10 Most Influential Female Designers Throughout Fashion History
Celebrating the ladies who left their mark on the fashion industry.
Today’s fashion is diverse, dynamic and developmental. It has the power to shape who we are and bring out the best in us. A lot of what we wear is a creative byproduct by some amazing women, be it a little black dress, a risque miniskirt or a vegan leather handbag.
While we continue to obsess about the future of fashion in this digital era, we should also pay homage to the wondrous women that have played a significant role in the industry. Here, we highlight 10 of the most influential female designers of the 20th and 21st centuries and some of their notable achievements.
This French designer has a legacy unlike any other. The Little Black Dress was popularised by Coco Chanel in the 1920s during The Great Depression, catering to women who wanted to dress elegantly on a budget.
During this time, she took inspiration from the functionality of menswear by adopting soft jersey fabric into her collections. After a solid decade running her own house, Chanel closed it due to World War II.
However, she wasn’t finished. When the war ended, she returned to fashion at the age of 71 and continued to design for modern women, which birthed the classic Chanel suit that serves as a symbol of opulence and wealth in today’s context.
Schiaparelli has garnered amazing reviews for its recent collections that are heavily based on art but before the brand's founder dived into surrealism, Elsa Schiaparelli’s first shop in 1927 was called “Pour Le Sport” (For Sports).
Thankfully, she didn’t box herself into activewear. Schiaparelli’s genius steered towards the creation of witty garments and accessories such as a pair of gloves that look like hands — inspired by a similar artwork of Pablo Picasso and Man Ray.
She was also known for collaborating with the greatest artists of her era such as Salvador Dalí and Christian Bérard – the latter helped Schiaparelli create a particular shade of pink named “Shocking Pink”.
Related article: See All The Looks From Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2022
Mary Quant played a big role in empowering young British women of the 1960s to take control of their own lives. Women were done with stuffy skirts and muted tones, especially when the world was dealing with the after-effects of the war – they wanted something fresh and bold.
Quant was one of the designers who made the miniskirt and hot pants popular, quickly spreading across Britain and Europe. Rebellious teens were obsessed with the shortened hemlines as much as they were enthralled by the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
Fast forward to the present day, Quant’s designs have been sampled and reinvented by various fashion houses such as Miu Miu, Versace and Chanel.
Speaking of designers for the rebellious, Vivenne Westwood continues to be an icon for her contemporary and subversive collections. In 1971, she opened a shop in London named “Let It Rock”.
This store specialised in punk clothing and catered to the youth who found society to be oppressive. Keeping true to the delinquent aesthetic, her designs incorporated leather jackets and boots in biker silhouettes and plaid bondage coats and dresses.
As the punk movement moved into the mainstream, Westwood shifted her focus to sexy body-shaping garments. She was one of the first designers to bring corsets in various jacquard prints to the surface of womenswear rather than as an undergarment.
Luxury house Prada has existed since 1913 but the family business only dealt in leather goods until Miuccia Prada took the reins in 1978. Prada’s rebrand was inevitable as she launched its first functional nylon bags.
Besides pushing the potential of minimalistic fashion to its limit, Miuccia is also a savvy businesswoman. With no intentions to dilute Prada’s luxury status, she created the diffusion line Miu Miu in 1994 to cater to younger women with less spending power. Where can we sign up for her masterclass in being a boss?
In 2020, she roped in Raf Simons as her co-creative director to take her brand to greater heights.
Related article: Review Of Prada Fall/Winter 2022 Collection
Diane von Fürstenburg is proof that women can do anything. Describing her career as a “rollercoaster”, she not only popularised the wrap dress, she also started her own cosmetic company. Alas, she sold everything when the business went south and established a publishing firm in Paris. However, her love for fashion could not be stopped.
In the 1990s, she brought the wrap dress back and used TV shopping channels to catapult herself back to the top of the fashion industry food chain. Since then, she has achieved several notable accolades, including serving as the chairwoman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and starting the DVF Awards that empower extraordinary women.
Donatella Versace was inducted as the creative head of Versace after the tragic murder of her brother Gianna but over the years, she has proved to be a formidable force in her own right.
In 2000, Donatella designed the “jungle dress” for Jennifer Lopez, which took the 42nd Grammys red carpet by storm. The flowing gown was the first viral outfit ever because it single-handedly launched the Internet tool that we know dearly as “Google Images”.
Due to that one fateful moment, Donatella was mounted as a designer to the stars and worked with many A-listers over the years such as Lady Gaga, Madonna and Beyonce.
Many know Stella McCartney for revolutionising the Parisian brand Chloé in 1997 as the artistic director, just two years after graduating from Central St Martins. While she brought great commercial success to the label with her modern tailoring and shapes, her biggest achievement is rooted in sustainable fashion.
As a devout vegetarian and animal rights activist, McCartney has never used leather, plumage, and in her designs since she started her own label in 2001; instead, using recycled cashmere and pleather instead.
In recent years, McCartney has gone to great lengths to innovate sustainable materials such as phylon, which is a type of industrial waste, and vegan leather derived from mushrooms.
Related article: Why Luxury Brands Like Hermès And Stella McCartney Are Turning To Mushrooms
Phoebe Philo was applauded for designing for the female gaze during her tenure at Celine, where she transformed women’s fashion by injecting her own spin on what everyday women would want to wear and not what they were expected to wear by others. Her collections featured simple cuts that were devoid of bells, whistles and bling.
Before Celine, she worked with her friend Stella McCartney at Chloé as her first assistant. After the departure of McCartney, Philo took over the reins as the creative director of Celine.
Now, lauded as one of the greatest designers of our generation, Philo’s return to fashion — after a a three-year hiatus — through her eponymous brand under the LVMH family is highly anticipated.
3D printing is not reserved for product design or architectural feats anymore. Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen has gobsmacked the world with her technologically-infused haute couture collections in the past few years.
Van Herpen has a dedicated art, architecture, engineering and technology team housed in her Amsterdam atelier where all the magic happens. Garments range from angelic works of art that flutter with the slightest draft to intimidating armour-like dresses that makes you ponder on how it was constructed.
The world is her oyster and she is open to all sorts of materials – iron wool, silicone, resin, and the list goes on. As we move into the metaverse, we cannot wait to see what she has installed.