The about iconic mode designers of the final 100 years

Giorgio Armani

Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani and models following the presentation of the Armani style show in Milan, on September 23, 2018.
ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images
  • Over the concluding 100 years, many fashion designers have greatly influenced how we dress.
  • Some pushed boundaries past creating a "new look," while others brought punk subcultures into the mainstream fashion scene.
  • From Coco Chanel to Valentino, Virgil Abloh, and Rihanna, hither are the nearly iconic fashion designers of the last century.
  • Visit Insider'southward homepage for more stories .

Some fashion designers volition forever be remembered for how they pushed boundaries and influenced how nosotros all clothes.

From Coco Chanel'southward famous skirted suits to Alexander McQueen's out-of-the-box creations, these designers all stand up out in history every bit masters of taste and inventiveness.

New York Fashion Calendar week will be held this month with social distancing and other precautions in place, with shows happening remotely and streaming digitally.

Hither are thirty of the almost iconic mode designers of the last 100 years.

Coco Chanel is famous for creating timeless perfumes and popularizing the little blackness dress and skirt suit ready.

French fashion designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel.
AP Photo

In the early 1900s, Chanel'south designs were considered sportier and more freeing than other fashions of the fourth dimension, every bit they didn't require a corset. Chanel is likewise known for iconic fragrances such equally Chanel No. 5.

CristĆ³bal Balenciaga was never formally trained but is regarded as one of the well-nigh influential fashion designers in history.

Designer CristĆ³bal Balenciaga and Harper'south Bazaar editor in chief, Carmel Snow, in 1952.
Walter Sanders/The LIFE Film Collection/Getty Images

Balenciaga specialized in evening wear and exquisite tailoring. Today, the brand leans much more into "streetwear" trends and out-of-the-box ideas such equally the popular "shoes that await like socks" that rose to prominence in the terminal few years.

Hubert de Givenchy is remembered every bit the favorite designer of Audrey Hepburn.

Audrey Hepburn with Hubert de Givenchy in his workshop in Paris.
Sunset Boulevard/Corbis/Getty Images

The actress, known at the time as Givenchy's near influential muse, wore the French designer'south creations in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Funny Confront," and "Charade," amidst others. Givenchy'south aesthetic was clean, classic, and unapologetically feminine.

Pierre Balmain was a well-known French fashion designer who launched Revlon'south first perfume and regularly dressed Queen Sirikit of Thailand.

Parisian designer Pierre Balmain is here with a model wearing his "Midnight Bathing Suit" with a brim.
Bettman/Getty Images

Afterward a partnership with Christian Dior savage through, the designer struggled to gain the same recognition equally designers like Chanel, Dior, or Balenciaga. However, he is nevertheless remembered as one of the neat French manner designers in history.

Edith Caput was an American costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Pattern throughout her career.

Edith Head, director of costume design for Paramount Pictures, is shown wearing her signature glasses.
Bettman/Getty Images

She has dressed anybody from Grace Kelly and Cary Grant to Elizabeth Taylor and Marlene Dietrich.

Her ain personal way — namely her eccentric glasses and a curt haircut — take made her a recognizable pop culture icon, and some believe she inspired the Edna Fashion grapheme in "The Incredibles."

Yves Saint Laurent moved to Paris every bit a teenager and began working for Christian Dior.

French mode designer Yves Saint Laurent and his models celebrate the unveiling of his second bound collection at the House of Dior in January 1960.
Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Afterwards starting his own style house, the designer created never-seen-before silhouettes and garments such every bit his legendary smoking suit in 1966, the reefer jacket in 1962, the sheer blouse in 1966, and the jumpsuit in 1968.

Emilio Pucci was well known for using bright, eye-catching prints in his designs.

The Florentine way designer Emilio Pucci surrounded by some of his models and working on i of his designs in Florence, Italy, in 1959.
David Lees/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images

Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Gina Lollobrigida, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis were all photographed wearing Pucci's signature eccentric fashions, according to The New York Times.

Paco Rabanne was all-time known for his space-historic period inspired designs throughout the late 1960s.

Fashion designer Paco Rabanne on the 1966 film set of "Casino Royale."
Doreen Spooner/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

His metal "link dress" fabricated him famous, and Jane Fonda fifty-fifty modeled the designer's futuristic-inspired costumes in her film, "Barbarella."

"It is of import to remain impertinent, radical," Rabanne once told Vogue. "Creation must stupor."

Italian designer Valentino Garavani, amend known as Valentino, shot to fame after Elizabeth Taylor spotted ane of his designs while shooting "Cleopatra" in Rome.

Designer Valentino in his Paris bazaar.
Jack Nisberg/CondƩ Nast/Getty Images

Taylor wore the white gown to the premiere of "Spartacus," and from there Valentino's star was built-in. Though Valentino was known for using his signature cherry color, his 1967 "no color" drove comprised of only white, beige, and ivory clothing fabricated him fifty-fifty more than famous.

