Everyone’s a Fashion Critic: Here Are the Winners of Vogue’s Forces of Fashion Review Writing Master Class

Sometimes you love a runway show, and sometimes you don’t: We all have opinions about what we see, whether we’re sitting in the front row or scrolling through the new Vogue app. At Forces of Fashion earlier this week, the Vogue Runway team hosted a Write the Review workshop in which select attendees were invited to share those opinions. The assignment: choose between the spring 2025 shows of Tory Burch, Burberry, Prada, and Saint Laurent, and do like the Vogue Runway reviewers do. These are our winners, one for each of the four shows, with a bonus honorable mention.

Saint Laurent spring 2025, reviewed by Veronika Gubina

Anthony Vaccarello’s new women’s collection seamlessly picks up on the theme of his March men’s show. It seems natural due to the original gender fluidity that’s a key element of the brand’s DNA, etched in fashion history by the iconic Le Smoking. But for next spring, Vacarello shifts the focus, evolving the men’s suit on women’s shoulders from evening tuxedo to business uniforms.

The inspiration draws from the style of Yves Saint Laurent himself in the late ’70s and early ’80s, immortalized with square shoulders, wide-leg trousers, and oversized thick eyeglasses. On the mood board also are a freshly starched Richard Gere in American Gigolo and the iconic Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, who totally nailed 1980s businessman style. Bateman’s image of a wealthy, narcissistic Manhattan investment banker became the epitome of 1980s corporate America style. Vaccarello reimagines it, transforming corporate Manhattan into “Womanhattan.” At the center is a heroine in a classic charcoal double-breasted jacket with exaggerated shoulders, large notch lapels and the low button stance, emphasizing form-fitting silhouettes and extreme proportions. Vaccarello conveys that this impeccable masculine tailoring, a symbol of control and power, is now being passed on to women—what needs to happen everywhere for a better future.

Wide-shouldered suits alone aren’t sufficient. Vaccarello takes it to new heights by layering even wider-shouldered trench coats and aviator jackets over them. While such an approach risks resulting in a heavy, flat look, he skillfully balances it by using neutral tones from office elevators or occasionally opts for a monochromatic palette—think elegant beige from head to toe. Another way is to merge artfully through gradients of light to rich shades, such as platinum to basalt, sand to ochre, or olive to patina.