20 Most Influential Designers

Big ups to the fashion rag section of The Independent, a London-based newspaper/online entity - hands down one of the most influential and innovative articles I've read thus far and much credit is due to fashion writer, Susannah Frankel for pulling together such a brilliant piece, I know it was tedious, but well written ... kudos!

Whether you're a follower, leader or poser of fashion - you should definitely become familiar with all 20 names on this list. Especially when Christopher Bailey, Karl Lagerfeld, Rei Kawakubo and Helmut Lang make the cut ... pure hauteness!

Just think, it's also a quick history lesson in fashion ... school is in session.

Miuccia Prada: The innovator

It is only very rarely that a brand as well-known and powerful as Prada retains the cachet of a fashion insider's label. Prada is a household name – if ever anyone was in any doubt about that, the title of the Hollywood blockbuster The Devil Wears Prada proves it. More than that, though, the fashion fraternity worships at the altar of Miuccia Prada, who changes her aesthetic – and, indeed, her mind – as often as most of us have breakfast and has the rest of the fashion world running to keep up with her as a result. As well, then, as informing the high street, many of Prada's ideas appear on other people's catwalks, seasons and even years down the line.

The ubiquity of strange and elaborate shoes, even stranger colours, the A-line and dirndl skirt and, this season in particular, lace (as worn most beautifully in the current Prada ad campaign by Linda Evangelista), are all thanks to this designer. Because her viewpoint is difficult to pin down she is labeled "intellectual" but while her intelligence is clearly a force to be reckoned with, she has the instincts of a wildcat when it comes to predicting what people might like to wear six months down the line.

Marc Jacobs: The maverick

Like Prada, Jacobs woos those with a passing interest as well as the more committed fashion-follower. Both designers are also essentially maverick – in positions of great power but nonetheless happy to take considerable risks. Jacobs is one of the most plagiarised designers on the high street and, while the powers that be at Louis Vuitton, which he designs alongside his own label, are not amused by the deluge of knock-off bags on the market, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery for the designer himself – it serves only to raise the profile of the brand.

Louis Vuitton is still the star of the French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH's (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) stable. Despite economic downturn, it continues to chart spectacular growth, which has been boosted by recent collaborations with the American Pop artist Richard Prince and, before that, the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.

We all know the bags, and who could fail to be impressed by iconic ad campaigns featuring everyone from Catherine Deneuve and Keith Richards to Mikhail Gorbachev ?

Ralph Lauren: The elder statesman

There was a time when Ralph Lauren's catwalk shows were among the most influential. Now, though, America, if not the world's, most famous designer has become something of an elder statesman. It's worth noting that his most recent womenswear collection, boasting the Anglophile tendencies that go hand-in-hand with his aspirational aesthetic, chime perfectly with the look of the day; more importantly, though, Ralph Lauren dresses America, from the US Olympic team to any schoolboy in mufti in his Polo Ralph Lauren shirt, complete with instantly recognisable dancing horse.

The "lifestyle" concept was pretty much invented by this designer – not bad, considering he started out selling ties. His company, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, recently boasted annual worldwide sales of a massive $12bn, unprecedented even by the designer-fashion industry's highly lucrative standards.

Giorgio Armani: The king of lifestyle

Giorgio Armani is the other great lifestyle designer and is to Italy what Ralph Lauren is to the US. His name is also more wrapped up with the emergence of designer fashion as a juggernaut of immense commercial value and power than perhaps any other. Armani revolutionised tailoring, loosening up the formal jacket to suit men and women of style who continue to wear his fluid, minimally-minded designs to this day.

His name is also the one behind today's symbiotic relationship between film and fashion. Armani famously dressed Richard Gere in American Gigolo, and has long seen the virtue of placing the world's superstars in his front row. In return, no red carpet is complete without his designs. The current Armani poster girl is none other than Cate Blanchett – quite a coup, as every designer wants her.

Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana: The glamour gurus

"Molto sexy" indeed are the Italian design pairing of Dolce & Gabbana, who continue to expand, ensuring their joyfully feminine aesthetic influences everything from the red carpet to any young stylish man or woman on the street who knows their designer labels. The irreverent – and more reasonably priced – D&G label carries more clout than most second lines put together.

