AZZEDINE ALAÏA
Azzedine Alaïa (1935-2017) was an independent force in fashion, now synonymous with the sensual glamour of his body-contouring creations. The designer was born to a family of wheat farmers in Tunisia and trained as a sculptor. In 1957, Alaïa moved to Paris work in Christian Dior’s atelier, only to leave five days later due to the escalation of the Algerian War. In the mid-60's, Alaïa set up his first studio, where he soon began to dress members of Parisian high society, including Greta Garbo. During this time, he periodically lent his talents to other designers, namely Guy Laroche and Yves Saint Laurent, for whom he helped to design the iconic Mondrian dresses. His status continued to grow with new high-profile clients such as Madonna, Tina Turner, and Naomi Campbell, a close friend and protégée of the designer since she was 16. In 1985, Alaïa dressed Grace Jones for her role as May Day in the James Bond film A View to Kill.
Known as the “King of Cling,” Alaïa’s ability to sculpt the female form was truly unmatched. He paid careful attention to how even the smallest of details could alter a silhouette. Working primarily in neutral palettes, he eschewed bright color as a distraction from the beauty of the wearer’s curves. Alaïa experimented with the structural properties of textiles, pioneering new uses for stretch fabrics and viscose. He also popularized now-ubiquitous silhouettes including bandage dresses, bodycon, and leggings. Alaïa was extremely devoted to his craft–– he never stopped personally cutting and sewing his own designs. His work was singular in technique. He remained fiercely independent to the fashion establishment, never conforming to the rules pushed upon him. In 2000, the Guggenheim Museum honored Alaïa with a solo retrospective.
MANOLO BLAHNIK
Though his name is now synonymous with glamourous, alluring shoes, Manolo Blahnik (1942-present) never formally studied shoemaking or footwear design. In 1969, Blahnik was studying art when he met Diana Vreeland, who, upon seeing his sketches, told him “Young man, stick to the extremities and make shoes!” He heeded her advice–– only three years later, Blahnik opened the first of his eponymous boutiques in London. His popularity quickly grew, and by the mid-1980s, his work was a staple on the runways. He has collaborated with designers such as Oscar de la Renta, Calvin Klein, Geoffrey Beene, Isaac Mizrahi, and, later, John Galliano. Blahnik is often credited with re-popularizing the stiletto heel, which is now ubiquitous in women’s footwear. Beyond his enduring influence in the fashion world, Blahnik is an important player in pop culture. In 1994, when Princess Diana attended the Serpentine Gallery gala wearing her “revenge dress,” she was also wearing Blahniks. His influence was further cemented by HBO’s Sex and the City, whose protagonist, Carrie Bradshaw, frequently wore and admired Manolo Blahniks. Blahnik also designed many of the court shoes featured in Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette–– the 18th century influence already so present in his work made a perfect match. To this day, Manolo Blahnik continues to design beautiful, instantly recognizable shoes and remains a singular creative voice in the world of footwear.
COMMES DES GARÇONS
Perhaps no contemporary fashion house has transformed the discourse of fashion more distinctly than Comme des Garçons. Though she never formally trained in fashion design, Rei Kawakubo founded Comme des Garçons in 1969 and opened her first boutique a few years later in Tokyo. Her designs were received well in Japan, though international customers would soon find them much more controversial. In 1981, Comme des Garçons' debut in Paris received scathing reviews–– French critics called it “Hiroshima chic.” Kawakubo’s vision of design was unlike anything in mainstream Western culture at the time. Where popular fashion favored shoulder pads, wasp waists, and bright color, Comme des Garçons employed hitherto-unseen deconstructed silhouettes in all black. Despite short-sighted critics, Kawakubo’s wholly new approach to dressing the body would prove incredibly influential. Her title as the “mother of deconstruction” is well-earned. In the late 90’s, Kawakubo began to literally pull her creations apart and put them back together into deformed, avant-garde shapes, often with deliberately non-functional fastenings and sharply exaggerated silhouettes. In recent years, her creations have become increasingly sculptural, further pushing the boundaries of what fashion can be. Despite her early penchant for all-black, Kawakubo has since seen the light and works in a wider range of color.
