As we edge closer to a brand-spanking new year, it's important to take some time to pause and reflect on the highs and lows of the past 12 months. Our inboxes and social-media feeds may already be overflowing with wellness ideas for bettering ourselves and our bodies in 2026, but push them aside until after New Year's Eve. For now, the most regenerative thing you can do is slow down enough to remember what you have already achieved. For the purpose of this column, I like to look back at the most stylish - and not so stylish - moments of the past year. Here goes...
- My heart sank when I saw my first Labubu. It was early spring and suddenly the little charms were hanging off handbags and keychains and, naturally, going viral. Who knew such bad taste could brainwash so many so quickly.
- A fashion high for me was Marion Cotillard's wardrobe as Celine Dumont in season four of The Morning Show. It was the perfect fusion of quiet luxury and French chic: clean lines, sophisticated tailoring, neutral colours (black, beige, olive green) and high-end designer brands. Beautiful to watch unfold.
- Back on home ground, it has made me happy to see Burberry return to what it does best. Excellent outerwear and scarves are promising a bright new future for the financially battered brand.
- Proving you should never part with the classics, I gasped one morning in early July as Jane Birkin's old, well-worn Birkin bag, created for her in 1984 after she met Hermès executive Jean-Louis Dumas on an plane, sold at a Sotheby's auction for £7.4 million. Wonder what Jane's daughters, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, thought about the eye-watering price paid to Catherine Benier, a Paris-based vintage-boutique owner who had purchased it at a charity auction for an undisclosed sum in 2000.
- Filming for The Devil Wears Prada 2 (20 years after the first movie) on the streets of New York, has fuelled anticipation of its release next May. Life imitated art when Meryl Streep appeared in character as Miranda Priestly at the real Dolce & Gabbana S/S 26 show during Milan Fashion Week - all for the new film and making Anna Wintour crack a rare smile on the Frow.
- And award for the year's most diva behaviour goes to... Meghan Markle, who strutted out of Pierpaolo Piccioli's debut runway show for Balenciaga in Paris.
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