10 Things We Loved in 2024

2024 was a year of undeniable change across the fashion and footwear landscape. Trends come and go faster than ever in this modern iteration of street culture. Still, the sartorial differences and cultural differences between the start of the decade and now are nothing short of immense — even for a “here today, gone tomorrow” climate in which trends seem to last mere weeks (if not days) before bubbling up into the ether to be replaced by whatever’s deemed as “hot” for the next three-week stretch.

That aside, more than a few landmark shifts influenced and directed the culture Hypebeast has spent almost two decades reporting on in 2024. Lagging innovation at footwear brands gave way to a renewed focus on performance products, which influenced and evolved the lifestyle footwear market. Basketball shoes, for the first time in what feels like forever became interesting again thanks to new signature lines, clever, creative designs and fantastic marketing campaigns. Fashion and entertainment became entwined in an entirely new way, and female athletes finally started to get the flowers they’ve long deserved from the fashion world, among several other goings-on, including Pharrell being literally inescapable. And the soundtrack to it all? A hyperpop album that spawned the year’s most inescapable word and influenced both behavioral and sartorial choices.

We could continue, but we’ll head right into the list mentioned in the title. Here are 10 things Hypebeast’s US editorial team loved in 2024.

Performance Becoming the New Lifestyle

Fashion enthusiasts stepped through 2024 equipped with breathable fabrics layered atop their bodies and pillow-like cushioning systems underfoot. The year saw brands like HOKA and On thrust into the limelight, and even the likes of Action Bronson entered the performance arena to shake things up.

Sportswear brands such as Nike and adidas have long embraced performance gear in a lifestyle context, however, with a greater emphasis on the latter in recent years, its competitors leapt at the opportunity to bring new energy to the functional side of the space. New Balance and ASICS chipped away at the Swoosh and Three Stripes’ lead as the two quickly emerged as new trendsetters in footwear at the turn of the decade, however, this year saw the industry reach further into its metaphorical gym bag, favoring brands that have been fixated on delivering the best performance possible.

On, having quickly established a reputation for delivering comfortable kicks with its Cloud-backed silhouettes, continued to blur the lines between fashion and performance by collaborating with LOEWE and later introducing new partners in Zendaya and POST ARCHIVE FACTION (PAF).

Meanwhile, HOKA has kept its game plan simple: make the best gear possible. Style may feel like an afterthought with many of its designs, but that’s the point: performance informs its aesthetics, not the other way around. The brand’s notable co-signs from designers like Nicole McLaughlin, paria /FARZANEH and even Junya Watanabe continue to arrive — and because of that, its reputation in fashion is shifting. Perhaps the brand has shined the brightest this year with Parisian running brand SATISFY. The two brought forth their own collaborative silhouette, the Mafate Speed 4 Lite, back in August, offering a flavorful balance of cutting-edge performance and style. That overarching ethos won Hoka the coveted “Footwear Brand of the Year” awards for the Hypeawards as well.

The continuation of partnerships between fashion labels and sportswear brands provided additional opportunities to tap into this. MM6 Maison Margiela and Salomon also dropped new footwear with a pinch of apparel. Jacquemus and Nike explored new themes while Cecilie Bahnsen and ASICS stuck to their tried and true formula of applying flowers across the brand’s popular runners. Whether you’re a marathon runner looking to integrate your favorite gear into everyday life or someone just looking to keep your feet comfortable, there’s never been a better time to bring performance wear into your wardrobe.

Female Athletes Getting Fashion’s Flowers

Brandon Todd/Getty Images

This year, the spotlight on female athletes extended far beyond three-point lines and starting marks in a watershed moment that finally centered today’s most athletic women in fashion’s conversation. While style and athleticism converged at unprecedented levels this year (performance is the new lifestyle, after all), sportswomen earned blockbuster collaborations, starry campaigns, runway appearances, luxe editorials and Met Gala invites that were long overdue.

Among them, Caitlin Clark, the cultural phenomenon and No. 1 pick by the Indiana Fever, made history as the first athlete ever to be dressed by Prada for either the WNBA or NBA draft. And later on, the record-breaking player appeared in Louis Vuitton for her first professional press conference before securing a massive deal with Nike that’s reportedly worth $28 million USD.

