This year, the Cut sent its crew of photographers far and wide — around New York, all over Europe, even to Tokyo — to capture some of the most vibrant, raucous, decadent, and just plain weird scenes imaginable. In New York, Landon Nordeman shot Hood by Air’s creepy party at MoMA (featuring red contact lenses, fake blood, and Scream masks) while Christopher Anderson documented the debut of Dior’s dreamy cruise collection at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Meanwhile, Dina Litovsky captured the obscene luxury of New York’s most gala-packed month of the year, Petra Collins chronicled Cynthia Rowley’s morning routine, and Amy Lombard documented rape protesters at Columbia University on the Carry That Weight national day of action this October.
In Arizona, Angie Smith took portraits of young rodeo queens at the Miss Sweetheart Pageant, while in South Dakota, Amanda Hankerson and Lacey Criswell documented the mass biker weddings at the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Convention. On top of all that, we shot more images at Fashion Week than ever before, including stunning, intimate behind-the-scenes shots from the biggest shows in New York, London, Milan, and Paris. Click through the slideshow for a look at our most-striking photography from 2014.