One of the Comme des Garçons’ greatest strengths is its adaptability. Over the years, the house has branched out into many different lines, all of which create new avenues for innovation and allow the house to reach people from all walks of life. Though Kawakubo still spearheads Comme des Garçons, she is not its only creative voice. Junya Watanabe began working for the brand in 1984 as a pattern cutter before working his way up as Kawakubo’s protégé. In 1992, Watanabe began designing under his own name for Comme des Garçons. He brings a distinct, fresh approach to the house’s ethos, often re-interpreting classic pieces such as motorcycle jackets and workwear staples with countercultural influences.
In 2017, Kawakubo was the second living designer to ever be honored with an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. If its history is any indication, Comme des Garçons will continue to foray into strange beauty and propel the future of fashion forward.
JEAN PAUL GAULTIER
Fashion’s "enfant terrible", Jean Paul Gaultier (1952-present) paves his own way. Even as a young child, he had a remarkable vision for iconoclastic fashion. Inspired by the lingerie in his grandmother’s magazines, six-year-old Gaultier made a cone bra for his teddy bear, Nana, out of newsprint. At age 18, he began his career as an assistant to Pierre Cardin, and shortly after launched his eponymous label in 1976. Daring, irreverent, and risqué, Gaultier’s designs are always on the cutting edge. He draws inspiration from sources as far-flung as the Eiffel Tower, Edgar Degas, cowboys, bondage, human musculature, French mariners, and mermaids. During his tenure as the creative director of Hermès from 2003 to 2010, Gaultier playfully riffed on the house’s heritage, creating the highly sought-after ‘So Black’ Birkin, Shadow Birkin, and Kelly Danse, among many others.
Gaultier remains a force in popular culture. Since 1985, his collaborations with Madonna have been lightning in a bottle. Gaultier has designed countless legendary looks for Madonna, including the iconic cone bra, and set into motion the enduring underwear-as-outerwear trend. Among his other famous clients are Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman, and Kurt Cobain. Gaultier’s influence reaches beyond runways and red carpets–– his boundless imagination for fantasy has proved equally fruitful in the world of film. In 1997, he designed over 1000 spectacularly over-the-top, retro-futurist costumes for Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element, including the iconic ensembles worn by Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod and Milla Jovovich as Leeloo. Gaultier also designed the costumes for Pedro Almodóvar’s films Kika, Bad Education, and The Skin I Live In. Though he announced his retirement from couture in 2020, Gaultier continues to work on creative projects. A true visionary, Jean Paul Gaultier has forever changed the culture of fashion.
BOB MACKIE
Bob Mackie (1940-present) is, without a doubt, the king of glitz. As a young child, he was enchanted by Old Hollywood glamour. The influence of stars such as Lana Turner and Betty Grable stuck with him creatively and physically–– he has a scar on his chin from falling down the stairs in platform heels while dressed up as Carmen Miranda at age 5. At 21, Mackie worked for costumer Jean Louis, where he designed the dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to John F. Kennedy. Soon after, he started working at Paramount Studios under the legendary Edith Head. In 1963, Mackie started in the costume department of The Judy Garland Show. It was there he met designer Ray Aghayan, his lifelong creative and romantic partner. He designed every costume for The Carol Burnett Show for its entire run from 1967 to 1978, averaging more than 60 looks per week for a whopping grand total of 17,000. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s, he outfitted many Las Vegas showgirls in extravagant feathery creations. Mackie has designed countless iconic looks, including nearly every Cher costume (such as her “revenge dress” from the 1986 Oscars and the “naked” dress), Diana Ross as Billie Holiday, Sharon Stone in Casino, Elton John as Donald Duck, Tina Turner, Ann-Margaret, Mitzi Gaynor, Ethel Merman, RuPaul, Liza Minnelli, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand–– the list is truly endless. Another favored client is Barbie, for whom Mackie has designed many spectacular gowns in miniature. Over the years, he has won 9 Emmy Awards, been nominated for 3 Academy Awards, and most recently a Tony Award. Beyond stage and screen, he has also designed numerous runway collections. Throughout this prodigious career, the "sultan of sequins” has maintained his unmistakable design identity while continuing to evolve, always onto an exciting venture.