Meanwhile, Angel Reese, this year’s No. 7 pick by the Chicago Sky, declared her entrance into the WNBA draft in a fashion editorial with Vogue, following in the footsteps of Serena Williams, who announced her retirement through the legacy fashion publication two years ago (and also walked the Vogue World runway alongside her sister, Venus, this year, too). Reese’s strategic move positioned her as a style-conscious athlete, a brand image that was bolstered by her Bronx and Banco draft look, and ultimately earned her an invitation to this year’s Met Gala, where she wore a custom 16Arlington dress.

World-record-breaking track star Sha’Carri Richardson played a starring role in the viral Nike x Jacquemus campaign, rope-slamming her own braids with her distinctive acrylic nails while sporting the collaboration’s key pieces. US Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles opened Kim Shui’s New York Fashion Week runway show. Yoon Ahn celebrated Naomi Osaka’s return to the tennis court this year with a head-turning Nike collaboration. WNBA stars including Candace Parker, Cameron Brink, and DiJonai Carrington starred in a SKIMS advertorial. Off-White™ became the official style and culture curator for the New York Liberty. Chinese tennis player Qinwen Zheng became the first athlete, male or female, to cover Vogue China. And Dior named 15 female athletes, including Elaine Thompson-Herah, Alex Morgan and Carissa Moore, official brand ambassadors.

As female athletes continue to dominate the cultural zeitgeist, fashion brands will only continue to decorate them with their flowers. At long last, the sportswoman is a style star, too.

The Power of Pharrell

Focus Features

Pharrell was one of the most frequently spotted faces across 2024’s cultural zeitgeist. Be it producing a track or parking his CyberTruck in Miami, rarely a week went by without some form of Skateboard P headline. An embodiment of what it means to be a 21st-century Renaissance Man, Pharrell, instead of wasting any time, strategically split it up, pouring his efforts into projects in the music, film, fashion and design spaces.

After being appointed to NIGO’s HUMAN MADE as the “Official Advisor,” he kicked off the year with a bang via his third collection as Louis Vuitton’s Creative Director. Marking the first official show of the Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2024 schedule, Pharrell waxed poetic on Americana aesthetics and Western-influenced workwear, outfitting the modern-day LVER: which, under his reign, has expanded to include the younger, more streetwear-tapped consumer. A compilation of cowboy-coded clothing, accessories crafted alongside artists from the Dakota and Lakota nations, and footwear, the latter of which was led by the label’s debut Timberland collaboration, people either really loved it or really didn’t – but either way, they vocalized it. A multi-media spectacle of what Pharrell is capable of – a merging of original music with, fashion, footwear and design – the showcase set the stage for the rest of his monumental 2024.

Gaining momentum from the Parisian showcase, P made major waves once again with a Tyler, The Creator-curated LV collection, which landed for purchase in March and was named Hypebeast’s top fashion collaboration of the year in December. Follow-up collections landed in April for Pre-Fall 2024 and another striking Spring/Summer 2025 runway show in June held at La Maison de l’UNESCO and curated in collaboration with Air Afrique. He even got to carry the Olympic tou

Departing from the fashion front, Pharrell reminded us where his roots lie, dropping off “Doctor (Work It Out)” with Miley Cyrus from the FW24 runway and quietly revealing his first full-length project in a decade back in April, Black Yacht Rock, Vol. 1: City of Limitless Access. The ten-track album made way for Pharrell’s sonic-heavy summer, with music playing a key part in his animated LEGO Piece by Piece biopic, equipped with cameos from Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Snoop Dogg, Daft Punk and more.

In the same vein, Pharrell also debuted his first-ever LEGO collaboration, consisting of an “Over The Moon” LEGO space set and an immersive creative experience in Los Angeles.

