There’s always a bit of a polarity at work in fashion: Call it business versus pleasure, commerce versus art. Right now, designers are occupied both with the idea of creating great classics—so-called investment pieces like camel-hair coats and well-cut blazers that promise shelf lives beyond one full revolution of the Earth—and with creating the things that make this world so exciting, that enable moments of great eccentricity and self-expression. There’s fur sprouting from collars, hips, and even the tops of our feet. There are chunky thigh-high tights and one glorious scarlet cape that transforms with the weather and the wind.

In this issue, we take a look at the clothes that walked the runway and also at a collection of people who use clothes to define who they are—which, let’s face it, we all do to some extent, even if that means choosing a discreet uniform over something devised to get noticed. Almost all of the subjects in the following pages can be described as fashion eccentrics. There’s very little that’s discreet about Daphne Guinness or Johnny Weir. Neither shies away from the extreme—Hey, Daphne, what happened to your shoes?—and in Weir’s case, clothes provide a tacit language for exploring the boundaries of gender and sex. The wonderful thing about fashion, despite its reputation for snobbery, is the forum it provides for such unusual personalities. It’s a rich parade, encompassing tweens who’ve turned jeans into leg warmers, crafty heiresses, and the extraordinarily well-balanced Michael Kors, whose biggest fashion eccentricity may simply be his sparkling mental health. Not to mention his core belief that no matter what fashion gets up to from one season to the next, above all else, it should be a great deal of fun. — Amy Larocca read more [+]