The quintessentially Italian Dolce & Gabbana aesthetic – think curvaceous tailoring and corseted dresses loaded with floral and animal prints, then scattered with rhinestone for good measure – is unsurprisingly loved by celebrities. Dolce and Gabbana have dressed Kylie Minogue and, of course, Madonna. Significantly, the duo are in possession of that rare thing, a sense of humour, a fact borne out this season by the D&G collection, which taps into the wardrobe of the Queen. That's Her Majesty as played by Helen Mirren in the 2006 film version, the real thing being not quite glamorous enough.

Christopher Bailey: The master of reinvention

Since Christopher Bailey took over at Burberry in 2001, he has reversed the brand's fortune to the point where "doing a Burberry" has become the holy grail for every other British designer label with a heritage. Bailey's secret? He is a designer who understands the value of the familiar in fashion, particularly in troubled times, and is not afraid to play with that to thoroughly modern and timely effect. The reworking of the label's iconic trench coat every season is, of course, central but just look at how copies of any number of Burberry dresses, say, find their way into British high-street stores.

Also part of the formula is the comparative democracy of this brand, which can be spotted everywhere from the football terraces to the school gates and every high-end shopping thoroughfare in-between. Bailey's initial move was to play down the check in the more fashion-forward Prorsum line, but it's still all present and correct elsewhere. And so it should be – it's a classic as heartily embraced in its time by Liam Gallagher, Pete Doherty and Sienna Miller as by American tourists.

Frida Giannini: The lady of luxury

The days when Tom Ford made Gucci the designer tag to see and be seen in may be gone, but that hasn't stopped Frida Giannini, who is primarily an accessories designer, from maintaining the label's status as a byword for luxury.

Although fashionable eyebrows were raised when Giannini first took the helm, the move makes sound business sense. Founded in 1921 by the marvellously named Guccio Gucci, the company was always associated with leather goods as known and loved by the international jet set. The aforementioned Ford put the sex into Gucci, turning up the heat with deliberately decadent ' campaigns featuring lithe young things in various states of disarray photographed by Mario Testino. Giannini – who is, after all, a woman – has a more discreet view of both male and female sexuality. Gucci clothing is still high-octane but now has a more bohemian twist.

The company, which is owned by French luxury goods conglomerate PPR, was last year voted the world's most coveted luxury brand for the second time by market research firm The Nielsen Group. Guccissimmo!

Nicolas Ghesquière: The purist

Balenciaga's heritage dictates that its name is probably the most determinedly elitist in fashion and Nicolas Ghesquière, who has been at the label since 1995, understands that well. His designs are rigorous in the extreme, executed to a standard that is unparalleled and uncompromising, whatever the retail climate.

Although Balenciaga is often copied – the famous Lariat bag, leggy trousers, jodhpurs, blazers – the intricately worked nature of the original makes it difficult to do so well. Ghesquière, like Prada, is way ahead of his game. However extreme the Balenciaga look, though, rest assured that it will filter down; past landmarks have included combat trousers crafted in luxe fabrics, neoprene leggings, patch-worked waistcoats, deconstructed little white dresses and more.

As well as its main line, Balenciaga produces a trouser collection (there are no more flattering designs in the business), a knitwear collection, a series of designs that are reworked interpretations of the great couturier Cristobal Balenciaga's finest moments, and more.

Stefano Pilati: The modernist

Not only was Yves Saint Laurent alive until very recently (he died aged 71 earlier this year and a day of mourning was declared in France), but the respect afforded to his name decreed that anyone who attempted to follow in his footsteps was labelled an upstart – and that included Tom Ford at the height of his popularity. Today, finally, it appears that Stefano Pilati has risen to the challenge.

Pilati's impact has been stealthy; beginning with an injection of youthful Left Bank spirit, moving on to nail the haute bourgeois elegance that was also the house's signature, and finally offering more radical interpretations of themes which relate to Saint Laurent's own contribution only in an abstract sense.

Pilati's collections are both influential and saleable – the current ubiquity of the tapered three-quarter length trouser originated with him, and his accessories are some of the most imitated and bestselling each and every season. Like the master himself, Pilati bears pragmatic as well as aesthetic needs in mind, and remains at the top of every fashion insider's list to boot.

Alber Elbaz: The craftsman

Like Pilati, master craftsman Alber Elbaz did a spell at Yves Saint Laurent, but then the aforementioned Ford installed himself at the helm of the label in his place. At the time, the Israeli-born designer was so overwhelmed that he disappeared for a year, only to emerge at what might go down in history as his spiritual home, the privately owned Lanvin.

