere; which ALSO was released this year...)
Best press tour
Last year Margot Robbie did the press rounds in hot pink, little skirts and healthy looking blonde hair to promote Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. This year we got Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo dressing on brand and holding space for the lyrics of Defying Gravity. While I wasn’t mad about all the Barbie looks (we get it, you’re in a really big movie everyone already knows about), I had to eat my words during the Wicked tour. It was fun and fabulous and they served fashion. My favourite Ariana looks were this Bode one, this Giambattista Valli one, and all the Vivienne Westwood. My favourite Cynthia Erivo fits were Thom Browne one, this Erdem one, and all of the nails. With themed dressing now de rigueur for big film releases, buckle up for next year’s Snow White (co-written by Gerwig). And Wicked part two. – Georgie Wright
Best statement through fashion
We all know that Bella Hadid could wear literally anything and make it look hot and covetable, but this dress, worn at Cannes in May, saw the supermodel use her platform to educate and celebrate Palestinian culture and craft through fashion - a more than worthy best-dressed recipient in a year when political statements through dress were rare.
"While I still have to go to work , even through this horror, to wear our culture makes me a proud Palestinian & I want the world to continue to see Palestine, wherever we go," Bella wrote on Instagram when she shared photos of the look, also encouraging her followers to follow Palestinians on the ground in Gaza and educate themselves on the ongoing occupation and genocide. "A beautiful way to represent the history, labor of love, resilience and, most importantly, the art of historic Palestinian embroidery."
The vintage dress was from 2001 by the label Michael and Hushi and is made up of a red keffiyeh featuring symbols that represent olive leaves, fish nets, sea waves and more; she wore it with a Sandy Liang flower-shaped scrunchie, mules and Y2K sunglasses. – ZWA
Best art piece
Hunter Schafer is one of my favourite celebrities on the red carpet. She always looks great; elegant but not boring, cool but not pretentious, unique but not Katy Perry dressed as a chandelier. It helps that she’s styled by Dara, who’s attained first name pedigree for modelling, being Interview’s fashion director, and having great cinematic personal style (she’s also started styling Addison Rae, who’s also been scoring A+ on the fashion front lately). But back to Hunter, and this Marni look for the Hunger Games New York premiere. Is it a dress? Is it an art piece? All the above, tbh. And perfectly styled to boot – the slicked hair, bare leg and white pump let the flowers do the bopping. Also loved this windswept Prada gown at the Golden Globes, and Schiaparelli (another artwork masquerading as a dress). – GW
Best on the circuit
My reliable faves Jodie Turner-Smith, Taylor Russell, Hunter Schaefer, Greta Lee, Ayo Edebiri, Tracee Ellis Ross, Natasha Lyonne and the aforementioned Zendaya could leave the house in a potato sack and I would put them on my best dressed list. I absolutely adore them and the fun they clearly have with fashion. They also understand fashion is an important part of their job, and one of the very few advantages they have over their male counterparts. Blake Lively, Reese Witherspoon and others who tried to start the movement of not talking fashion on the red carpet could learn about their intelligent take on self-expression. But if there’s one fashion girlie in 2024 who has absolutely slayed every appearance she’s made (and thankfully, there’s been a lot of them) it’s Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Every. Single. Look has killed it.
From kicking off the year at the Emmys in custom Rodarte through to custom Louis Vuitton at the Academy Gala just last month, Da’Vine and her stylists Wayman and Micah have, in my humble opinion, achieved perfection. And let’s not pretend she’s playing on a level playing field; her stylists can’t pull samples from showrooms, or borrow vintage from designer archives. – RW
Best see-through
I know this is meant to be celebrity fashion in the wild, but if there’s one fashion image that burned into my brain this year it’s Addison Rae crouched on the ground in a sheer sparkly dress smoking two cigarettes. – GW
