12 Famous Fashion Designers In History

 For over 100 years, many fashion designers have greatly influenced how we dress.

The 20th century saw the development of the couture industry and the introduction of many silhouettes and styles that revolutionized womenswear. From Chanel’s Little Black Dress to Dior’s New Look, to Saint Laurent’s Tuxedo, this article covers some of the most iconic pieces, introduced by designers from the late 19th century to the 1970s.

Although it’s impossible to sum up the long fashion history and speak about every fashion designer in one article, we would like to share with you about 12 famous fashion designers in history whom you absolutely need to know about.

12 Famous Fashion Designers In History

Charles Frederick Worth

The first fashion designer in the modern sense of the term was Charles Frederick Worth, an English gentleman born in 1825 who dominated Parisian fashion in the late 19th century. Charles Frederick Worth is widely considered to be the father of haute couture. He founded the first true Couture House – the House of Worth – in 1858 at 7, rue de la Paix in Paris. This event marked the birth of the haute couture industry. The couturier also became the first to recognize and implement a business model based around a single collection, staging salon shows.

At Worth’s time, a new demand for luxury goods had to be met as it reached new levels never seen before the French Revolution. He even gained the support and custom of the fashionable empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III of France. Worth’s designs stood out; he was a successful and popular dressmaker from the 1860’s onwards – the first designer to become globally known as such, – and celebrated in the field of fashion.

Source: The Italian Rêve

Paul Poiret

The decade of the 1910s was the reign of French designer Paul Poiret, known in America as “The King of Fashion” and “Le Magnifique” in Paris. 

Influenced by the rise of Orientalism at the Beginning of the 20th century and Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Paul Poiret was inspired to create harem pants for women, known as “The Fancy Dress” costume, created in 1911.

Other notable designs made by Paul Poiret include the Lampshade Dress, and the Hobble Skirt, which reached its peak popularity in 1910 but didn’t last long as fashion began moving away from constrictive silhouettes.

Paul Poiret is also credited for being the first designer to introduce fragrances. In 1911, Paul Poiret launched “Parfums de Rosine,” a subsidiary company named after his daughter. This venture marked the first time a fashion designer extended their brand into the realm of perfumery.

The Hobble Skirt. Source: Wikipedia

The Lampshade Dress. Source: Reddit

Harem Pants. Source: Pinterest

Coco Chanel

One of the first designers to become famous worldwide was Gabrielle Coco Chanel. The legendary couturière revolutionized womenswear and profoundly impacted the way women dress from as early as the 1910s to nowadays. In an era where corsets and elaborate dresses were the norm, Chanel introduced a revolutionary concept: comfortable and functional fashion. She liberated women from the constraints of traditional clothing, defying all societal norms regarding style, embracing simplicity, and championing the idea that women could be both stylish and comfortable. 

Chanel’s Little Black Dress, introduced on the pages of Vogue in 1926, brought a sense of elegance paired with comfort and timelessness to the designs

Chanel also popularized pieces and fabrics reserved for menswear in women’s fashion, such as the Jersey Sweater and the Tweed Jacket.

In 1921, Chanel added to her ready-to-wear offering her first-ever perfume Chanel N°5. Coco Chanel was looking for a fragrance to represent the modern woman – “a woman’s perfume, with the scent of a woman” -, as she said, and, of course, her own style and personality. 

Source: Coco Chanel – Weebly

Source: DW

Cristobal Balenciaga 

Cristóbal Balenciaga was a famous Spanish fashion designer who opened his first workshop in San Sebastian in 1917. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Balenciaga moved to Paris in 1937 and opened his couture house on 10 Avenue Georges V the same year. 

Balenciaga’s first collection didn’t exactly make an immediate impression on the editors and buyers because his designs didn’t stand out among those of French couturiers. However, Balenciaga soon found his distinctive trait and ended up conquering the Parisian fashion scene.

Famed for his exquisite craftsmanship, innovative designs, and garment construction technique, Cristóbal Balenciaga was known as “The Master’ of haute couture”. He never sketched, preferring to work with the fabric directly. He said, “A couturier must be an architect for design, a sculptor for shape, a painter for color, a musician for harmony, and a philosopher for temperance.” 

One of the most iconic creations introduced by the great Balenciaga is the Sack Dress, which rivaled the Dior New Look.

Source: Glamour

Elsa Schiaparelli

The Italian-French Elsa Schiaparelli, who opened her first atelier in 1927, was a remarkable couturier who popularized sportswear and pushed forward simple, elegant, and at the same time bold fashion. The Trompe l’oeil sweater, the Lobster dress, the shoe hat, and the Shocking pink dress and fragrance are among Elsa’s most memorable creations. 

Source: Fashion Institute of Technology

Source: Schiaparelli.com

Source: Pinterest

Elsa Schiaparelli was a Surrealist, always looking to offer women something surprising and irreverent, She was arguably the first designer to make high fashion amusing by pointing out its funny side. Because of that, her fashion was not to everyone’s liking; Coco Chanel was her n#1 arch-enemy, who publicly referred to Elsa Schiaparelli as “that Italian artist who is making clothes.” However, Elsa was not afraid of the competition. She ran a very successful business and many clients and designers including Yves Saint Laurent praised her iconoclastic spirit.

Pierre Balmain

Pierre Balmain founded his eponymous house in 1945, offering ultra-feminine gowns that were like a breath of fresh air after a long decade dominated by utilitarian garments. The French couturier is best known as the go-to costume designer for iconic Hollywood actresses of the ‘50s and ‘60s, and his signature “Jolie Madame” aesthetic. 

Initially, “Jolie Madame” (“Beautiful Lady”) was a perfume, which was the first one Pierre Balmain created, in 1949. He defined it as “the perfume of adventure for evenings of passion and enchantment.” The success was such that the couturier decided to give his Fall/Winter 1952 Haute Couture collection the same name, “Jolie Madame”. 

Source: ICON-ICON

“Jolie Madame” was destined for post-war Parisian women who started emancipating themselves in the 50s, and could show their power through the innovative Balmain’s designs. The introduction of such an opulent and elegant style, and noble materials, contrasted indeed with the utilitarian style of the 40 and became known as “the New French Style”, as Gertrude Stein defined it in Vogue magazine.

“Jolie Madame”, mostly seen on evening gowns, was characterized by a structured silhouette, with marked shoulders, underlined chest, and a cinched waist. They became the symbols of new femininity, and signature elements in Balmain’s collections. 

Christian Dior

Christian Dior was one of the best fashion designers of the 20th century, a competitor of Coco Chanel and Cristobal Balenciaga. Backed by an industrialist, Marcel Boussac, Christian Dior founded his namesake house on December 16, 1946, at 30 Avenue Montaigne Paris, with 3 ateliers and a staff of 85 people. 

Dior’s first collection on February 12, 1947, introduced the famous New Look collection, as well as his first perfume Miss Dior, named after his beloved sister Catherine Dior.

This first chapter of the history of Christian Dior has been one of the most talked about to the present day. Sadly, Monsieur Dior didn’t get the chance to see his fashion empire grow and conquer the world, passing away in 1957.

Source: CR Fashion Book

Hubert de Givenchy

1952 changed the course of fashion and Hubert de Givenchy’s life, establishing his eponymous house at 8 Rue Alfred de Vigny in Paris. His first “Separates” collection was made of couture tops and bottoms that could be mixed and matched at women’s convenience so that they could have more options to create their looks. Imagine a ball gown cut in half! It was an innovation of womenswear, a revolution of simplicity.