The Lanvin womenswear collection is now a favourite with any well-dressed fashion editor or model one might care to mention – think quite the finest little black cocktail dresses and a mean line in trench coats. His menswear is gathering momentum too, also boasting a slightly frayed around the edges but discreet luxury that is both commercially viable and fresh. Elbaz himself, a self-deprecating soul never knowingly spotted without a bow tie, is one of the most popular figures in contemporary fashion. The fact that, in a shark-infested world, he appears quite as loveable as his designs only adds to the charm of this increasingly influential label.

Rei Kawakubo: The iconoclast

The high priestess of avant-garde fashion as the founder of Comme des Garçons, Kawakubo has single-handedly overturned modern codes of dress. The transformation of familiar garments into something entirely different, boiled wool, androgyny, even the colour black all owe any current popularity to this fashion superpower, who continues to challenge our preconceptions of what is and isn't wearable season after season.

Kawakubo's fashion is closely scrutinised by every other working designer, to the point where citing her as inspiration is entirely acceptable. This is all the more remarkable given that her recent offerings have included scratchy dresses covered in pompoms and Mickey Mouse ears.

This November, Kawakubo is the designer collaborating with high-street giant H&M, which will bring her more classic designs to a less fashion knowledgeable customer – although hardcore Comme devotees will no doubt find themselves queuing up to buy them too.

Martin Margiela: The invisible man

Margiela has never agreed to a face-to-face interview nor been photographed by the press – indeed his anti-marketing stance goes a long way towards defining him. The New York Times's style magazine recently argued that Margiela's elusive personality made his designs easier for his contemporaries to reference.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in womenswear and 10th in menswear this year, Maison Martin Margiela started life at the end of the 1980s and its lo-fi approach to clothing (reworking found pieces, reversing darts, putting frayed edges proudly on display) were a gentle but potent reaction to power-dressing if ever there was one.

The company is currently expanding rapidly in partnership with Renzo Rosso of the denim company Diesel, but that hasn't reduced its integrity or indeed popularity with every designer, fashion editor and stylist worth mentioning, all of whom wear it.

Vivienne Westwood: The national treasure

The queen of punk, the grande dame of British fashion, Vivienne Westwood is a national institution. And rightly so, as if any name embodies the iconoclastic and make-do-and-mend spirit of young British fashion, it must surely be hers. Westwood is as proudly political and brilliantly outspoken as she is innovative, taking little notice of what other designers are up to in favour of following her own interests, which are tied up with the British tailoring tradition, youth culture and French 18th-century painting in equal measures.

For years, Westwood's idiosyncratic persona detracted from her impact as a serious fashion force, but that is no longer the case. Like Comme des Garçons, Westwood has changed the face of contemporary fashion. It's small wonder, with this in mind, that her archive is referenced by so many of her contemporaries.

Karl Lagerfeld: The icon

Karl Lagerfeld is not only our greatest living couturier, he also has an appetite for youth culture that is insatiable and, indeed, admirable – we all know about his iPod collection and that he slimmed down to a shadow of his former monumental self to fit into jeans designed by his fashionable young friend, Hedi Slimane. As designer of the Chanel label for over a quarter of a century, Lagerfeld could so easily bask in the sunlight of former glories but ' he's too restlessly energised a character for that. He's involved in book publishing, promotes young musicians, shoots his own ad campaigns and his persona is as iconic as the French fashion institution he presides over. This is, then, the original multitasking renaissance designer setting the standard for generations to come.

John Galliano: The artist

When the young British designer John Galliano was appointed creative director at the house of Christian Dior in 1996, the publicity that sprang up around the move was unprecedented. The visionary LVMH chief executive Bernard Arnault couldn't have wished for more. Here was Galliano, the Gibraltan-born son of a south London plumber, heading up a legendary name so steeped in the French bourgeois fashion tradition that the move seemed nothing short of blasphemous. How wrong any of the designer's detractors were.

With Wagnerian audacity, Galliano breathed new life into not only Dior, but the haute-couture schedule in general, and his singular and uncompromising vision has been the high point of the most rarefied of fashion calendars ever since. This designer, who shot to fashion fame in the mid-1980s but struggled for more than a decade to make ends meet, is fashion's showman par excellence, and this theatrical approach is applied to Dior as well as his own womenswear line and his relatively new and ground-breaking menswear line.