Even after the Piece by Piece press tour wrapped and the year now comes to a close, Pharrell has found himself in two more figurehead positions as Met Gala Co-Chair and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

Charli xcx’s BRAT, the Year-Defining Green Album

Albany Times Union/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

In a matter of months, British pop star Charli xcx went from relative obscurity to captivating the world with her infectious club-inspired album BRAT. From the now-ubiquitous “Apple” TikTok dance to the ripple effect of her “Kamala is brat” X post, the cultural footprint of BRAT is undeniable. In November, BRAT racked up an impressive seven Grammy nominations including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. Come December, the record became 2024’s most critically acclaimed album (according to Metacritic) and the title itself was declared word-of-the-year by Collins Dictionary. If one examines the broader cultural landscape, it’s easy to see that BRAT’s unapologetically messy and expressive ethos was just what people have been craving.

In an era of music dominated by Taylor Swift, it’s worth considering that perhaps Charli xcx offered the perfect counterstatement. In recent years, Swift has come to define the epitome of commercial success, while Charli has been relegated to the hyperpop niche. Swift represents the American ideal with her country roots, while Charli is the English “Party Girl” whose stomping ground was in the London rave scene.

As early as 2022, terms like “indie sleaze,” “blog house” and “recession-pop” signaled a nostalgia for the messy and carefree attitude of early ’00s party culture — the exact era where Charli found her feet. These post-pandemic trends showed that young people were beginning to rebel against the neutral minimalism and “clean” aesthetics imposed by fashion brands and social media trends. And what better represents this shift than the album’s slime-green cover and blunt title?

One also can’t forget that the world only recently emerged from a pandemic and is still recovering from the subsequent economic fallout. After all, wasn’t it in the aftermath of 2008’s Great Recession that hedonistic club tracks like Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” and the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Got a Feeling” topped the Billboard Hot 100? In times of economic distress, the dancefloor has become a reliable therapy for the anxious masses.

Furthermore, Charli’s simple choice of a solid green background and the isolated sans-serif title, recalls the era-defining album from another iconic English act. Named for its plain white cover decorated with nothing more than the band’s name, the progressive content of the Beatles’ White Album inspired Joan Didion’s famous collection of essays that recounted the turbulent 1960s. Now, in the thick of a decade faced with similar social challenges, Collins Dictionary’s 2024 redefinition of Brat reflects the subversive and fearless pursuits of a new generation: Brat (adjective) – “characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.”

Brick and Mortar Retail Revival

Ven.space

Though shopping, at its core, is a simple action that involves exchanging money for a product, everything around that action took center stage in 2024. Fashion-conscious consumers tired of the endless, entirely impersonal churn-and-burn of online shopping showed that they’d been craving real, tangible IRL experiences throughout 2024 — and thankfully, brands and retailers big and small alike rose to the occasion. “Online retail is all about convenience, whereas in-store shopping is about the experience,” NN.07’s Justin Berkowitz told the New York Times in October.

And that experience was displayed across various mediums, from small neighborhood boutiques to sprawling flagships from some of the world’s biggest and most noteworthy retailers. Brooklyn’s Ven Space has quickly become one of the buzziest names in the world of fashion for both its tasteful assortment (offerings range from The Row and Auralee to Stüssy Archive) and hands-on, personal service that offers customers something online retail simply can’t: the joy of in-person discovery. At the same time, spots like Million Goods combine curated brand offerings with drinks and hi-fi sound systems, serving up retail and lifestyle all under one roof. Several retailers are even doubling down on the power and impact of the in-person shopping experience by refusing to maintain an online storefront (Ven Space is among the IRL-only numbers), and the practice of “showrooming,” or browsing the shelves of a store only to head online and attempt to purchase whatever you discover at a discount from a larger retailer has been firmly established as cultural taboo.

It’s not just the indie stores helping reimagine what retail can be in 2024 either. Arc’Teryx flung open the doors to its SoHo, New York flagship store this year, a 14,000 square foot colossus that’s equal parts pinnacle brand statement and indoctrination into the company’s outdoor-focused mindset. Besides every shell jacket and sleek Veilence shirt you can imagine, there’s a theater, cafe, and even a bottom floor largely dedicated to secondhand garments and garment repair, dubbed the “Service Center.” On the high-fashion front, Luisaviaroma opened its own 13,000-square-foot flagship store in New York’s NoLita neighborhood, driven by the belief that the high-end labels it stocks need to be felt and experienced in person. There’s a laundry list of other openings or expansions you’ll find if you dig through news releases, social media blasts and more thorough the year.

