15 Crucial Fashion Lessons We Learned This Year

Whenever we open our closet door or pass by our entryway mirror, there's a faint echo of some adage that won't let us get dressed in peace: "Take off one thing before you leave the house." "Black and blue never go together." "Remember when Becca wore white to Gordo's house and spilled down the front of her shirt and everyone could see that her bra had Tweety Bird on it? You probably shouldn't wear white today." Wrong or right, outdated or apt, there's a flip book of lessons you've collected over the years. During last year, in particular, the learnings were plentiful — and we can thank some of fashion's biggest players for that.

This 2014 saw conclusions to some drawn-out back-and-forths, which taught us all about justice, patience, and perviness. It was also a year when our clothes and our politics became even more inextricably intertwined, when we felt more empowered about our bodies and better informed about our choices. It was a year of news-making announcements, game-changing collaborations, and heartbreaking losses — and we became a little more aware of all the complexity and beauty of what it means to love fashion. Ahead, rewind the clock a little and relive the 15 biggest fashion news events of the year, and the style lessons we learned along with them.