Post published on 12/24/2021
As 2021 is drawing to a close, it’s time for Mixte to take stock of the past twelve months. While it might have felt a little less chaotic than 2020, we can agree that 2021 has also brought us its fair share of surprises of all kinds. Between great celebrations, revelations and tragic losses, Mixte gives you 21 reasons why 2021 should be remembered.
2021 was marked by the sudden death of two designers respected as much for their vision of fashion as for their human qualities: Alber Elbaz, who passed away at the age of 59 last April, and in late November Virgil Abloh, aged 41. The former took over Lanvin in the early 2000s and turned it into one of the most recognised and sought-after fashion brands before launching his own label (AZ Factory), while the latter had become the icon of a whole generation, as he became the first major Black designer to head up the men’s collections of a French luxury house while launching his own brand, Off-White.
After a year and a half hiatus due to the whims of Miss Rona, real life fashion shows made a comeback this year. Starting with the Men’s Fashion Week last June in Paris, London and with Pitti Uomo, followed by a SS22 Fashion Week that turned out to be one of the best vintages in the history of fashion. Click here for this year’s highlights with the Chanel, Miu Miu, Botter, Courrèges shows…
Despite the difficulties, uncertainties and other threats hanging over our heads in the current period, 2021 has proven that the urge to create is stronger than ever. This year, we saw young creators assert themselves and demonstrate their talent. Mixte had the chance to meet some of them, starting with designer Nicola Lecourt-Mansion, spokesperson for a flamboyant and committed fashion, Nigerian Kenneth Ize and his innovative know-how, C.R.E.O.L.E ‘s founder Vincent Frédéric Colombo, or the dramatic Arturo Obegero.
Impossible to look back on 2021 without mentioning the event that marked this year at Mixte: our 25th anniversary! To celebrate this quarter-life, Mixte released a special issue with six fashion series presenting the work of our favourite photographers, portraits of talented and committed personalities and finally an evening in partnership with the Gucci fashion showcasing artists such as Thee Dian, Bergmann and the DJ set by Mysterious Sk1n (aka Vincent Frédéric-Colombo).
2021 was also the centenary celebration of one of the most iconic brands in the fashion game: Gucci. We can only imagine the mental load of Alessandro Michele when preparing the collection celebrating this anniversary… A challenge that was met with flying colours with a show last April full of glitter, myths and symbols referring to the glamour of the Tom Ford era. Bonus of the « Aria » collection celebrating this centenary: pieces inspired by Demna Gvasilia’s creations for Balenciaga. The brand kept the celebration going at the beginning of November with « Love Parade », a fashion show organised on the famous « Walk of Fame » on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Finally, for those of you not familiar with the Gucci family’s behind-the-scenes, we highly recommend House of Gucci, directed by Ridley Scott starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver.
After announcing that he would stop ready-to-wear in 2015, Jean Paul Gaultier decided to also leave the Haute Couture world in January 2020 with a lunar show at the Théâtre du Châtelet. The House had then announced that it would entrust its reins to a different designer every six months for Haute Couture. We know that the enfant terrible loves to create scandal, but we were very, very scared when last May, the brand’s Instagram account published a post with « The End » written on a black background. Fortunately, we quickly understood that it was rather the beginning of a new era since the brand announced in the wake of the post that it was relaunching its ready-to-wear line with a unisex and queerfriendly collection made by 5 guest designers including Nicola Lecourt-Mansion, Ottolinger and Palomo Spain.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement and the wave of rape and sexual assault reports that has (obviously) not spared the fashion industry, several of the most emblematic supermodels in the industry, such as Carré Sutton and Carla Bruni, came together last September to testify against their former agent and head of Europe for Elite Model Management, Gérald Marie. Accused of rape and sexual assault by several models, he was called to answer for his actions before the child protection unit of the Paris police. This was prompted by the chilling testimony of Carré Sutton, who revealed that she had been raped several times by Gérald Marie when she was 16 years old.
With his first project, « Montero », unveiled in September immediately topping the charts, and his collab with Jean Paul Gaultier… all of this while relentlessly breaking the codes of masculinity, Lil Nas X has definitely earned his Activist of the year award for his commitment to the LGBTQ community, presented by the Trevor Project, an organisation that aims to prevent suicides among LGBTQ people. He’s without a doubt our superhero of the year.
This year, the next generation proved that the future of French music was in safe hands with an ultra-talented young guard. One of the leaders is Crystal Murray; at only 19 years old, she founded the Spin Desire label on which she released, among other things, « GGGB », for Good Girl Gone Bad. With this track, the soul princess also proved that she knows how to surround herself by collaborating with another musical revelation that caught Mixte’s eye: Thee Dian.
With her album, « Sexy Planet », released at the end of 2020, whose tracks such as « Lune & Soleil », « Cha-Cha-Cha » and « Flash » have been on our Spotify playlists all year long, as well as several sold-out concerts, Bonnie Banane has consolidated her place in the arena of the most promising French artists. Mixte had the chance to meet this incredible artist for our anniversary issue « Liberté, Egalité, Mixité ». Read the interview here.