All that’s to say, the increased desire to get out from behind the screen, get out in the streets and get tangible experiences has led to a boom of retail creativity and expansion. And as great as an Internet community or online shopping can be, there’s no replacing the feeling of an IRL collection, or of coming across the perfect piece in person.

Pants Getting Bigger Than Ever

Dickes/Neighborhood

Pants, and bottoms more broadly, have occupied a central position in the trend cycle for the last century. Modern fashion trends, driven by shifting social conditions, are traditionally understood to swing on a pendulum. As new styles diffuse into mass acceptance, style innovators and early adopters have historically moved in the opposite direction.

Mass brands like Levi’s and J.Crew are back to pushing wider styles in a drastic departure from the 2000s when skinny jeans came into favor. By the early 2010s brands like ASOS began marketing men’s skinny jeans as “spray-on,” perhaps marking the final limits of the style. In the 2020s, a decade where wide-legged pants have come back into mass acceptance, the industry innovators continue charging forth with bigger and bigger pants — and in 2024, the pants were bigger, baggier and bolder than ever before.

Willy Chavarria, one of the contemporary purveyors of oversized pants, was named as the CFDA’s 2024 Menswear Designer of the Year. However, it’s important to note that Chavarria is not in the business of trends. The Mexican-American designers collections are deeply inspired by his heritage, reflecting on aesthetics pioneered by the Californian Chicano community. As early as the 1940s the “Zoot Suit” characterized by its oversized high waisted pants were a symbol of resistance among Chicano, Black and Asian American communities.

Baggy bottoms have also made their way into fashion from the Pacific, as Japanese fashion increasingly influences Western culture. Wide-legged Japanese pant styles go far beyond the industrial fashion cycle, originating in ancient times when styles like ‘Hakama’ pants were worn by Samurai and noblemen. Echoes of these roots can be found in pants from Japanese labels like Yohji Yamamoto, Needles, Jun Takahashi’s Undercover and more.

The major return of wide-legged pants represents a world more connected than ever before and also signals a shift towards comfort-centric dressing. One can’t deny that the swift breeze and wide range of motion offered by baggy pants are preferable to the restrictive suffocation of “spray on” skinny jeans.

Big pants also take form in many shapes and sizes: cargos, carpenters, sweats, military uniforms, and pleated trousers, to name a few. These diverse styles and details have historically served a certain functionality that skinny silhouettes simply can’t attest to.

Ultimately, the pendulum dynamic is not unique to fashion. It seems to be a modern tendency for subcultures and youths to challenge the status quo through processes of negation. As soon as nonconformist ideas are subsumed by the establishment, the disruptors and the rebels push back again in contradiction. Perhaps skinny-fit will find favor again in the future, but if 2024 says anything, bigger pants may have a leg up for a while longer.

The Pinnacle of Fashiontainment

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In 2024, fashion, like a good movie, was often best enjoyed with a bucket of popcorn.

The fashion world — its runway shows, creative director switch-ups, big-name collaborations and fiery online discourse — is an entertainment enterprise in its own right. But in 2024, the universes of style and blockbuster truly became one, in a blend of Hollywood and catwalk that birthed a flashy new buzzword used fondly by style editors: fashiontainment.

Take a look at September’s New York Fashion Week for proof: Ralph Lauren kicked things off by bussing showgoers out to the Hamptons for a one-night-only runway spectacle that included a full-blown hospitality experience with a faithful recreation of the designer’s Polo Bar in Manhattan. Then, the CFDA partnered with Rockefeller Center to put up a 14-by-22-foot screen in the center of its ice rink, where New Yorkers could congregate to watch all of the American fashion week’s antics. In that same location, Raul Lopez staged one of the event’s biggest shows for his brand Luar, which was attended by the likes of Madonna and Ice Spice and concluded with a huge performance from Bad Gyal under 30 Rock.

