The Most Influential Fashion Designers Of All Time

Samantha Dillinger
Updated October 1, 2023 7.5K votes 721 voters
Over 700 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Most Influential Fashion Designers Of All Time
Voting Rules
Vote up the designers who have influenced the world of fashion the most with their body of work
Latest additions: Martin Margiela, Alexander Wang, Kenzo Takada
Most divisive: Donna Karan

This is a list of the most influential fashion designers. Throughout history, fashion designers have influenced the simple things we wear every day, even if we don't realize it or see their work on the catwalk.

From names most associated with shoes or underwear like Jimmy Choo or Calvin Klein, or names that dressed the stars like Edith Head, these influential fashion designers have woven their way into our closets over the decades. Some designers' names are synonymous with their brand and style, like Giorgio Armani, Marc Jacobs, and Vivienne Westwood.

All of these fashion designers have created amazing bodies of work and influenced what we wear every day, but it's more difficult to determine who has truly left their mark. Even if some of the names are new to you, their brands and designs are familiar. It’s up to you to help determine which designers have made, or are making, the most influence on fashion.

Ranked by
  • Coco Chanel
    1

    Coco Chanel

    Saumur, France
    305 votes
    • Age: Dec. at 87 (1883-1971)
    Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer, businesswoman, and Nazi collaborator. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with liberating women from the constraints of the "corseted silhouette" and popularizing a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of style. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel extended her influence beyond couture clothing, realizing her design aesthetic in jewellery, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product. She is the only fashion designer listed on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Chanel herself designed her famed interlocked-CC monogram, which has been in use since the 1920s.Chanel's social connections encouraged a conservative personal outlook. Rumors arose about Chanel's activities during the German occupation of France during World War II, and she was criticized for being too close to the German occupiers: One of Chanel's liaisons was with a German diplomat, Baron (Freiherr) de:Hans Günther von Dincklage. After the war, Chanel was interrogated about her relationship with von Dincklage, but she was not charged as a collaborator due to intervention by Churchill. After several post-war years in Switzerland, she returned to Paris and revived her fashion house. In 2011, Hal Vaughan published a book about Chanel based on newly declassified documents, revealing that she had collaborated with German intelligence activities. One plan in late-1943 was for her to carry an SS peace overture to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to end the war.
  • Christian Dior
    2

    Christian Dior

    Granville, France
    266 votes
    • Age: Dec. at 52 (1905-1957)
    Christian Dior (French pronunciation: ​[kʁistjɑ̃ djɔːʁ]; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior, which is now owned by Groupe Arnault. His fashion houses are now all around the world.
  • Yves Saint Laurent
    3

    Yves Saint Laurent

    Oran, Algeria
    253 votes
    • Age: Dec. at 71 (1936-2008)
    Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent (French: [iv sɛ̃ lɔʁɑ̃]; 1 August 1936 – 1 June 2008), professionally known as Yves Saint-Laurent, was a French fashion designer who, in 1961, founded his eponymous fashion label. He is regarded as being among the foremost fashion designers in the twentieth century. In 1985, Caroline Rennolds Milbank wrote, "The most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the couture's rise from its 1960s ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear reputable." He was able to adapt his style to accommodate the changes in fashion during that period. He approached fashion in a different perspective by wanting women to look comfortable yet elegant at the same time. He is also credited with having introduced the tuxedo suit for women and was known for his use of non-European cultural references, and non-white models.
  • Alexander McQueen
    4

    Alexander McQueen

    London Borough of Lewisham, London, United Kingdom
    270 votes
    • Age: Dec. at 40 (1969-2010)
    Lee Alexander McQueen, CBE (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He worked as chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001, and founded his own fort Alexander McQueen label in 1992. His achievements in fashion earned him four British Designer of the Year awards (1996, 1997, 2001 and 2003), as well as the CFDA's International Designer of the Year award in 2003. McQueen died by suicide in 2010, at the age of 40, at his home in Mayfair, London.
  • Gianni Versace
    5

    Gianni Versace

    Reggio Calabria, Italy
    241 votes
    • Age: Dec. at 50 (1946-1997)
    Giovanni Versace (Italian: [ˈdʒovanni verˈsaːtʃe]; 2 December 1946 – 15 July 1997) was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Versace, an international fashion house that produces accessories, fragrances, make-up, home furnishings, and clothes. He also designed costumes for theatre and films. As a friend of Eric Clapton; Diana, Princess of Wales; Naomi Campbell; Duran Duran; Kate Moss; Madonna; Elton John; Cher; Sting; Tupac; The Notorious B.I.G.; and many other celebrities, he was one of the first designers to link fashion to the music world. He and his partner Antonio D'Amico were regulars on the international party scene. On 15 July 1997, Versace was shot and killed outside his Miami Beach mansion Casa Casuarina at the age of 50.
  • Giorgio Armani
    6

    Giorgio Armani

    Piacenza, Italy
    178 votes
    • Age: 89
    Giorgio Armani (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒordʒo arˈmaːni]; born 11 July 1934) is an Italian fashion designer. He is known today for his clean, tailored lines. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, and by 2001 was acclaimed as the most successful designer of Italian origin, with an annual turnover of $1.6 billion and a personal fortune of $8.1 billion as of 2017. He is credited with pioneering red-carpet fashion.