Dear Readers,
Welcome to the 2008 Stylies Awards, the Fashion Awards for a new millennium, our primal scream at the glamour scene, celebrating the Best and Brightest in the Stylish Universe for the past year.

In 2008, we experienced a vast crescendo, waves upon waves — there he goes, there goes Speed Racer  — of trends, styles, ideas, models, designs and designers inundating us at a fast and furious pace. It was difficult to keep up, but we Aced the test, because fashion is our passion. Woooo.

Best Fashion Blog

Hit us with your Fab stick baby on this all-important category. Ohhhhh mama, don’t let your Fashionistas grow up to be bloggers. )))) With more than a thousand fashion blogs styling their way across the electromagnetic spectrum, how can anyone in their right mind, single out one blog for high praise indeed.  But with the gun pointed at our heads, the clock ticking down, and the sweat trickles threatening to drip down and ruin our mascara…

We selected the Red Carpet Fashion Awards, because of their encyclopedic ability to id almost every red carpet gown, shoes, jewelry, and  bags imaginable. Meooow, yeoow, it’s just phenomenal their knowledge of the latest trends, styles, designers and the Celebs wearing their creations. So, they win, take a bow. Applause, applause, applause.

Model Of The Year

That girl, the one, the only, the sensual, suave, and scintillating Natasha Poly. Our favorite ingénue from the big land down east, Russia, appeared on fashion covers left, right, and center, did tons of ad campaigns, and left us with a great warm tingly feeling inside, wanting more, more, and more — that’s how we like it –  of her.

Blumarine Fall/Winter ‘09 ad campaign, Vogue France June/July 2008

The Most Controversial Fashion Ad Of The Year

Fashion obsession, no aesthetic repression, but hands down it was Marc by Marc Jacobs, which featured a man in woman’s wear. We were moved like Mount St Helens before it erupted, ohhh, our souls were possessed by the Fashion Beast himself, Jacobs. We now ask to be purified…

Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall/Winter 2008-2009 ad campaign

Most Controversial Fashion Shoot

Some would say, the less said about fashion’s answer to soft porn, Dogging by Steven Meisel, the better. Others embraced his free wheeling exposition of sex done the chthonic way, open to all the pervy peepers out there, soothing their naughty thrills back to nature style. Well, it stood out, in a year replete with any and all controversial fashion shoots.

V #56 November/December 2008

Sexiest Model of the Year

Doutzen Kroes, whose mere presence electrifies our decadence, is the people’s choice as the sexiest model of the year. Take a bow, honey child, because you light any wardrobe on fire.

Doutzen Kroes

Fashion Editor of the Year

Carine Roitfeld, because she produces the sexiest fashion editorials with a touch of Frenchness. We have no idea what that means, but oooo la la la, it sounds good, mes amis.

Carine Roitfeld

Best Magazine Issue of the Year

The Vogue Italy Black Issue, was a huge hit, as it reached a grand audience, selling out all around the planet, but mainly it was a quantum leap forward in fashion, a barrier breaker extraordinaire, where racism still rules the roost.

Vogue Italy July 2008 issue

Hottest Shoes of the Year

The Killer Heels, aka YSL tribute pumps, were seen everywhere, and no outfit was  considered complete without them. Everyone and we mean everyone, stepped out in these shoes that left our knees knocking and our hips rocking.

Christina Aguilera, Brandy, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Jennifer Lopez

Best Cover of the Year

Dazed & Confused October 2008 : Abbey Lee Kershaw by Nick Knight

We Fashionistas gone wild child, took this cover to the style hoop, slam dunked it… and1. Grace before space, we loved it, loved it, loved it, screaming out in feverish delight, sashaying to its fashionable beat.

Covergirl of the year

Ring our bell…ell…ell, ring our bell: Kate Moss rang our fashion bell in a mucho way by gracing the covers of UK’s Vogue three times in the past year, Vogue Paris, twice, as well as Vogue Spain, US, Japan, China, etc., etc., and landing cover gigs with Interview, and Purple Fashion. She was on fire, in a good way. Editors loved her, and so did we.

Kate Moss

Most Fashionable Politically Related

Michelle Obama. You can’t stop Michelle Obama, riding the couture choo choo straight from Chi Town on to the White House, you can only hope to contain the First Lady of Fab. She is America’s new style icon, who inspires designers, stylists and people
with her sleek stylings and glam goodness.

Stylish Collaboration of the year

Rei Kawakubo for H&M sparked a huge hysteria with crowds invading H&M shops all over the world, in a throbbing animalistic fashion buying frenzy, that could not be stopped.

Comme des Garsons line for H&M

Worst Vogue cover

The  November issue with Jennifer Aniston. It was cheap, unfathomable, and so un-Vogue-ish. Sell outs, and not even in a stylish way. )))

Vogue November 2008

Best Designer of the Year
Givenchy! Ricardo Tisci has rejuvenated a house that was on the verge of barely making the radar in the fashion world. Before he came along the house was asleep and he woke it right back up! We grew up in the Courtney Love grunge era and Givenchy is the perfect upgrade for rock and roll couture.

Givenchy S/S ’09 show

Best Emerging Designer
Its a tie!!! Erdem & Nicholas Kirkwood.

Erdem is highly underrated but we have a feeling this won’t last long. His use of the most beautiful water colored prints and gorgeous silhouettes are enough for us.

Erdem S/S ’09 show

Nicholas Kirkwood is EVERYTHING we want in a shoe. Although many people have
an affinity for Louboutin we can find the shoes, at times, boring and predictable. We find Louboutin is the shoe of choice for those who let fashion magazines and celebrities dictate what goes in their wardrobe. (eek! Please forgive us Shoe gods!) Nicholas Kirkwood is truly a fashion shoe and we love the directional aesthetic of the brand. Each shoe is a piece of art in itself.

Nicholas Kirkwood Shoes Collection for Autumn/Winter 2008

The best fashion show of the year
Balenciaga…always a favorite and quite possibly the love of our life! The show was wickedly futuristic and minimal at the same time. Balenciaga pushes boundaries many designers ignore. It is again not a brand for mainstream tastes, but we’d like to think his fundamental concepts could trickle down into the highstreet whether it be his use of texture or the silhouettes. Balenciaga is the future of fashion!

Balenciaga S/S 09 show

Image sources: Style.com, Wireimage, TFS, Getty, Mixx.com, Style Drama,

Special thanks to ALEXANDRA IANCOVICI