The Most Iconic Runway Looks From the Last 20 Years

For 20 years, Who What Wear has been watching and reporting on the ways that fashion changes in real time. To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we’re looking back at some of the runway moments that didn’t just reflect their time but helped define it. We did some serious digging to track down and acquire the iconic runway pieces you’re about to see, then brought them back to life in this nostalgic shoot. From Nicolas Ghesquière’s early Balenciaga to Phoebe Philo’s Celine, Alessandro Michele’s Gucci, and Daniel Lee’s Bottega Veneta, these are the collections that, even after two decades, we’re still talking about today, and we can’t wait to walk you through them.

More than 20 years later, this Nicolas Ghesquière collection for Balenciaga still feels remarkably modern. Instead of simply re-creating Cristóbal Balenciaga’s iconic designs, Ghesquière studied the house’s archives and warped its signature designs into something quite new, playing with proportions through exaggerated hats, peplums, and jackets. Long before Balenciaga became synonymous with celebrity dressing and pop culture, Ghesquière’s version was the uniform of the fashion insider, making the house a favorite among the industry’s most esteemed dressers.

This collection is a quintessential example of Miuccia Prada taking something traditional and making it feel completely new. She played with off-kilter proportions and unexpected warm fall colors for spring and, most memorably, styled nearly every look with a silk turban that felt vaguely ’40s yet impossible to place in any particular era. The result is a collection instantly recognizable for its styling alone, so much so that Marc Jacobs recently referenced it in his spring 2027 show notes.