ISSEY MIYAKE
The inimitable, sculptural creations of Issey Miyake (1938-2022) bridge the gap between the gallery, runway, and street. Born and raised in Hiroshima, Miyake survived the atomic bombing at age 7 with a permanent limp, and soon after lost his mother to radiation poisoning. He became an advocate for nuclear disarmament in his later life. From a young age, Miyake was drawn to create and believed strongly in the interconnectedness of the arts. As far back as 1960, Miyake campaigned that clothing deserves appreciation for its design in the same way as architecture or furniture. After graduating from Tokyo’s Tama Art University in 1964 with a degree in graphic design, Miyake worked in Paris and New York under designers including Hubert de Givenchy and Geoffrey Beene. In 1971, he founded his eponymous design studio. Almost immediately, Miyake was lauded as a luminary. His work was soon everywhere from the cover of Artforum to the dancers of the Frankfurt Ballet.
Behind this success was his innovative approach of clothing the body as a singular entity, greater than the sum of its parts. His creations were simultaneously artful and no-fuss, leaving both their sculptural silhouettes and their wearers unhindered by fastenings or defined waistlines. Though his designs are commonly interpreted as avant-garde or abstract, Miyake cited his greatest influence as the natural human form and sought to create clothing as wearable as jeans and T-shirts. In fact, it was Miyake who designed Steve Jobs’s signature turtlenecks, which he favored for their modularity and ease. In 1988, Miyake began to explore pleating–– perhaps the technique for which he is best remembered–– and in 1993 launched the wildly popular Pleats Please line. He developed experimental methods of fabric manipulation, mixing industrial techniques such as heat-setting with traditional craft to produce wholly unique textures as practical and durable as they are beautiful. In 1998, Miyake began A-POC, or “a piece of cloth,” a project to create garments cut from a single tube of jersey, creating almost zero waste. Miyake’s contributions to the arts are innumerable, though he viewed his own work with remarkable humility. He was a founding director of 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Japan’s first design museum, and was himself honored in exhibitions everywhere from the Museum of Modern Art to Tokyo’s Folk Craft Museum. A creator in the truest sense, Issey Miyake forever transformed the possibilities of what clothing can be.
EMILIO PUCCI
The “Prince of Prints” Emilio Pucci (1914-1992) began his career in fashion designing skiwear. An avid skier himself, Pucci started designing ski suits in 1947 and lending them to female friends. On a trip to the Swiss Alps, Pucci and his friends caught the attention of Harper’s Bazaar photographer Toni Frissell. The pictures were published in the December 1948 issue, and shortly after, Diana Vreeland, then an editor at the magazine, encouraged him to design a women's skiwear collection. He seized the opportunity, debuting his first collection in 1950, and quickly became a pioneer in Italian fashion. In 1951, he was selected to present his designs in the first-ever Italian fashion show in Florence. Pucci designed for the modern woman, whose jet-set, active lifestyle necessitated ease-of-movement without compromising style. Though this concept is now taken for granted, it was groundbreaking at the time. In 1954, Pucci won the Neiman Marcus Fashion Award for his innovative use of stretch fabrics, launching the brand’s incredible popularity in the U.S. Pucci is known as the “Prince of Prints” for a reason––the iconic abstract, psychedelic patterns in brilliant colorways were a fixture of his work from the beginning. He drew inspiration for his prints from Sicilian mosaics, the Palio di Siena horse race, the artworks of Botticelli and Brunelleschi, Balinese batiks, and cultural dress throughout Africa and South America, among others. His influence was further cemented by Marilyn Monroe, who loved his designs and was frequently photographed in them. So did Jackie Kennedy–– Pucci was a fixture of her iconic vacation style. Pucci was also very accomplished in the public sphere. He was a member of the Italian Parliament from 1963 to 1972. In 1971, he designed the logo for NASA’s Apollo 15 mission. In 1991, Pucci won the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America award, bookending his success in the fashion industry 40 years after his debut.
