Top 10 fashion classics every woman should own

Prepare to dream as we bring you the 10 fashion classics that every woman should own in her lifetime. Each one has a life of its own, a great story behind it and the all important ‘It\' status. Think of it as a fantasy fashion shopping list and if you manage to tick any off then consider yourself one very lucky lady. Enjoy...

Chanel 2.55 handbag

Named after the date (2 February 1955) that Coco Chanel first put it into production, the 2.55 shoulder bag is the fashion equivalent of the Coca-Cola bottle - an instantly recognisable design classic. But this bag is more than just looks, it holds the secrets of Gabrielle \"Coco\" Chanel\'s life. As a young girl her mother died and her father abandoned her to an orphanage. Legend has it that the time she spent there heavily influenced her design. The burgundy lining of the 2.55 is a colour match of the uniform she wore, the diamond quilting is said to represent the orphanage windows and the distinctive double chain shoulder straps (a whole new concept in an evening bag back then) are based on the key chains the caretakers wore around their waists. Then there\'s the zippered compartment inside where she\'s said to have kept her love letters from her affair with Nazi spy, Hans Gunther von Dincklage and the trademark ‘Madamoiselle Lock\', so called because Ms Chanel never married.

All that class and such a great story too - who knew?! Bottom line though, the 2.55 is still going so strong because it\'s beloved of girls of every age and can be worn anywhere, with anything, which makes it the perfect accessory, non?

Hermès Birkin bag

Despite having a price tag upwards of £4,000 and a waiting list anything from eight months to four years long (unless you\'re a VVVIP), the Hermès Birkin is nonetheless the handbag that most women would happily trade every other handbag for. Don\'t believe us? How many other bags have been name checked in Sex And The City, Gossip Girl, Will & Grace and The Sopranos and been the subject of a best-selling novel (Bringing Home The Birkin by Michael Tonello)? And don\'t even get us started on the never-ending list of celebrities who never leave home without one (Kate Moss, Katie Holmes, Lindsay Lohan, Victoria Beckham anyone?), all of which does nothing to relieve the Birkin of its cult classic status. When Jane Birkin sat next to Hermes CEO Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight in 1984 and complained she couldn\'t find a suitably chic weekend bag she could never have guessed what a beautiful monster she\'d create and in fact recently remarked that the bag\'s fame had now exceeded her own: \"When my daughter (Charlotte Gainsbourg) goes to America, they ask her if she is the daughter of the bag.\"

Put all the hype to one side though and you\'re still left with a jaw-droppingly chic handbag that you will love forever then pass down the generations.

Burberry trench coat

Not all fashion classics start life on the catwalk. The trench coat, symbol of elegant, no nonsense chic was first conceived by Thomas Burberry (the inventor of the gabardine fabric) as an alternative to the heavy greatcoats worn by British and French soldiers in the First World War. Fast forward a century and it\'s become the uniform of yet another generation of stylish women including Alexa Chung, Kate Moss and Katie Holmes. Like the YSL tuxedo, Burberry\'s Creative Director Christopher Bailey ensures there\'s at least one version of the classic trench in every collection and always puts a fresh spin on it. It\'s the go with everything coat that will go on forever.

Lanvin cocktail dress by Alber Elbaz

Every girl would love to have Alber Elbaz as their fairy godfather. Fact. Born in Morocco and raised in Israel, while all the other boys were sketching tanks, Elbaz was dreaming up beautiful dresses to make women happy. For many years he considered becoming a doctor but changed course when he realised: \"I don\'t have to give you a Tylenol to make you feel better, I\'ll give you maybe a red dress and you\'ll feel marvellous!\" The softly spoken genius who bears more than a passing resemblance to Batman\'s nemesis The Penguin in his trademark supersize bow ties took the helm at Lanvin in 2001 after cutting his teeth under American legend Geoffrey Beene and the great Yves Saint Laurent (who primed Elbaz as his successor until the Gucci group bought YSL and Tom Ford jumped the queue). No matter, his arrival at Lanvin was worth the wait. His instinctive feel for what women really want to wear has won him an army of celebrity fans including Nicole Kidman, Demi Moore, Sofia Coppola and Chloe Sevigny who love his subtle take on feminine tailoring and use of luxurious fabrics. But it\'s for his drop-dead gorgeous cocktail dresses that Elbaz has earned his place in fashion history. Every show is like a fantasy role call of the most beautiful dresses you could ever dream of in sumptuous satins, plush velvets and superfine gossamer, each more stunning than the last. To own one would be to die happy.

