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06. TOM FORD | Designer and Film Director
Tom Ford by Steven Meisel | Source: Vogue.com
While the rest of the industry falls in love with the moving image and struggles to produce credible five-minute shorts about their collections, Tom Ford has already managed to produce a feature – and what’s more, A Single Man proved to be the most important fashion film ever made.
And while the rest of the industry bares its innards to the world – Follow us on Twitter! See our broadcasts on Facebook! Watch our show live on our website! – Ford shuts the door on transparency and cranks up the mythology, letting in only a handpicked elite to see his show (for which he secured every top model, might we add) and making the rest of the world wait till Steven Meisel’s photos of the collection were finally released.
Tom Ford keeps proving that he understands the culture of high-fashion better than anyone – and where he leads, the rest still follow.
Further reading: Vogue.com
Web: TomFord.com
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07. NICOLA FORMICHETTI | Stylist and Creative Director of Thierry Mugler
Nicola Formichetti by Mariano Vivanco | Source: Style.com
It’s the extent of his reach as much as the breadth of his imagination that makes Nicola Formichetti the highest-ranking stylist on our list. The sheer volume of his magazine work is vast enough: Dazed, Another, Another Man, V, V Man, Arena Homme Plus… And then there’s Vogue Hommes Japan, his personal ideas lab, which he has made the most powerful Japanese-language publication in the global fashion industry. On top of all this, he’s one of the few stylists who fully understands both the high end and the street, as comfortable consulting for Prada and Missoni as Adidas, Nike and Stüssy. And the high street too: to Uniqlo, where he is fashion director, he has brought a colourful and contemporary classicism that steers clear of both ephemeral trends and cautious conservatism.
But it’s his role as the personal design director for Lady Gaga, the biggest mainstream avant-garde pop star since Bowie, that has taken him to his broadest audience. Showcasing the likes of Armani Privé alongside obscure new designers, her looks are a testament to his full-spectrum eclecticism, which stretches all the way from the populist to the pretentious. Through her image, he has made spectacular freakishness covetable in even the most provincial backwaters of small-town conformity, orchestrating not so much a new trend as a cultural phenomenon. Given his penchant for theatrical futuro-absurdism, it was only a matter of time before he was tapped by Thierry Mugler, and we’re confident that as its creative director he can restore the neglected house to the glory days of its founder. His first season as creative director overseeing the men’s and women’s collections will show this February. We are very excited and expect great things.
Further reading: The New York Times
Web: nicolaformichetti.blogspot.com
Twitter: @formichetti
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08. RICCARDO TISCI | Creative Director of Givenchy
Riccardo Tisci by Mario Sorrenti | Source: Vogue Paris
There’s no doubt that Riccardo Tisci’s Italian gothic vision of femininity — severe, androgynous, romantic — has dominated womenswear for the past two years.
He has also pushed a progressive gender agenda in his communication that the industry is still racing to keep up with, championing transgender model Lea T in his womenswear ads and women in his men’s collections, while reinventing couture by banishing those big old ball gowns. All eyes are now on Tisci to see if he can maintain the momentum he has gathered by being one step ahead at all times.
Further reading: Dazed Digital
Web: Givenchy.com
Twitter: @givenchy
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09. THE FRENCH VOGUE GANG | Emmanuelle Alt, Carine Roitfeld and Anastasia Barbieri
Vogue Paris 90th Anniversary Issue featuring Lara Stone | Photo: xxx
It’s 10 years since Carine Roitfeld’s takeover at Vogue Paris rejuvenated not only the magazine but the city itself — she became a hub around which the most exciting designers of recent times moved and emerged — and still her power has yet to wane.
Emmanuelle Alt meanwhile has played a definitive role in bringing Balmain and Isabel Marant the success they enjoy. With Anastasia Barbieri they define what ‘best-dressed’ means for the rest of the world, enlightening the high end through their pages and the rest of the world through their own image, now that they’re blogger bait and paparazzi fodder. In short, they are the women the other girls want to dress like, both inside fashion and well beyond.
Further reading: New York Magazine
Web: Vogue.fr
Twitter: @VogueParisLive
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10. JOE McKENNA | Stylist
Joe McKenna by Bruce Weber | Source: New York Times
He sets a standard for precision and perfection that everyone else in his business respects and aspires to: the stylist’s stylist, who brings the same precision to every job he tackles, whether it’s Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, +J for Uniqlo or Cos. Self Service has even devoted a well earned tribute cover to his unique style.
Further reading: The New York Times