SONIA RYKIEL
“Queen of Knits” Sonia Rykiel (1930-2016) never intended to be a designer. Rykiel originally entered fashion to fill the niche of flattering and comfortable women’s knitwear–– a breath of fresh air compared to the existing options, which were almost universally thick, scratchy, and shapeless. In 1962, Rykiel designed her first dresses and sweaters with shrunken, figure-hugging fits and high-cut armholes, which she sold in her husband’s boutique on Paris’s Left Bank. The “poor boy” sweater, as it would soon become known, was a near-instant phenomenon, especially after Françoise Hardy wore one on the cover of French Elle in 1963. Audrey Hepburn bought them in fourteen colors.
Rykiel designed for a sophisticated, distinctly modern woman, as she understood women’s needs and desires in a way that male designers could not. She was integral to the development of the effortlessly chic “Parisian” style. Her work is known for its restrained silhouettes and all-black styling, many years before the minimalist wave associated with Belgian and Japanese designers. Rykiel also popularized putting slogans onto clothes. In 1971, after reading a magazine article that described her as “sensuous,” Rykiel designed a sweater boldly emblazoned with the word. In 1974, she was among the first to design garments intended to be worn inside out–– the visible seams reminded her of the vaults of a cathedral. In the decades following, Rykiel’s success continued to grow. She introduced children’s clothes and accessory collections, as well as several successful perfumes, but it was a point of pride for Rykiel that she maintained creative autonomy by never licensing out her brand and designing only under her own name. Rykiel’s legacy as a singular force in design continues to empower women in fashion.
YVES SAINT LAURENT RIVE GAUCHE
Though it now seems impossible that fashion could exist without ready-to-wear, no couturier had ever designed and produced clothes specifically for the average woman until Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008) opened the first of his Rive Gauche boutiques in 1966. Even before founding his eponymous couture house in 1962, Yves Saint Laurent expressed interest in creating clothing that was accessible and functional for people beyond traditional couture patrons. Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé chose to realize this concept in the Latin Quarter of Paris’s Left Bank, known as “Rive Gauche” in French, for its bohemian, countercultural spirit. The boutique was an immediate success. Its vibrant, somewhat androgynous offerings quickly became a phenomenon among the Parisian youth. Icons of 1960s and 1970s style such as Francoise Hardy, Catherine Deneuve, and Talitha Getty frequently wore Rive Gauche. Major media attention spread this fervor around the globe, and Saint Laurent soon opened Rive Gauche boutiques in New York, Milan, Saint-Tropez, Munich, and many other cities. As his career progressed, Saint Laurent felt increasingly that, because the world of haute couture was so disconnected from the realities of modern life, Rive Gauche was a truer mode of expression than his couture house could ever be. With this, Yves Saint Laurent was among the first couturiers to recognize that fashion trickles up as well as down. This brand set the model for prêt-à-porter, soon to take the fashion world by storm.
YOHJI YAMAMOTO
Yohji Yamamoto’s ever-forward trajectory puts his work in a class all its own. But the designer, born in Tokyo in 1943, didn’t start his career chasing the avant-garde. As a young man, working in his mother’s dressmaking shop, Yamamoto felt a calling to dress women in men’s clothes to shield them from harm and provide respite from the revealing fashions of the time. After graduating from Bunka Fashion College, he debuted his first collection in Tokyo in 1977, then in Paris by 1981. Yamamoto has always blurred the line between couture and ready-to-wear, mixing elements of athletic gear with abstract silhouettes and masterful tailoring. Since 2002, Y-3, his line in collaboration with Adidas, has been wildly successful in stimulating the dialogue between the runways and the streets. Though he takes inspiration from far beyond his own culture, Yamamoto’s vision of deconstructed elegance exemplifies the Japanese aesthetic philosophy of wabi-sabi, the appreciation of beauty that is slightly imperfect, transient, or undone. He works primarily in black, which he values for its ability to swallow light. Asymmetrical cuts, fluid silhouettes, unconventional draping, and unfinished seams are hallmarks of the designer’s work. Yamamoto is known for bringing the artistic and philosophical movement of deconstructivism into fashion in the 1990s. In 2011, the designer was honored with a solo career retrospective at the Victoria & Albert Museum and was awarded the high title of Commander by the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. At 80, Yamamoto continues to design, ever on the cutting edge.