Dior continues to expand – the latest addition to the line-up is a mobile phone – and, outside of Dior, Galliano's own main ready-to-wear line is also in the ascendant, with a first fragrance scheduled for later this year.

Alexander McQueen: The visionary

McQueen's vision has always been darker than Galliano's, but this designer, too, has been responsible for some of the greatest shows in fashion history: McQueen has created Perspex catwalks showered with rain and others that burst into flames; and he has required models to skate around a larger-than-life-size snowstorm or stalk the world's most glamorous padded cell.

Since the early 1990s, when the Savile Row-trained designer graduated and the late Isabella Blow famously bought his entire degree collection, McQueen has been the subject of controversy, but that belies both the clarity of his vision and the beauty of his work.

On a street level, the scandalous "bumster" trouser that he pioneered 15 years ago led to the revival of the low-slung hipsters that have been worn ever since. Meanwhile, a spell as creative director at Givenchy gave him access to the French haute-couture ateliers, which gave his work a refinement that continues to develop and now, owned by the Gucci Group (it has a 51 per cent share of his company) McQueen heads up his own brand, which announced profitability for the first time earlier this year.

Jean Paul Gaultier: The rebel

Conical bras, men in skirts, couture crafted in everyday fabrics from camouflage to distressed denim... Now that other designers have assimilated Jean Paul Gaultier's gender-bending, frisky and witty take on fashion, it is all too easy to forget it has its roots here.

Not only is Gaultier's persona larger than life – there was a time when he was probably the most famous fashion designer in the world – he is also the last traditionally trained French-born couturier. When he was overlooked for the top job at Dior in the mid-1990s (John Galliano landed the role instead), he set up his own haute-couture house, which is today a refreshingly contemporary counterpoint to the still mainly frilly and bourgeois designs that otherwise dominate.

Donatella Versace: The glamour puss

Nobody knew, following Gianni Versace's murder in 1997, whether his little sister, Donatella, would be able to step into his shoes. This, after all, was Italy's king of glamour, a highly cultured fashion giant whose baroque aesthetic was beloved by every celebrity from Madonna to – but of course! – Elizabeth Hurley. Versace, it is said, invented the supermodel phenomenon, paying exorbitant fees to have not just one famously beautiful face model in his shows, but them all. His high-camp and even more decadent ad campaigns shot by, among others, Richard Avedon and Bruce Weber, equally set the standard for every other designer.

Donatella's approach, while still based on statement dressing, is relatively restrained and more likely to be inspired by music and film. Andafter a few wobbly years, she is back on track (as are the figures at this family-run business), dressing the beautiful people.

Helmut Lang: The absent friend

There are those working within the fashion industry who feel positively bereft since Helmut Lang took leave of his own label in 2005, creating a yawning gap in the Paris schedule. Lang's brand of resolutely metropolitan style – which touched everything from his dark, skinny tailoring to the way models, male and female, positively stormed around his ground-level catwalk, looking fit for real as well as fashion life – presented an unusually inspirational view of contemporary humanity that remains unsurpassed. The looks he came up with in the late 1990s in particular are busily informing other people's collections just now – from Karl Lagerfeld's signature label to Gap. His ad campaigns from that period were equally ground-breaking, not least because they eschewed the presence of anything so banal as a stitch of clothing.

So what is the designer up to these days? When he's not at home with his chickens in the Hamptons, he has turned his hand to fine art – his first exhibition opened in Hanover last month. Anyone who knows and loves him, however, can't help hoping that he'll make a fashion comeback some time soon.

Hedi Slimane: The renaissance man

Also ripe for a second coming is the menswear designer Hedi Slimane. Slimane was responsible for critically acclaimed menswear collections first at Yves Saint Laurent, where he was employed between 1997 and 1999, then at Dior. During that period he transformed the look of modern menswear, creating the ultra-skinny, androgynous look that was so desirable women started buying it too.

At Dior, Slimane was responsible not just for clothing but also for fragrance and cosmetics lines. He parted company with the luxury label early in 2007 after both sides spent six months trying to reach a new contractual agreement.

As well as being one of the most accomplished fashion designers to emerge in recent years, Slimane, like his admirer Karl Lagerfeld, is something of a renaissance man. He has designed album covers and contributed writing and photography to numerous style and fashion magazines. Everyone who is anyone awaits his return to fashion with anticipation – and a debut in womenswear in particular.

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