Designing lives: Top 10 fashion trendsetters of all time

In a world of fashion more eclectic than at any other time in history, it might surprise today's style connoisseur that the business of trendsetting was once governed by a few elite social figures; there was little diversity of inspiration and women generally wore versions of the same basic silhouette. In fact, until recently, pace-setting divas and their favorite designers exerted a near monopoly in fashion innovation. So who are the sartorial sensations who defined the look of their eras? Look no further! Examiner.com pays tribute to some of the great style icons of past and present, and the fashion moguls who helped craft their image:

Queen Marie Antoinette The extravagant, high-spirited Queen of France, best remembered for her sad fate, was aided and abetted to spectacular heights by her often dictatorial court dressmakerRose Bertin, whose pannier ball gowns and fantastic headdresses set the vogue throughout Europe during the late 18th century.

Empress Eugenie French royalty furnished another celebrated leader of fashion in the mid-19th century in the person of the impulsive and beautiful consort of Napoleon III. Assisted by British-born designer Charles Frederick Worth, legendary as Paris’ virtuosic couture pioneer, the empress’ hoop skirts and bustles defined chic in the Victorian age.

Irene Castle Fresh-faced, bobbed and uncorseted, the American ballroom dancer, partnered by dapper husband Vernon, shot to fame on Broadway in the early 1900s. Castle was a key transitional figure in culture and style, as the swirling chiffon gowns designed for her by the flamboyant Lucile (Lady Duff Gordon) set the pace of fashion and presaged the look of the jazz age.

Gabrielle Chanel No designer in history stamped a more endurable personal imprint on fashion than the inimitable ‘Coco,’ who embodied impeccable simplicity as surely as any of her swagger clientele in the 1920s and ‘30s.

Wallis, Duchess of Windsor Not beautiful but possessing an individuality and crisp smartness unequaled in the annals of style, the American divorcee turned society and fashion on end when King Edward VIII abdicated to marry her in 1937. The Windsors’ nuptials in the south of France made headlines only slightly greater than those accorded the duchess’ trim, faultlessly tailored wedding dress and trousseau supplied by conservatively chicMainbocher (Main Rousseau Bocher), the first major American-born Paris designer.

Audrey Hepburn The sleek Hollywood star — and her favorite clothier Hubert de Givenchy — exerted tremendous influence on taste in the 1950s and ‘60s. The consummate fusion of Givenchy’s spare, chic dresses to Hepburn’s fabulous face and figure was such that the success of one without the other seems inconceivable.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Never more aptly demonstrated than in that year of crisis 1963, the charm of America’s First Lady and the quietly sophisticated output of her official designer Oleg Cassini, conspired to create one of the 20th century’s most enduring fashion images. A legacy of glamour and pathos characterizes this most fateful partnership between celebrityand couturier.

Diana, Princess of Wales There has been no more inspirational or tragic personality in recent memory than the late Princess Diana, whose grace imbued fashion with a romance long absent from the field. In association with scores of designers – but most regularly London’s Catherine Walker — Princess Di’s clothes sense developed from the soft and feminine to the bold and streamlined, charting her own personal path, one cut short but ingrained in public consciousness.

Madonna One of the most controversial figures of modern times, the singer and actress has amused, shocked and touched the world. Her ever-changing, if consistently avant-garde, public image, through two decades as pop icon, stimulated fashion internationally. In brilliant cooperation with such European designers as the late greatGianni Versace, Madonna’s clothes, from underwear-as-outerwear to gala gowns, were perpetual fashion news in the 1980s, ‘90s and early 2000s. Last year she was the face of Versace's Spring 2015 campaign.

Kate Middleton (Duchess of Cambridge) Today’s fashion trendsetters are more diverse than ever, with such names as First Lady Michelle Obama, actresses Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker and singersBeyoncé and Jennifer Lopez vying for honorable mention. But the slick modernity of the future Queen of England tops all comers. The duchess’ understated elegance has yet to fail her, and her choice of designers, from Alexander McQueen to Emilia Wickstead, are excitingly varied and impactful.

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