Meanwhile, on Wall Street, bright lights flashed on Latin Grammy-nominated artists Yahritza Y Su Esencia, who performed a heartwarming cover of the 1984 classic “Querida” by Juan Gabriel before Willy Chavarria’s catwalk; and on the decommissioned Staten Island Ferry, Wu-Tang Clan members Ghostface Killah, Method Man, and Raekwon attracted a sea of iPhones while closing out Tommy Hilfiger’s water-riding Spring 2025 show.

That was all before fashion showgoers traveled abroad for spectacles like Coperni’s magical Disneyland Paris runway, where the likes of Kylie Jenner took late-night rides on Space Mountain, or Moncler’s humungous Genius show in Shanghai, which was attended by 8,000 (shrieking) guests and divided into 10 ultra-creative “neighborhoods” designed by Edward Enniful, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Lulu Li, NIGO, Palm Angels, A$AP Rocky, Willow Smith, Donald Glover, Rick Owens and Jil Sander.

The point here is that the fashion establishment has largely transcended age-old runway formats and swapped in multi-pronged, big-budget entertainment spectacles in their places — and much of the above was extremely exciting to watch. As we ascend to fashiontainment’s peak, the concept has trickled off the runway and onto Hollywood’s biggest red carpets, too.

This year, it practically became a requirement for actors and actresses to promote their films while wearing high-fashion looks connected to their characters in one way or another. For Dune 2’s global premieres, Law Roach dressed Zendaya in a bounty of brilliant, film-inspired ensembles, including, most notably, Mugler’s Fall 1996 “Gynoid” suit; and for Wicked’s box-office arrival, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were never seen out of their respective pink and green uniforms made by the likes of Louis Vuitton, Thom Browne and more. For Beetlejuice, Jenna Ortega’s stylist Enrique Melendez commissioned several custom, shadowy pieces from brands like Vivienne Westwood, and Timothee Chalamet just finished recreating some of Bob Dylan’s most iconic looks while promoting the legendary artist’s new biopic, A Complete Unknown.

At all of this year’s cultural touchpoints — be that the fashion-filled opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics or Charli XCX and Troye Sivan’s SWEAT tour — style became a central focal point of the conversation.

Adventurous Eyewear

Gentle Monster

2024 was the year in which your eyewear of choice became just as important as your footwear of choice. Transcending beyond just a topical accessory, glasses of all kinds took impressive about-face and evolved into a world of their own – one in which the rules are a bit more bendable. Futuristic and functional, defined by their oversized frames and bold lensing, eyewear turned to 3025 for design inspiration, envisioning an entirely new realm of influence for the accessory.

Brands debuted, revived and significantly locked in on their eyewear sectors with first-time forays into the field coming from JW Anderson and A.P.C as well as the revival of Tag Heuer’s eyewear line. Though two labels in particular played a key part in pushing the needle on the eyewear space.

One of those labels was Oakley, who took things to a whole new level in 2024, establishing a prominent presence in evolving the eyewear space early on in the year. Its January Lunar New Year capsule and follow-up Performance Line hinted at the future-facing design approach that the legacy eyewear imprint would bring to the year, evident in in-line ranges entitled “Inner Spark” and “Future Genesis” as well as the expansion of its “Latch Panel” collection.

Oakley furthered its grip on the glasses market with smart collaborations with a lineup of contributors including G DLP, Pas Normal Studios, Piet, Bodega and SATISFY. Its unwavering presence at the Paris Olympics arrived in the form of both eyewear and apparel, ultimately solidifying its cultural relevance.

The other was Gentle Monster who, offering up an impressive array of both in-line and collaborative releases. Most notably, the Seoul-based brand linked up with the likes of Maison Margiela, Mugler and Tekken – each one more inventive than the last.

Big-name fashion outfitters like Nike, Supreme and Stüssy all sharpened their eyewear visions, each leaning into larger than life frames. District Vision also went big on its eyewear, crafting a pair of $635 USD Yusuke Alpine Blade Ti Performance Sunglasses with 2XU and teaming up with POST ARCHIVE FACTION (PAF) on an entire capsule of athletic eyewear.

