I'm a Fashion and Beauty Content Creator—These 10 Items Made the Cut for 2023

Finally, 2023 has arrived, and like many of you, I am determined to make this year mine. My list of resolutions is long, but I am ready to tackle it head-on, and one of the things near the top is making sure this is the best year for my personal style. In 2022, I became an editor here at Who What Wear, and with that came an immediate leveling up of my personal style, especially now that we have entered a new year. I am vowing to myself to not hold back when it comes to elevating my personal style and having fire outfits all 2023. I am taking my resolutions seriously, and when it comes to anything beauty and fashion related, the first person I have to tap is Vancouver-based fashion and beauty influencer Emma Leger.

Leger and I first met when I picked her brain about the items she could not live without, and after trying some of her must-haves, I was convinced that she was holding all of the secrets to every beauty or fashion product that my wardrobe was missing. As we're gearing up for the year, I had to know which products, trends, and must-have items Leger is definitely bringing into 2023 and which items she would be leaving in 2022. Toward the end of 2022, Leger caught me up on her plans to head to Palm Springs for the holidays with her family and then off to Switzerland for the New Year (I'm jealous too), and afterward, we discussed what's on her mind for all things 2023 fashion and beauty.

Keep scrolling to read our conversation about what she's most looking forward to in the New Year and get your hands on some highly recommended fashion and beauty items. 

When it comes to beauty, what are you loving for the New Year, or what's "in"? What would you say you're over, or what's "out"? 

I think a heavy, thicker foundation is definitely out. It has been out for a while. We know everyone is obsessed with "clean-girl makeup." But going into the New Year, freckles and blemishes are going to be a fashion statement. I swear. I don't know what it is, but people are just going more natural and more natural with their makeup, so I think that's going to be one of the biggest beauty things for the New Year. When it comes to products, I'm loving the Rose Inc skin foundation. It's stunning. People are gonna love it. It's so underrated. And no one knows about it, and it's my favorite foundation. Another beauty item I've left in the past is strip fake eyelashes. I'm so over strip lashes. The single lashes are a lot more delicate and allow you to create any eye shape you want. I think that the strip lashes can really put you in a box—you can't really do anything about the shape. We're seeing it already a little bit on TikTok and Instagram, but I think strip lashes are gonna be dead by next year, and we're all for the single lashes.

What beauty looks or trends are you loving for the New Year? 

I'm super into '70s eye makeup. I think that the classic really thick winged eyeliner is gonna be not as popular and that more creative eyes are gonna be really new for the New Year. But to contradict myself at the same time, I do think a beautiful brown, smoky winged eye look is gonna be chosen over a black, thick, harsh wing. So again, more on the natural side of beauty makeup that I was talking about.

When it comes to fashion, what are you loving for the New Year, or what's "in"? What would you say you're over, or what's "out"? 

For fashion, what I'm loving for the New Year is tights under bodysuits as types of pants. I swear. I know it's so controversial, but I wore this look in New York (pictured below), and I actually had so much fun wearing it. I think you have to be the type of person to want to do it and have the confidence to do it. I know it can be intimidating, but honestly, this look made me feel even more confident. I was a little bit nervous. I was like, "I don't know if I'm gonna like this." But I wore it, and I felt so confident and that the look was so much fun. So I think that's gonna be really big because, I mean, we saw the celebrities do it. We saw Kendall do it. W saw Kylie do it. And now, influencers are doing it, and I think the masses are gonna be doing it in 2023.

Something else I think that's out for 2023 is buying new clothes. Fast fashion should be dead. … I have just been seeing this more and more, even myself. I'm not interested in buying new stuff anymore. I'm way more inclined to look for something vintage. I genuinely don't want to buy a Chanel bag from the Chanel store. I want to go and source a really cool, unique piece that no one else is going to have. I feel this way about clothing as well, not just accessories.

When I see people on my Instagram sharing where they got their outfits and they say that their look is fully vintage my first thought is, "That is so cool." This helps me focus on the styling of an outfit way more than where something is from, and then I'm not googling Prada item numbers all night.

I also think that luxe fabrics are going to be so in as well as slingback shoes. I think closed-toed shoes are going to be the thing. Open-toed pumps are going to be less popular. I have a feeling the sexy pointed-toe, closed-toed pump is going to be the moment.

What about when it comes to hair? What hair trends or styles are you loving for 2023? 

For hair, blowouts and super-big hair are in. The hot tools that you use, especially from Dyson, to get bigger hair are going to be a must-have. It's all about the "supermodel off-duty" hair. I think sleek, straight hair is on its way out.

What about outerwear or layering pieces? What made the cut for the New Year, and what didn't? 

I think that blazers were a huge thing [last] year. Every girl was wearing an oversize blazer, and it was such a moment, and I honestly really like it. It kind of goes hand in hand with that boss energy—like girl-boss energy—and I love it. However, I do think that it's super corporate, and for a while, it was a fun way to make a corporate look also stylish, but I think now it's all about those big faux-fur jackets. A big faux-fur jacket has the same boss energy, just more fashionable and more Carrie Bradshaw. I wore mine basically every day while I was in New York recently. And it's going back to the vintage-ness thing I was talking about earlier. I love the vintage aspect of it, having a big jacket that you've never seen before. It's super cool, and it shows that you have a sense of style.

What are you most looking forward to in 2023? 

Well, I'm very excited for an upcoming project that I'm launching in the New Year, and I've been working on it for a very long time, and when people find out what it is, I think they're gonna be very surprised but also super excited. … It makes sense like they're gonna be like, "Oh my God, that makes sense for Emma." But they would never expect it for me. I don't think so. That's what I'm most excited for in 2023. I'm also just really excited to travel again. Obviously, travel has been open for a while now, but I just love to travel and look forward to my trips every year. I'm really excited to go to Europe and excited for European summer. I'm also excited to just play with my fashion and beauty. This past year, I was really playing around with makeup a lot and having fun with it in a way I never really did before. I used to always keep the same look all the time and stuck to something I knew. But this year, I experimented a little bit, and I loved it, especially my fashion too. I'm excited to take what I learned in 2022 and not give a crap about what anyone thinks in 2023. I am in my "slay era" mindset, and I'm excited to carry that energy into 2023.

What is one piece of style advice that you learned in 2022 that you're gonna be taking into 2023?

So my biggest style advice is less is more. People often go out and think, "Oh, I need to be dressy. I need to look fancy." But I think now the way to look cool when you go out is to put on a really cool pair of denim, add a sparkly/statement shoe, wear a cute T-shirt, and pair that with a cool jacket. I think now it's about being cooler and chiller. Think of Hailey Bieber. She's a great example of this.

Shop Emma's must-have items for 2023: 

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