Top 10 most powerful women in fashion:
Kate Moss
Kate Moss,model
Kate Moss
By Belinda White
OK, so we all know the Kate Moss story - Croydon girl breaks mould to become insanely successful supermodel, makes millions etc. But the real power behind her success lies in her careful presentation of herself as a brand. It\'s not enough for her image to represent the brands that she\'s the face of this season, now we can all dress like her courtesy of her clothing line for Topshop and even smell like her to thanks to her new fragrance. The good news for Kate is that we still just can\'t seem to get enough.
Top 10 most powerful women in fashion:
Anna Wintour
anna,wintour
Anna Wintour
If there\'s one thing that no one doubts about Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of American Vogue, it is her power. Put simply, what she says goes. If you\'re an upcoming designer she\'s the one person you need in your corner. She\'s also an expert fashion ‘matchmaker\', with a legendary skill for pairing designers with top fashion houses. With her trademark helmet bob and dark glasses she\'s a firm fixture in the front row at all the most glamorous catwalk shows. No one messes with Anna, she didn\'t get the nickname ‘Nuclear Wintour\' for nothing.
Top 10 most powerful women in fashion:
Miuccia Prada
miuccia prada,designer
Miuccia Prada
If you want to know what a season is about, you don\'t miss the Prada show, simple as that. A true innovator, Miuccia Prada is consistently in a league of her own. With no background in design she took the dusty luggage company her grandfather started and turned it into a hugely profitable luxury fashion conglomerate including her second line Miu Miu (her nickname). If there\'s one thing every fashion editor wants each season it\'s a Prada bag... or a Miu Miu bag, oh, and some shoes please... and one of her gorgeous coats... or a dress, and something in cashmere... definitely some perfume...
Top 10 most powerful women in fashion:
Joan Burnstein
Browns,Browns Focus,joan burnstein
Joan Burnstein
Joan Burstein, or ‘Mrs B\' as she\'s affectionately known in the fashion industry, is a true legend. Back in 1970 she created Browns, the iconic boutique on London\'s South Molton Street with her husband. Since then she has earned her place in fashion history books by discovering talents such as John Galliano and Alexander McQueen and by being the first to introduce foreign designers such as Calvin Klein and Armani to the UK. Mrs B is still at the helm today, aged 80, and Browns remains as much the destination shop for the discerning fashionista as it ever was.
Top 10 most powerful women in fashion:
Carine Roitfeld
carine,roitfeld
Carine Roitfeld
Fashion is full of conflicting rules. Carine Roitfeld makes a point of ignoring them all and still manages to be the most stylish woman in the world today. The achingly chic model turned stylist, turned Editor of French Vogue does everything her way and it\'s this spirit that has made her razor-sharp magazine so well respected and so profitable. Oh, and if you need any more convincing of her style credentials, she was Tom Ford\'s muse during his time at Gucci & Yves Saint Laurent and frankly it doesn\'t get any more glamorous than that!
Top 10 most powerful women in fashion:
Natalie Massenet
natalie massenet,net-a-porter
Natalie Massenet
Natalie Massenet knows what you\'ll wear next summer. As founder of internet shopping phenomenon Net-a-Porter, it\'s her job to scour the collections to find the hottest must-haves to feed our retail addictions. Her super-human power is knowing exactly what women want before even they do. She\'s obviously doing something right, the global company she set up eight years ago turned over £37million this year and is doubling in size each year. Not too shabby!
Top 10 most powerful women in fashion:
Suzy Menkes
suzy,menkes
Suzy Menkes
Suzy Menkes is fashion\'s authority. As Fashion Editor of the global newspaper International Herald Tribune, her no nonsense reports from the International catwalk collections are the last word on how well a designer\'s collection has been received by the industry itself. Her greatest assets are her honesty (a rare commodity in the fickle world of fashion) and her encyclopedic knowledge of fashion past and present. Nothing gets past Suzy, she\'s seen it all before, so a thumbs up from her is something really special.
Top 10 most powerful women in fashion:
Kate Phelan
kate,phelan
Kate Phelan
London is famous the world over for its electrifying and eclectic fashion tribes. British Vogue Fashion Director Kate Phelan is their leader and where she goes everyone else follows. Whatever your style Kate\'s got it covered, one minute creating aspirational high fashion shoots for Vogue, then teaching the youth a thing or two with her fresh and forward thinking styling for the Topshop campaign. I think it\'s safe to say she\'s the stylist most stylists admire.
Top 10 most powerful women in fashion:
Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood,designer
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Westwood is a British institution and a fashion legend. In the \'70s her boutique ‘Sex/Seditionaries\' on the Kings Road became the catalyst for both the Punk and New Wave fashion movements and a destination for all the legends of the time from the Sex Pistols to Debbie Harry and Adam Ant. Thirty years later she\'s still rocking the catwalks of Paris and her influence is ever-present in so many contemporary designers collections. Whatever the trend - Tartan, Union Jacks, Pirate, Punk or Fetish - you can be sure Westwood did it first.
Top 10 most powerful women in fashion:
Melanie Ward
melanie,ward
Melanie Ward and Karl Lagerfeld
British born uber-stylist Melanie Ward is the trendsetter. Credited with starting the grunge movement, her CV is the very definition of cutting edge cool. Stints at magazines including i- D, The Face & L\'Uomo Vogue working with the fashion worlds top photographers, muse to Helmut Lang, styling ad campaigns for the likes of Prada, Jil Sander & Calvin Klein, designing the Karl Lagerfeld line... the list is endless. Now based in New York she holds the prestigious title of Senior Fashion Editor of US Harpers Bazaar.
Check out more of handbag\'s Fashion Top 10s
Movers and Shakers to watch for in 2008 special