New Life for Basketball Shoes

Adidas

Basketball shoes are the backbone of sneaker culture. Everything from the Air Jordan 1 to the original Converse Chuck Taylors have played a key role in shaping the modern-day footwear landscape. However, amidst the staleness in the sneaker scene that has permeated the past few years, it felt as if we were just getting more of the same. Up-and-comers like Luka Dončić and Trae Young had new signature shoe lines but weren’t bringing anything fresh to the table. Meanwhile, the classic Air Jordan line found itself almost entirely reliant on retro silhouettes and tired storytelling that wasn’t connecting with a new generation of consumer. Thankfully, just about every relevant performance brand has brought positive momentum to the table in 2024, and the conversation has shifted. Finally, it’s exciting to wear — and, from our standpoint to write about basketball — shoes again.

We investigated this resurgence back in March, unpacking why the scene was poised for a major year, and brands still managed to exceed expectations. Anthony Edwards’ debut of his adidas AE1 was declared a hit early in 2024, but to see him carry this momentum throughout the year, in part thanks to the introduction of its low-top version, was extremely impressive. Devin Booker found similar success, albeit with less swagger, as the Nike BOOK 1 has taken on countless colorways in its first year on the market. Chinese brands like Rigorer and ANTA began to blossom as they saw Austin Reaves introduce his second signature shoe and Kyrie Irving’s new line develop into an emerging empire. As expected, the continued rollout of returning silhouettes from the Nike Kobe line has seen pairs fly off of shelves one after another.

What’s more is that there’s even more to be excited about heading into 2025. WNBA athletes made more noise this year with sneakers like the Nike Sabrina 2 being embraced by hoopers as one of the best performing models. But with debut signature shoes from Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson and Angel Reese all coming in the next two years, it’s safe to say that this portion of the market will only grow from here. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is another athlete who will be dropping his own signature shoe — with Converse — in 2025 while Tyrese Haliburton and Salehe Bembury are going to bring new energy to the PUMA Hoops squad. The future is bright for basketball sneakers, and when basketball sneakers are good it’s greater for the creativity of the larger market in general.

A Championship Year for Football Style

C.p. Company

“Blokecore” isn’t a 2024 term. It’s a saying with its roots in 2022 — the year when it seemed simply everything needed “core” slapped at the end of it as a descriptor — that loosely encapsulates a look inspired by British football (or soccer, if you’d prefer) fans. Though at the time it meant little more than someone who liked vintage football shirts, baggy pants and football-influenced shoes like adidas Sambas, plus a little Stone Island or C.P. Company to boot, 2024 was the year that it transcended into the mainstream lexicon.

Football and fashion have always gone hand in hand. You need look no further than British terrace or Italian ultra culture to understand that. (There’d be no “blokecore” without those movements too). However, that handshake between sartorial subculture and sport became a fusion of two beings into one this year, thanks to direct club-and-brand partnerships, successful tournaments, plenty of high-heat drops and more.

From a very literal standpoint, clubs directly acknowledged the brands popular among their supporters in a way that they never had before, and these brands tapped into the clubs’ striking iconography for both tributes and modern reinterpritations. Manchester City and C.P. Company’s FW24 campaign spotlighted some of City’s biggest stars like Phil Foden, Nathan Aké and Jérémy Doku. Y-3 and Real Madrid created both a travel collection and striking matchwear. The longstanding partnership between Off-White™ and AC Milan, arguably the genesis of the current collaborative market, created a capsule for AC Milan’s 125th anniversary. Even the Gunners got in on the fun: with Arsenal linked with LABRUM on kits, inspired one of the brand’s collections and even joined forces with Aries for the club’s first “streetwear” collection. That’s not even mentioning the flat-out great kits that Y-3 created for Japan’s national football federation.

And it would be remiss to not mention the impact of Lionel Messi’s year — as his career draws to a close — and therefore, its aesthetic. The Copa America, captured by Messi’s Argentina squad, brought a wealth of eyeballs, as did the UEFA European Championship, and Messi was the face of several projects that included a adidas collaboration with Bad Bunny. It was a banner year for football style, and with the next World Cup right around the corner in 2026 there’s no reason to think that the next few years will be any different.