According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2014 was the year of the horse. On the horse front, a beauty named California Chrome won the Kentucky Derby ridden by jockey Victor Espinoza. Everyone was streaming True Detective. Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran were propelled to pop stardom while Guardians of the Galaxy, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman and Boyhood wowed moviegoers. TV viewers were glued to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, and Serena Williams nabbed her sixth U.S. Open title. Also in sports: Germany triumphed at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
In global events, headlines were dominated by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. Hong Kong was rocked by pro-democracy protests while the terror group ISIS made territorial gains in Iraq and Syria. Facebook acquired WhatsApp in the quest to become an “everything app,” while Tesla rolled out the Model S with “autopilot mode,” presaging more innovation in EV and self-driving tech to come.
Jeff Koons’ giant Balloon Dog (Orange) sculpture sold for a record $58.4 million—making it the most expensive piece by a living artist ever sold. And what was everyone wearing in 2014? Normcore—a new trend that celebrated deliberately unremarkable, casual clothes.
