The 10 Gutsiest Fashion Risk Takers Of 2012

This is not entirely about fashion victims and those skewered by Joan Rivers in her show Fashion Police. Though there maybe one or two or five of those.

This story is more about individuals whose sartorial choices pushed the limits of conventional dressing. Men and women whose styles take mega doses of confidence and guts to pull off.

The model Anja Rubik literally showed her guts and more in an Anthony Vacarello dress at the Costume Institute gala for the Schiaparelli and Prada exhibit. The dress had a super high slit that ran all the way up to the model’s pelvic bone and it also boasted a diagonal slash across the bodice revealing more skin. As you moved your eyes from up to down, the dress looked like it was in various states of dishabille — exposed shoulder, exposed midriff, expose hips.

Marc Jacobs, at the same event, showed lots of skin too and his preferred underwear. He wore a sheer black lace dress from Comme des Garcons that exposed everything including his white boxer shorts. This derring-do later earned an homage and punch lines from Seth Meyers at the CFDA awards.

Michelle Harper seems to be taking on the role of Isabella Blow’s successor with her one of a kind outfits that are mash ups of Lady Gaga’s and Anna dello Russo’s closets — donning a wild hat here, sporting a frothy navel-grazing gown there.

At the MTV European Music Awards, Heidi Klum was also in a body-exposing mood. Like Rubik she wore a dress that showed boobs, ribs and legs all at the same time with complete abandon for the fashion rule to show only one body part at a time.

Sienna Miller channeled Gwyneth Paltrow when she showed up at the Hamptons International Film Festival in a dress and cape that looked suspiciously like Paltrow’s Tom Ford Oscars gown. It was by a designer called Alessandra Rich. It takes balls to wear a derivative of something that’s been hailed as the best red carpet look of 2012.

At the Emmy Awards, Julianne Moore won style points from fashion followers with her punchy yellow long sleeve Dior Haute Couture gown. However, many thought that it was a bit much. I thought it was beyond chic. Tilda Swinton is also quite the polarizing fashion icon. You either love or hate her. At the Time 100 Gala, she wore a light-colored tailored Celine jumpsuit. A jumpsuit alone is already quite the sartorial feat, imagine doing it in white.

Robert Pattinson borrowed from Andrew Garfield and Ryan Gosling’s style playbook by wearing a suit that’s not black or navy on the red carpet. The Twilight actor wore a dark green Gucci suit for his movie’s premiere night in Los Angeles. Because the suit is tailored to his physique, he comes off looking young and modern.

And of course no gutsy fashion risk-taker is complete without Kanye who’s been sporting skirts of late. True, men in skirts is hardly new but somehow Kanye has a way of wearing them that makes skirts fashion breaking news. And judging by the fashion blogs, expect to see many young men attempting the look in 2013.