The Most Popular Fashion Designers in History

Along with husband Edoardo, Adele Fendi was known for creating a luxury brand of chic, well-tailored garments. After her death, her five daughters took over the business, growing the company into a major player in the fur fashion industry.

Alexander McQueen was famous for shaking up the fashion world with his shocking catwalk shows. He was also known for his precise tailoring and pencil skirts and was credited with reviving the low-rise jeans trend and talking the skull motif mainstream.

Anna Sui is known for her enduring designs. She has a talent for crafting collections with compelling cultural and historical references. In addition to clothes, her brand also includes cosmetics, accessories, and beauty products.

Betsey Johnson was known for her quirky, out-of-the box aesthetic, and her feminine and whimsical designs. She is also considered to be a pioneer of New York City street fashion. Johnson likes exuberant and over-the-top designs in clothes, as well as shows, handbags, and jewelry.

Bill Blass is famous for couture and ready-to-wear designs. He is considered one of the pioneers of the relaxed and laid-back fashion, including sportswear, that was so popular in the late 20th century.

After initially focusing on women’s coats and coordinates, Calvin Klein became known for popularizing denim, as well as raising eyebrows with provocative ads featuring models and celebrities, including a teenage Brooke Shields.

Carolina Herrera is known for elegance, class, sophistication, and for dressing several first ladies, including Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama. Herrera likes classic outfits such as pencil skirts with white cotton shirts.

Christian Dior is known for upending post-war fashion with tight-waisted dresses and his bell-shaped and swirling full skirts. He opened a luxury ready-to-wear store, the first of its kind, in Manhattan in 1948.

Christian Louboutin, a shoe and handbag designer, is famous for his high-end stilettos. Red soles of shoes are his trademark. Beyonce wore a custom pair of boots when she headlined Coachella.

Christian Lacroix is known for mingling bright tones and extravagant materials. He is also famous for designing clothes based on a matador’s costume. Lacroix is credited with inventing the puffball skirt.

One of the best known names in the history of fashion, Coco Chanel is famous for her trademark suits, costume jewelry, and little black dresses. She also brought a male aesthetic to fashion with tweed blazers.

Diane Von Furstenberg, who is actually a former princess and a fixture at Studio 54 in the 1970s, is known for her iconic wrap dress, which was introduced in 1974. It became a symbol of the women’s liberation movement.

Domenico Dolce, from Dolce & Gabbana, is famous for being part of the team considered the inventors of a Mediterranean style inspired by sensual, austere Italian women. Madonna and Angelina Jolie are among the celebrity clients.

Sister of the famous Italian designer Gianni Versace, Donatella has become known for a few trends of her own. The famous J.Lo plunging dress is from the Versace house, as well as the jumpsuit Lady Gaga wore for her Super Bowl LI halftime show.

Before his assassination in 1997 in Miami, Florida, Gianni Versace had become known for bondage gear, bold colors, polyvinyl chloride baby-doll dresses, and silver-mesh togas, as well as using leather and fuse rubber as materials.

The creator of Donna Karan New York clothing labels, Donna Karan is famous for collections intended to give businesswomen alternatives to traditional suits. Her clothes are considered sleek and practical.

Edoardo Fendi is mostly known her being the husband of Adele Casagrande, who later became Adele Fendi. The two worked on the luxury ready-to-wear fur brand Fendi, which is currently one of most prestigious brands in fashion.

Emanuel Ungaro is famous for making clothes comfortable and flattering the female form. He is also known for his robust use of colors, prints, and patterns. His following included Jacqueline Kennedy and actress Catherine Deneuve.

Gianfranco Ferre is known for adding an architectural aesthetic to fashion. He is also known for carefully constructed couture as well as ready-to-wear styles. Women’s business suits with bold seams and white blouses are like a trademark for his style.

Giorgio Armani is known for classic men’s suits and clean tailored lines. His clothes have been worn in movies like “American Gigolo,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” and “Ocean’s Thirteen.”

Roy Halston Frowick, whom most people know simply as Halston, is known for sexy, sleek dresses worn by the disco crowd in the mid-1970s. He loved to use jewels and flowers as accessories in hoods and bonnets.

Thierry Hermes was a famous luxury goods maker specializing in leather, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfume, and jewellery. One of the company’s most famous creations is the iconic Kelly bag, named after Princess Grace who used it to hide her baby bump.

Hubert de Givenchy is famous for his understated style. He liked simplicity and elegance. The designer dressed Audrey Hepburn, including in the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Princess Grace of Monaco, and Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor.

Jimmy Choo is known for handmade women’s shoes worn by celebrities, including Princess Diana, Julia Roberts, and Renee Zellweger. He used as an inspiration a craftsmanship he learned from his father, who was a cobbler.