Yves Saint Laurent \'Le Smoking\'

1966, the height of the swinging \'60s. When every girl was rocking a mini-skirt along came Yves and created the original Le Smoking tuxedo suit. Seen at the time as a controversial alternative to the little black dress it was instantly adored by a chic collective of style icons including Catherine Deneuve, Liza Minelli, Lauren Bacall and Bianca Jagger. And it\'s stock hasn\'t fallen. 43 years later all Saint Laurent\'s successors from Alber Elbaz and Tom Ford to current YSL designer Stefano Pilati ensure that their version of Le Smoking makes a star turn in every collection. A cursory glance at the countless tuxedo jackets on display at every fashion party and high street store right now will reassure you that Saint Laurent\'s legacy lives on.

Missoni scarf

There\'s something about Missoni. The geometric patterns and stripes, abstract florals and kaleidoscopic colours are not, on paper, for shrinking violets. These clothes and accessories shout ‘look at me!\' from the highest rooftop and could so easily get written off as ‘hippyish\' or ‘intellectual\'.

Yet the Missoni family and their design empire have captured the hearts of generation after generation of fashion darlings. Their peculiar brand of complex knits never bends to satisfy the whims of fashion, but if you want to know what\'s ‘in\' this season, it\'s always Missoni. They blend colours and textures like no one else and create garments so intricately beautiful you just want to hang them on your wall and sigh over them. Owing to the sheer volume of labour that goes into these masterpieces, Missoni doesn\'t come cheap which is most likely why their signature scarf has become such a phenomenon. That and the fact that even those shrinking violets can break the rules for something that gorgeous.

Breton stripe top

Here\'s another cult item we have Coco Chanel to thank for. Inspired by the French sailors she used to see, Coco decided to design her own blue and white striped top, team it with some palazzo pants, et voila! An icon was born. Ever since it\'s been a key player in the capsule wardrobe of every woman whose style we\'ve lusted over including Brigitte Bardot, Edie Sedgwick, Jane Birkin, Debbie Harry, Patti Smith and more recently Kirstin Dunst, Kylie Minogue and Alexa Chung (to name but very few).

Though there\'s no shortage of designers offering their take on the traditional Breton every season, we prefer ours kept simple by our very own classic genius Margaret Howell who features a variation in every collection. The polar opposite of try-hard trendy, the Breton top has truly earned its fashion stripes.

Christian Louboutin sexy heels

While Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo were busy getting all the name checks in Sex And The City, we were quietly falling in love with Christian Louboutin. His trademark red soles (famously inspired by the scarlet nail polish an assistant was using in his studio), and towering heels are sexy as hell, so it\'s no surprise to learn that many of Louboutin\'s formative years were spent sneaking out of school in Paris to watch the showgirls in the nightclubs. \"(The showgirls) influenced me a lot. If you like high heels, it\'s really the ultimate high heel - it\'s all about the legs, how they carry themselves, the embellishment of the body. They are the ultimate icons.\" And the same is true of his designs. Every girl needs a killer pair of sexy heels in her wardrobe and we can assure you Mr Louboutin, all that ‘research\' paid off.

Dolce&Gabbana little black corset dress

The fictitious, sultry Sicilian sex siren who informs every stitch of every Dolce&Gabbana collection has brought them great success and an unrivalled celebrity following. The kind of alpha females who only have one name - Madonna, Beyoncé, Kylie - rely on their particular brand of va-va-voom to give their stage outfits that something extra special and every Hollywood starlet has them on speed dial for when they need to make an impression on the red carpet.

The D&G boys know how to do sex turned up to 11 which is why for nearly 25 years every girl has dreamed of getting their hands on a version of their fabulous little black corset dress. Staying true to their signature ‘underwear as outerwear\' aesthetic, the design is based on a traditional boned girdle and is decorated with many traditional lingerie features including hooks, eyes and lacing on the back. It redefined the little black dress, transforming it from a dependable staple to a stand out item and has become the brand\'s trademark in the process. This is the one dress you\'ll see on the red carpet more then any other and don\'t we all need a pinch of that Hollywood glamour in our lives?

Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress

This dress has taken on a life of its own since New York based sultry glamazon Diane von Furstenberg first dreamt it up by combining two of her own designs (the wrap top and wrap skirt - durr) in the early \'70s. By 1975 she was selling 15,000 of them a week as the knitted jersey wrap dress became a cult must have, both for the Studio 54 crowd and the Park Avenue set.

So what makes something so simple so popular? The answer\'s in the question. As one journalist put it, \"This is the closest you can get to going out in a dressing gown.\" At the time this was a huge deal. Never before had there been a comfortable and sexy dress, one that could be worn to work and on a date, and as von Furstenberg put it, \"The wrap dress made women feel what they wanted to feel like... free and sexy... It also fitted in with the sexual revolution: a woman who chose to could be out of it in less than a minute!\"

Over 30 years later despite all the advances in fabric technology and smart design, the wrap dress is as in demand as ever as it fits just as neatly into the modern woman\'s wardrobe. Von Furstenberg has always been the best advert for her own products and when you see her now, age of 62, still looking as fabulous in a wrap dress as she did all those years ago you can\'t help thinking, ‘I\'ll have what she\'s having.\'