While many designers are popular and their shows are packed to the rafters with self-styled Twitter stars and front-row paparazzi, only a few shows can be deemed significant. Here are our picks from 2013…

1. Rick Owens, Spring 2014
   Racial and size diversity, two casualties of the modern fashion system, were addressed head-on in Rick Owens’ show…
   

2. Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton, Spring 2014
In darkly sparkly style, Marc Jacobs bid adieu to Louis Vuitton with a stunning look back at his legacy…

3. Prada, Spring 2014
It doesn’t get much bolder, brasher, or more in-your-face than Prada’s playfully political spring 2014 collection, inspired by Latin American muralism…

4. Givenchy, Fall 2013
The Riccardo Tisci method is to turn notions of class, art, religion, and history inside out, piecing them back together in a parade of pastiche that manages to be both cerebral and visceral…

1. Raf Simons for Dior, Spring 2014
   Raf Simons is in bridge-building mode at Dior, as he has been during his three seasons as creative director. For spring he attempted to bridge several chasms..
   

2. Alexander Wang for Balenciaga, Spring 2014
   Don’t worry, be happy. That seems to be the posture Alexander Wang is taking at Balenciaga…
   

7. Chanel, Fall 2013
Karl Lagerfeld is a worldly man, and he doesn’t need cornea-burning Indian embroideries or reassuring prints of Renaissance paintings to prove it…

8. Céline, Fall 2013
Phoebe Philo is a family woman and makes no qualms about it. Her fall collection was more about warm and fuzzy than cool and aloof…

1. Marc Jacobs, Spring 2014
   Clearly not mellowing with age, Marc Jacobs closed Fashion Week with a doozy of a show, a blend of Victoriana and surf culture…
   

2. Dries Van Noten Men’s, Spring 2014
   Next year Van Noten will celebrate a retrospective at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and he said his fascination with florals came from investigating the museum’s archives…