PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: fashion design
French designer
Coco Chanel was a French fashion designer who ruled Parisian haute couture for almost six decades. Her elegantly casual designs inspired women to abandon the complicated, uncomfortable clothes—such as...
American actor, singer, and dancer
Zendaya is an American actor, singer, and dancer who first gained fame for comedic roles on the Disney Channel and later transitioned to more complex and critically acclaimed parts such as Rue Bennett...
Japanese fashion designer
Rei Kawakubo is a self-taught Japanese fashion designer known for her avant-garde clothing designs and her high-fashion label, Comme des Garçons (CDG), founded in 1969. Kawakubo’s iconoclastic vision made...
American musician and producer
Pharrell Williams is an American musician who was involved in a number of pop hits as part of the producing team the Neptunes, as a songwriter, as a member of the band N.E.R.D., and as a solo performer....
French box maker and businessman
Louis Vuitton was a French box maker and entrepreneur who founded his namesake brand of luxury trunks and luggage in 1854. During his lifetime, Vuitton introduced a number of innovations to luggage, and...
Italian fashion designer
Miuccia Prada is an Italian fashion designer best known as the head designer at the Prada fashion house. She is renowned for using minimalist designs to achieve a traditional style with modern influence....
French fashion designer
Jean Paul Gaultier is a French fashion designer whose iconoclastic collections in the late 20th and early 21st centuries celebrated androgyny, blended street styles with haute couture, and juxtaposed other...
Spanish fashion designer
Manolo Blahnik is a Spanish fashion designer best known for his signature line of high-end women’s footwear. Blahnik was born the eldest of two children into an affluent family. His Czech father’s family...
American artist
Nick Cave is an American artist best known for his wearable mixed-media constructions known as Soundsuits, which act simultaneously as fashion, sculpture, and noisemaking performance art. Cave began exploring...
Italian fashion designer
Donatella Versace is an Italian fashion designer who became creative director of the luxury brand Versace in 1997, following the death of her brother and founder, Gianni Versace. Her contributions—business...
Cypriot-British fashion designer
Hussein Chalayan is a Cypriot-British fashion designer best known for infusing intellectual concepts and artistic elements into his designs and shows. Chalayan was born to Muslim parents and attended Turk...
American fashion designer
Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer renowned for his sartorial interpretations of trends in popular culture, perhaps most notably his “grunge” collection, which was credited with launching the...
American fashion designer
Zac Posen is an American fashion designer best known for his glamorous evening gowns and cocktail dresses. Posen was raised in the SoHo neighbourhood of Lower Manhattan. His father, Stephen Posen, was...
American fashion designer
Isaac Mizrahi is an American fashion designer who is known for provocative clothing designs as well as for his outsize personality on television and in film. He made a career of dressing the Hollywood...
Belgian-born American fashion designer and businesswoman
Diane von Furstenberg is a Belgian-born designer and businesswoman who made a lasting contribution to fashion design with her flattering but practical wrap dress. Von Furstenberg was born Diane Simone...
French designer
Christian Dior was a French fashion designer whose New Look style—characterized by ultrafeminine and highly sculptured clothing—dominated fashion in the decade following World War II. His eponymous fashion...
American fashion designer
Vera Wang is an American fashion designer, best known for her elegant and sophisticated wedding dress and haute couture collections. She later branched into other lines, including menswear, jewelry, fragrances,...
American fashion designer
Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer who, by developing his brand around the image of an elite American lifestyle, built one of the world’s most successful fashion empires. He was born Ralph Lifshitz...
British fashion designer
Alexander McQueen was a British designer known for his groundbreaking clothes, shocking catwalk shows, and precise tailoring. McQueen grew up in London’s East End; he was the youngest of six children of...
British fashion designer
John Galliano is a British fashion designer known for his ready-to-wear and haute-couture collections for such fashion houses as Christian Dior, Givenchy, and Maison Margiela. Galliano, the son of a Spanish...
Malaysian fashion designer
Jimmy Choo is a Malaysian shoemaker and fashion designer who cofounded (1996) an eponymous British fashion house known for well-crafted luxury shoes. From a young age, Choo was immersed in the world of...
American author, fashion designer, and socialite
Gloria Vanderbilt was an American socialite, artist, author, actress, and designer of textiles and fashion who was often in the public eye for her social life and professional exploits. Born into the prominent...
Japanese fashion designer
Issey Miyake was a Japanese fashion designer who was known for combining Eastern and Western elements in his work. He also had a popular line of fragrances that included L’Eau d’Issey. Miyake studied graphic...
Dominican-American fashion designer
Oscar de la Renta was a Dominican-born American fashion designer whose work, blending European luxury with American ease, helped define standards of elegant dressing among socialites, U.S. first ladies,...
German fashion designer and photographer
Karl Lagerfeld was a German fashion designer and photographer best known as the creative power behind the modern revival of Chanel, the legendary French fashion house founded by Coco Chanel in the early...