In dissimilarity with the more than colorful, psychedelic fashions of the time, Valentino'south collection stood out as refreshing and new.

Vivienne Westwood became a prominent designer during the punk stone mode scene of belatedly 1970s London.

Vivienne Westwood backstage prior to her Autumn/Winter 1991 collection.
John van Hasselt/Corbis/Getty Images

Westwood opened her outset boutique at 430 Kings Road in London in 1971 and began filling the shop with her eccentric, punk-inspired designs.

Westwood notably dressed the members of British punk rock band the Sex Pistols after partnering with the band's manager, Malcolm McLaren. Westwood remained a prominent designer throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Calvin Klein studied pattern in New York Urban center before starting his label with Barry Schwartz, who ran the business concern side of the company.

Bianca Jagger and Calvin Klein at Studio 54 in New York City, circa 1977.
Images Press/IMAGES/Getty Images

The duo's arrange and coat lines were successful, and soon Klein's sportswear became popular also. Klein then ventured into denim, undergarments, and logo dress that the brand is now famous for — as well as some provocative ads.

After starting out at Brooks Brothers, Ralph Lauren shot to fame with his own Polo Ralph Lauren fashion line.

Ralph Lauren leads a group of models down a runway at a 1995 manner show.
Mitchell Gerber/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images

Quintessentially American, Ralph Lauren's brand focused on an upper-grade lifestyle and came to exist synonymous with "preppy" mode throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

Betsey Johnson offset rose to prominence in the 1960s due to her more subversive, out-of-the-box designs. However, in the 1970s, her make really took off.

Betsey Johnson.
Evan Agostini/Getty Images

Johnson's designs featured vivid colors, fun patterns and textures, and a punk-glam aesthetic.

Giorgio Armani is an Italian designer best known for his sleek men's and women's suits.

Italian way designer Giorgio Armani and models following the presentation of the Armani fashion testify in Milan, on September 23, 2018.
ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images

Armani'southward "ability suits" have been worn by Richard Gere, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jodie Foster, and John Travolta. The designer besides provided almost of the wardrobe for "Miami Vice." Armani has since expanded his way house to include eveningwear, set-to-wear, and more.

Donna Karan brought upper-grade, New York way into stores across America with her DKNY fashion line.

Fashion designer Donna Karan attends the Tribeca Daring Women Meridian during the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.
Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

In 2004, Karan received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Manolo Blahnik is a famous Castilian shoe designer known for his high-terminate stiletto heels.

Shoe designer Manolo Blahnik signs shoes as he makes a personal advent at Bergdorf Goodman in New York Metropolis.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Manolo Blahnik has been love by way icons throughout history, from Twiggy to Sarah Jessica Parker's "Sexual activity and the City" grapheme Carrie Bradshaw. In 1977, Bianca Jagger famously wore a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes when she entered dance club Studio 54 on a white horse.

Tom Ford led Gucci from 1994 to 2004, before starting his ain characterization.

Tom Ford attends GQ Celebrates Milan Men's Fashion Week on December 14, 2016, in Milan, Italy.
Victor Boyko/Getty Images

Ford overhauled Gucci'due south minimalist prototype, making the brand more than vibrant, retro-inspired, and sexy. During his tenure at the fashion firm, sales shot from $230 million to $iii billion.

Ford created a buzz for his own brand when he posed in Tom Ford underwear betwixt Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley on a 2006 Vanity Fair embrace.

Michael Kors is famous for his eponymous style brand and for appearing on the striking reality series "Project Rails" alongside Heidi Klum.

Michael Kors walks the runway at a Michael Kors mode show.
JP Yim/Getty Images

Kors was interested in fashion from an early age, even recalling that he "hyperventilated" when the latest edition of Vogue arrived each month. Kors has received high praise for his high-terminate men's and women'south manner lines, also as his accessories.

Kors also notably designed the dress worn by Michelle Obama in her first official portrait.

Marc Jacobs has held high positions at Perry Ellis and Louis Vuitton, but his own brand has too achieved astronomical success.

Marc Jacobs.
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Despite a series of personal obstacles throughout his life, including estrangement from much of his family and a period of heavy drug and booze use that resulted in his checking into a rehab facility, Marc Jacobs is however known as an extremely talented "male child wonder" of the fashion globe.

"For some reason, Marc's show is always the nigh important place to exist seen, the ane place where you lot know all the people who thing will be," Deena Abdulaziz, a fellow member of the Saudi royal family, told the New York Times.

Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace'southward life has been highly talked near and chronicled since his assassination in 1997.

Fashion designers Gianni Versace and Donatella Versace on the runway after a Versace fashion testify in March 1996 in New York City.
Catherine McGann/Getty Images

The designer was known for his designs oozing with sexual practice entreatment, and his sister, Donatella, has since channeled the same vision through her leadership at her late brother'south manner business firm.

