Who were the best dressed people of 2024?

This year was packed with highlights for the fashion industry.

But between big moments like John Galliano's dolls, Charli XCX's brat summer and Zendaya's red carpet appearances, who managed to stand out in 2024?

Today on Commotion, fashion writers Danya Issawi, Joan Summers and Gianluca Russo look back on the year in fashion, and share their favourite moments both on and off the runway.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: OK. I want to talk real quick about the best-dressed people of the year. Joan, I'm going to start with you on this one because Zendaya had some significant red carpet moments  for Dune: Part Two, and then also her moment for Challengers. What were the highlights for Zendaya this year?

Joan: I mean, the iconic suit of armor, I think, was the spectacular moment that shook the fashion world, that moment on the Dune press tour courtesy of Law Roach. It's one of those moments where that suit of armor, the Mugler bodysuit, is something that historically doesn't fit anybody. It barely fit the models at the time, and it certainly has not fit anyone since. It has not been worn many times in public. The fact that it fit her at all, and then also it was for this massive press tour, I think is a huge moment. She also had the Challengers press tour. She had the tennis ball heels. She had the tennis skirts…. The real fashion girlies will remember the Tumblr fashion core of the tennis outfits, predicting tennis being a big moment in the new decade, and we saw that with Challengers, I think.

I think in this year, specifically, with Zendaya, we've seen these two power players in the fashion world. We have Law Roach representing classic Hollywood glamor, really elevating the game out in L.A. And then we have Dara Allen in New York really elevating these alternative cool girl aesthetics through people like Addison Rae or Interview magazine's overall fashion direction. We have this really interesting dichotomy right now amongst the styling elite, so to speak, or at least the people that the everyday people in the world might be talking about their clothes and what they're putting on their clients.

Elamin: Danya, in your end of year round-up for The Cut, you called Bella Hadid "fashion's North Star." You wrote about her political fashion moment at Cannes. Do you want to talk a little about that? Because I think many people didn't get a chance to catch that one.

Danya: Totally. I mean, you put something on Bella Hadid, the girls are immediately drawn to what she's wearing. She is a natural trendsetter, and she doesn't work with a stylist. She styles herself, which I think is very rare in today's celebrity culture and very refreshing. And at Cannes, she stepped out in a dress that people colloquially called a "keffiyeh dress." It was made by these designers, Michael and Hushi, in 2001, and it was made with Palestinian fabrics. Bella Hadid is Palestinian, and I think in the past year, we've seen so much silence from the fashion industry, even though there are designers running their businesses out of the West Bank. There are weavers and artisans in Gaza. The fashion industry is not exactly one to talk about human rights because— you know, Joan is talking about fast fashion. That's a huge stain on human rights. People are being exploited in the fashion industry.

I think people forget that fashion is political. I think that Bella Hadid moment at Cannes was a prime example of that. She wore something that was of her culture, of the moment, to shed light on something she felt is important, which is the bombardment of Gaza right now. And people talking about her outfit got people to talk about Gaza as well, which I think has, unfortunately in the Western world, kind of become in the background of so much of what we do. We need people like Bella Hadid in industries that seem as frivolous as fashion to keep bringing it back to the forefront. I think it was a really powerful, beautiful moment this year.

Elamin: It was also, I think, an instructive moment for anyone who thinks of fashion as frivolous, where one look and one picture can force the conversation in a way that a lot of other gestures really can't.

Gianluca when you think about this year, who was your red carpet hero for the year?

Gianluca: OK. I feel like my answer's more frivolous than Danya's, but I'm gonna give it anyway: I'm a musical theatre girl at heart. When I knew the Wicked press tour was coming, I said, "That's going to be it for me," and it was…. It was the details for me. It was the styling. Specifically Cynthia's styling of every garment — so much detail down to the nails, the jewelry, makeup, everything so particular.

Anyone can wear a beautiful gown, right? The way you style something and make it so personal, that's what gets to me. Ariana, always beautiful. But Cynthia in particular is just so specific, so personal; you understand exactly who she is by just looking at the way she showed up on every red carpet, and I think it was beautiful.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jane van Koeverden.