Selecting our favourite album this year wasn’t an easy task, but at Mixte we’re leaning towards « Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies », the 3rd studio album released in July 2021 by Swedish artist Snoh Aalegra. For the flow, the class and that badass Sade vibe that escaped no one.
« Thank you to the jury for recognising with this prize the avid and visceral need for a more fluid and inclusive world », declared Julia Ducournau in her acceptance speech after receiving the Palme d’Or in Cannes in July for her second feature film « Titanium ». The French filmmaker, fascinated by the mutation of bodies, became the second woman to win the prestigious award. The first was Jane Campion in 1993 for « The Piano Lesson ». A few months later at the Venice Film Festival in September, another woman French director, Audrey Diwan, won the most prestigious award, the Golden Lion, for her film « L’Évènement », which deals with clandestine abortion in France in the 1960s. In 2021, the French film industry seems to have finally decided to make more space in the spotlight for women director.
2021 saw the emergence of a myriad of young French actresses well determined to take French cinema by storm. Lyna Koudri, Garance Marillier, Souheila Yacoub, Agathe Rousselle… all have in common the talent, the desire to spread a feminist message and having worked with the greatest French directors of the moment.
Born into a poor family in Missouri at the beginning of the 20th century, Josephine Baker left everything behind to follow a travelling troupe and make a living from her passion, show business. When she arrived in Paris, she became a star of the Roaring Twenties, dancing, singing and leading cabaret shows. She was also an activist, working in the shadows against the Nazis during the Second World War and fighting racism with Martin Luther King. As if that were not enough, Josephine Baker adopted 12 children of different nationalities, who made up what she called her ‘rainbow tribe’. This exceptional woman definitely deserved her place in the Pantheon, where she was inducted on 30 November.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a sharp increase in anti-Asian hate crimes was observed around the world. Contrary to the George Floyd case, where the fashion industry remained silent for too long, the industry decided this time to fully get involved in the fight by speaking out against this racist injustice. In the midst of an alarming rise in anti-Asian hate crimes (particularly in the US), the #StopAsianHate movement, which was born on social media, has brought together prominent figures from the fashion industry to help fight against these racist attacks. Well-known Asian-American designers, influencers, journalists and entrepreneurs in the industry have joined the hashtag/movement in recent weeks to raise awareness of recent crimes around the world. Many of these fashion professionals have shared personal stories, but also their dismay and growing fatigue in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has unfairly reignited the flame of anti-Asian racial hatred.
A symbol of political change in Chile. The left-wing candidate, Gabriel Boric, won the second round of the presidential election on Sunday 19 December 2021, ahead of his far-right opponent, José Antonio Kast. The candidate won with a programme focused on social justice with a welfare state project giving better access to healthcare, education and the creation of a new pension system, currently entirely private. A major change of direction in this country considered to be the test bed of liberalism in Latin America and the most unequal nation in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
In early November 2021, for the first time in China, the upper levels of political power were targeted by the #MeToo movement. The 35-year-old tennis champion Peng Shuai, winner of the 2014 French Open doubles and a national celebrity, claims she was coerced into having sex with a powerful former Communist Party official she was having an affair with. Her message was quickly censored, followed by deathening silence… For three weeks, the champion disappeared from the radar, causing great concern on the international scene, then finally reappeared on the weekend of November 20 in a Beijing restaurant and during a tennis tournament organised in the Chinese capital. This story, worthy of a political thriller, is all the more relevant today as several similar cases have already been hushed up by the Chinese state in previous years.
On December 14, 2021, France became one of the latest countries to officially ban conversion therapies for LGBT+ people, thus outlawing medical practices such as electroshock therapy, forced straight pornography watching sessions or forced psych therapy… After several years of debate and back and forth between the National Assembly and the Senate, France finally joined the path of Canada, Argentina, Chile, Germany and India, with only one motto: #NothingToCure!
After more than a year and a half of imposed closure, cultural institutions reopened their doors on May 19 (a date now elevated to the rank of a new bank holidays in the hearts of many French people). On this occasion, museums, theatres, operas and other venues took it to heart to show that they were essential to everyone, with thrilling artistic programmes, such as the MAD’s spectacular exhibition on the work of designer Thierry Mugler.
Following the reopening of the cultural institutions last May, a new cultural venue had its (much) awaited inauguration: the Bourse de Commerce-Pinault Collection, in the Les Halles district of Paris. Designed by architect Tadao Ando, the building houses the art collection of French businessman François Pinault. Avant-garde feminist photographs from the 1970s, paintings by young artists such as Florian Krewer from Berlin, contemporary works whose meaning we must admit sometimes escapes us a little… this new temple of art really deserved its place in the Parisian cultural landscape.
This year, art and luxury have been taken by storm by a new technological phenomenon: NFTs. Registered in the blockchain, which guarantees their origin, the non-fungible tokens immediately attracted investors and collectors, and made a name for themselves, both at Fashion Week and at major auction houses. A collage by the artist Beeple, the first NFT to be sold by an auction house, Christie’s, fetched $69 million.