Versace brought the fashion manufacture into the pop culture sphere through his loyal collection of superstars and models who both worked for him and wore his designs. Versace has been credited with elevating Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, and Naomi Campbell to "supermodel" status.

Alexander McQueen was known as a dominion-breaker before his death in 2010.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Alexander McQueen at the "Anglomania" Met Gala in May 2006.
Evan Agostini/Getty Images Amusement

In the late '90s and early 2000s, McQueen was the designer to sentry. Known for non only pushing only completely breaking the boundaries of what was expected in style at the time, McQueen created a proper noun for himself at Givenchy and so later with his own manner house.

McQueen wasn't shy about his lower-form background and proved to be a dissimilar kind of high-mode designer. I of his manner shows notably featured a model who was an amputee. She walked the runway on carved wooden legs.

"You lot've got to know the rules to break them. That'due south what I am here for, to demolish the rules but to keep the tradition," designer Alexander McQueen famously said of his destructive designs. McQueen died by suicide at the age of forty afterwards both his longtime friend Isabella Blow and his female parent passed abroad.

Azzedine Alaia was known for his body-hugging designs dearest by stars over the last thirty years.

Kourtney Kardashian and Azzedine Alaia nourish Paris Fashion Calendar week on Oct 2, 2016 in Paris, France.
Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images

After working as an apprentice for the Thierry Mugler, Christian Dior, and Guy Laroche, Alaia started his ain fashion line in the early 1980s. His designs were notably effigy-hugging, accentuating the bust, and cinching the waist. The New York Times called him a "sculptor of the female class."

Alaia was known for being outspoken. He criticized fashion legends such as Vogue's Anna Wintour for her fashion and designer Karl Lagerfeld, who he said had "never touched a pair of scissors."

On November xviii, 2017, it was announced Alaia had passed away.

Karl Lagerfeld is credited with elevating Chanel to global prominence likewise equally being a strong creative vision behind Tommy Hilfiger and Fendi.

Karl Lagerfeld on the runway during the Chanel Paris Style Calendar week show on July iii, 2012, in Paris, France.
Michel Dufour/WireImage

Lagerfeld is recognized as 1 of the most influential fashion designers in history. Throughout his life, Lagerfeld created smart, sexy, and in-the-moment designs for Chanel, Fendi, Chloe, and more.

On Feb 19, 2019, it was appear that the iconic designer had passed away in Paris.

In a memorial tribute, British Way Council Chief Executive Caroline Rush said, "His unrivaled contribution to the fashion industry changed the way women dress and perceive fashion. He inspired generations of young designers and will keep to do so."

Diane von Furstenberg invented the wrap dress in 1972 and is known for her style characterization, DVF.

Diane von Furstenberg.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Diane von Furstenberg is known for being an ambitious designer who started a phenomenon, once reportedly crafting more than 15,000 wrap dresses a week.

"I had a very down-to-globe production, my wrap dress, which was really a uniform. It was just a simple trivial cotton wool-jersey dress that everybody loved and everybody wore," von Furstenberg told New York Magazine in 1988. "That one dress sold near three or four million. I would see 20, 30 dresses walking down one block. All sorts of different women. It felt very good. Young and old, and fat and thin, and poor and rich."

Christian Siriano studied under Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood earlier auditioning for — and winning — the 4th season of "Project Runway."

Christian Siriano.
Miller Mobley/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Afterwards winning the testify, Siriano started his ain line in 2008. By 2010, the label had earned $i.two 1000000 in acquirement. By 2015, that figure had raised to $5 1000000.

Known for his creative eveningwear frequently featured on the ruddy carpet, Siriano has designed for Billy Porter, Whoopi Goldberg, Janelle Monae, and more.

Stella McCartney may exist a former Beatle's daughter, simply she has paved her own style with her eponymous style line.

Stella McCartney.
Steven Lovekin/Getty Images

In 1997, McCartney was hired to revitalize the ChloƩ brand. The British designer created feminine, subtly sexy designs with a romantic spin that attracted a number of glory clients, including Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kate Moss. After achieving success at ChloƩ, McCartney received funding from Gucci to start her ain line.

McCartney shot to prominence in the bridal fashion sphere and designed Meghan Markle's stunning white halter-neck reception dress for her hymeneals to Prince Harry. A vegetarian, McCartney's characterization is committed to sustainability, is cruelty-gratuitous, and uses simply faux fur and false leather.

Virgil Abloh completely changed the face up of the mode manufacture when he took over equally artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear.

Virgil Abloh.
Edward Berthelot/GC Images

Before bringing luxury manner house Louis Vuitton into a more modern, streetwear-inspired space, Abloh started his own fashion brand, Off-white.

A friend and collaborator of Kanye West, Abloh famously told W Magazine, "We were a generation that was interested in fashion and weren't supposed to be there. We saw this as our gamble to participate and brand electric current civilisation. In a lot of ways, it felt like nosotros were bringing more excitement than the industry was."

Deal icon An icon in the shape of a lightning commodities.

Keep reading