American fashion designer
Thom Browne is an American fashion designer known for his reconceptualization of the classic men’s suit. He became widely recognized for his womenswear after U.S. first lady Michelle Obama wore one of...
Italian fashion designer
Valentino is an Italian fashion designer known for garments in his trademark “Valentino red” (rosso Valentino) and whose style was described as jet-set chic. As a child, Valentino was interested in both...
French fashion designer
Nicolas Ghesquière is a French fashion designer who, as creative director of Balenciaga (1997–2012) and as artistic director of Louis Vuitton (2013–), earned a reputation as the most original designer...
British fashion designer
Phoebe Philo is a British fashion designer who developed a loyal following with her modern yet wearable wardrobe essentials. She served as creative director of the French fashion houses Chloé (2001–06)...
French fashion designer and photographer
Hedi Slimane is a French fashion designer and photographer who was known for shaking up the menswear fashion industry by introducing an androgynous skinny silhouette at the turn of the 21st century. Slimane...
Italian fashion designer
Stefano Pilati is an Italian fashion designer who was the creative director (2004–12) at the storied house of fashion, Yves Saint Laurent (YSL), and head of design (2013–16) at Ermenegildo Zegna. As an...
American designer
Donna Karan is an American designer who is internationally acclaimed for the simplicity and comfort of her clothes. Donna Karan was born in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, New York. Her father...
American shoe designer
Steve Madden is an American shoe designer who founded Steven Madden, Ltd., a manufacturer of moderately priced shoes and accessories, marketed mostly to young women and girls. In 2002–05 he was imprisoned...
American fashion designer
Rogan Gregory is an American fashion designer and sculptor known for his environmentally and socially conscious clothing lines. He was perhaps best known as the creative director (2005–07) of Edun. Gregory...
British model
Kate Moss is a British fashion model whose waifish figure and natural look redefined the industry in the 1990s and who later became a cultural icon. Moss grew up in the London borough of Croydon. At the...
American fashion designer
Bill Blass was an American designer who helped define the relaxed, pared-down elegance that would characterize American fashion in the late 20th century. Blass left home at age 17 to attend the Parsons...
British fashion designer
Stella McCartney is a British fashion designer known primarily for her fur-free and leather-free apparel as well as for her celebrity-studded clientele. Stella McCartney was the daughter of Sir Paul McCartney...
German fashion designer
Jil Sander is a German fashion designer and founder of the Jil Sander label, noted for her luxurious understated clothing and influence on minimalist fashion. After graduating in 1963 from a textile-engineering...
Italian fashion designer
Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer whose signature style of relaxed yet luxurious ready-to-wear and elegant, intricately beaded evening wear helped introduce ease and streamlined modernity to...
Belgian fashion designer
Raf Simons is a Belgian fashion designer who worked for various labels, notably serving as creative director of Jil Sander (2005–12), as artistic director of Christian Dior (2012–15), as chief creative...
French designer
Christian Louboutin is a French fashion designer who is best known for his high-end shoes, which are identifiable by their brilliant red soles. As a teenage apprentice in the dressing rooms of the Folies-Bergère,...
English fashion designer
Sarah Burton is an English fashion designer who was creative director for the Alexander McQueen label (2010–23) and later for Givenchy (2024– ). Heard studied art at Manchester Polytechnic before attending...
French designer
Yves Saint Laurent was a French fashion designer noted for his popularization of women’s trousers for all occasions. After completing his secondary education in Oran, Algeria, Saint Laurent left for Paris...
British fashion designer
Vivienne Westwood was a British fashion designer known for her provocative clothing. With her partner, Malcolm McLaren, she extended the influence of the 1970s punk music movement into fashion. She was...
American designer
Calvin Klein is an American fashion designer noted for his womenswear, menswear, jeans, cosmetics and perfumes, bed and bath linens, and other collections. Klein studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology...
Italian fashion designer
Frida Giannini is an Italian fashion designer who was the creative director of the world-renowned Gucci fashion house from 2006 to 2015. After studying at Rome’s Academy of Costume and Fashion (Accademia...
American couturiere
Pauline Trigère was a French-born American couturiere whose award-winning design work was especially popular in the United States in the 1950s and ’60s. Trigère was the daughter of a tailor. She early...
Taiwan-born fashion designer
Jason Wu is a Taiwanese-born fashion designer known for his sophisticated and well-crafted creations. In the early 1990s Wu’s family moved from Taiwan to Vancouver. His mother hired a fashion student there...
British fashion designer
Mary Quant was an English fashion designer of youth-oriented fashions, responsible in the 1960s for the “Chelsea look” of England and the widespread popularity of the miniskirt and “hot pants.” Quant attended...
American fashion designer
Liz Claiborne was an American fashion designer who revolutionized the women’s apparel industry in the U.S. as the head designer and cofounder (with her husband, Arthur Ortenberg, and partners, Leonard...