Karl Lagerfeld, who worked with Fendi, was known for reviving the Chanel label by adding chains and leather to Chanel’s classic suit. He was also credited with expanding Chanel’s perfume business.

Kate Spade was a fashion journalist turned handbag empire creator. She is known her modern handbags that have a glossy but classy look, and are often very colorful and in practical shapes.

Levi Strauss is famous for creating blue jeans to outfit gold prospectors in California. You may know them as Levi’s. He called them waist overalls.

Louis Vuitton created a leather goods empire synonymous with luxury. As a young man he focused on luggage and making the perfect suitcase. He designed a lightweight rectangular suitcase for long journeys that was copied within a few years.

Manolo Blahnik is known for high-end women’s footwear worn by Bianca Jagger and by actresses on television shows like “Sex and the City” and ” Absolutely Fabulous.” He likes sleek stiletto heels that accentuate femininity.

Mary Quant was famous for inventing the miniskirt and hot pants. She was also instrumental in the mod fashion movement. She is credited with creating the so-called Chelsea look — boyish, edgy and affordable.

Miuccia Prada, the boss of fashion empire Prada, is known for restoring the family business to glory. She likes experimenting with fashion style and disregarding any current trends. She surprised the fashion world with black nylon handbags and backpacks in 1985.

Nino Cerruti is known for founding the haute couture house. He designed costumes for 150 films, including “Philadelphia” and “Pretty Woman.”

Born to an aristocratic Russian family with maternal Italian ancestry, Cassini was a favorite of Jacqueline Kennedy who wore his pillbox hats. Cassini designed costumes for movie studios and stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Natalie Wood, and Grace Kelly, to whom he was engaged before she married the Prince of Monaco.

Oscar de la Renta is known for women’s evening wear and suits. His clothes are considered elegant and classically feminine. He designed clothes for first ladies Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush.

Ottavio Missoni, who was an Olympic hurdler, is known for his unique knitwear and zigzag dresses, made from a variety of fabrics in colorful patterns. Jacqueline Kennedy and Kate Middleton have worn Missoni designs.

Paco Rabanne is famous for making clothes out of plastic, paper and metal into extravagant designs, which may be explained by the fact that he was a trained architect. He designed the costumes Jane Fonda wore in the movie “Barbarella.”

Pierre Cardin is famous for his geometric avant-garde designs and space age look, for which he used vinyl, helmets, and goggles. He was one of the first fashion designers to license his name for sunglasses and other accessories.

One of the best known American designers, Ralph Lauren is famous for the sportswear line Polo Ralph Lauren, and its very sporty, laid-back youthful look.

Rei Kawakubo is famous for her avant-garde clothing designs, which are almost always predominantly black, that some critics called anti-fashion. Kawakubo was one of the most influential designers of the late 20th century. She was the first living designer with a solo show at The Met’s Costume Institute since 1983.

Rene Lacoste was a world-class tennis player who created tennis shirts with a crocodile symbol (as well as the tennis metal racket and the first ball machine).

Roberto Cavalli is known for his use of intricate prints. He is also known for his sand-smashed jeans and pioneering creations in denim.

Salvatore Ferragamo is known as the “shoemaker to the stars” because his clientele were Hollywood stars in 1920s and 1930s. He held more than 300 patents, many in footwear that are still used today.

Stefano Gabbana is the Gabbana in Dolce & Gabbana. He and his partner are considered to be the inventors of a Mediterranean style inspired by sensual, austere Italian women. Their clothes are a mix of men’s and women’s fashion. Madonna and Angelina Jolie are among celebrity clients.

Stella McCartney, daughter of former Beatle Paul McCartney, is famous for her fur-free and leather-free apparel. She is also known for exact, simple tailoring.

Thomas Burberry, founder of international chain Burberry, is known for his trenchcoat,. His company’s designs are known for their iconic check pattern and British heritage branding.

Tom Ford, another designer formally trained as an architect, is credited with turning Gucci into a brand worth billions of dollars before leaving the business to launch his own successful brand. He dressed Daniel Craig as James Bond.

Tommy Hilfiger is known for an all-American style, specializing in sports and casual wear, featuring preppy with a twist designs. The brand also has in its collection various products, including fragrances, eyewear, watches and home furnishings.

Valentino Garavani, simply known as Valentino, is famous for his jet-set glamour, elegant and feminine designs, and the “Valentino red” shade.

Vera Wang, a former figure skater, became known as one of the top designers of bridal wear. Her elegant gowns, which are a mixture of modern trends and classic elegance, are worn by stars and have graced red-carpet events.

Yves Saint Laurent is known for creating modern chic style and rewriting the story of couture and ready-to-wear. He was the head designer for house of Dior at age 21. Some of his iconic creations include the women’s tuxedo jacket, the high-fashion peacoat, and the shirt dress.