100 Most Influential People in Fashion

Zimbio's 100 Most Influential People in Fashion

There are a number of factors as to why we dress the way we do. Constraints of what we can afford, what's socially acceptable, and for many, the way we'd like to be perceived all play a role. And there are people: those who created the clothing, those who popularized it, those who artfully captured its relevance, and those who moved it into mass production.

Whether we can cite the individuals who have affected the way we dress, we have all, in some way, borrowed from a long history of groundbreakers, trendsetters, and visionaries.

Zimbio's list of the 100 Most Influential People in Fashion may seem incomplete to some readers, albeit in different ways. Others will never have heard of Herminie Cadolle or Claire McCardell, while industry insiders might take umbrage at our inclusion of basketball great, Michael Jordan. We've chosen among our list of fashion influentials not only the name-brand creators and trendsetters, but those who have made their marks in subtler, more nuanced ways. Risky, yes, but we think it makes for a more robust, well-rounded list. And a great read.

Start from the top (#1).

Start from the bottom (#100).

See the full list of the 100 Most Influential People in Fashion.

F1 Pit Crew Outfits are AWESOME

Mclaren Mercedes mechanic is seen at their team garage as they practice pitstops at night during previews to the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on September 25, 2008 in Singapore. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images Europe)

I definitely chose the wrong profession. Or maybe I didn’t. Maybe I can just start wearing space helmets to my Internet job. I think that might go over well, actually. They’re wearing helmets on the runway in London.

The only problem would be wearing it when I’m not actually writing. If you’re wearing a helmet and not actually doing something that could potentially involve head trauma, you look dumb. And: You’re quietly begging some asshole to whack you over the dome with a tire iron.

These F1 dudes wear the helmets and goggles through the entire race, which is silly. Watch, during the race when the camera cuts away to the garage, the entire crew is just sitting there looking ridiculous. At least put some blinking lights on them or something.

Anyway, my point is: Helmets are fucking cool if you're not just sitting there.


A model walks down the catwalk during the Eley Kishimoto show at London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2009 on September 16, 2008 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images Europe)

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Awesome Facial Expressions of Women Playing Tennis

Victoria Azarena of Belarus returns the ball to Agnes Szavay of HUngary during the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix at the Porsche Arena on September 30, 2008 in Stuttgart, Germany. (Photo by Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images Europe)

We'll supply the pictures, you make the sound effects.


Maria Sharapova of Russian Federation serves during the women's singles round one match against Stephanie Foretz of France on day two of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on June 24, 2008 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Europe)



Maria Sharapova of Russia plays a forehand during the women's singles round one match against Stephanie Foretz of France on day two of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on June 24, 2008 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Europe)



Arantxa Rus of Netherlands returns a ball to Ayumi Morita of Japan during the women singles of the 2008 Korea Open Tennis Championships at the Olympic Tennis Court on September 23, 2008 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)



Chan Yung-Jan of Taiwan returns a ball to Mara Santangelo of Italy during the women singles of the 2008 Korea Open Tennis Championships at the Olympic Tennis Court on September 23, 2008 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)


Marta Domachowska of Poland returns a ball to Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan during the third day of women singles of the 2008 Korea Open Tennis Championships at the Olympic Tennis Court on September 21, in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)



Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium returns a ball to Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia during the third day of women singles of the 2008 Korea Open Tennis Championships at the Olympic Tennis Court on September 21, in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)



Francesca Schiavone of Italy returns the ball against Li Na of China during day four of the 2008 China Open at the Beijing Tennis Centre on September 23, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images AsiaPac)

LOLCat Artists Raise Money for Adult Literacy

"I Has It" by Isis A. Vera is an acrylic mixed-media painting that was on display at the "I Can Has Art Show?" silent auction benefit at the Coffee Bar in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008. (JJ Duncan/ Zimbio.com)

People love lolcats. I don't think I've ever shown icanhascheezburger.com to anyone who hated the site.

The pictures are cute, the captions are funny and everything is ever-so-charmingly misspelled. Which makes it all the more appropriate that a recent lolcat-inspired event raised money in the name of adult literacy. There's something poetic about illiterate cats helping illiterate adults. Now only if we could teach those darn cats that nao is spelled n-o-w.

With the devotion people feel toward the lolcat Internet meme, it was no surprise to find so much enthusiasm at the lolarts show in San Francisco last night (Oct. 23, 2008).


Visitors to The Coffee Bar in the Mission district roamed the art exhibit with the same bemused expressions of my co-workers trolling icanhascheezburger. And the artists traveled from all over to take part in the silent-auction benefit.

Emily Cox (pictured at left with her piece "I Can Has Chainburger") is a 17-year-old senior at Harrison High School in West Lafayette, Indiana who traveled all the way to San Francisco with her parents to place her papier-mache kitty on the auction block.

Roughly a third of the show sold (not terribly surprising given the $100-$250 price range required for most opening bids), but Cox said she wasn't disappointed that her piece didn't get snatched up.

Event organizer, curator and artist Marianne Goldin says in the "Curatorial Statement" she wrote for the show's program that she started working with the idea of lolcats as art as a way to rediscover the fun side of art.


"I'm a huge fan of the absurdity of the Internet Meme. I discovered LOLcats in 2006 during a brainstorming session for The Cult of Youth Reader (a publication I edited). We were muddling over how youth create new ways of speaking, when Julia Gfroerer, an arts editor, mentioned wacky Internet cats funnier than they ought to be. She described the gestalt of LOLcats and how they had created a new form of linguistic humor."

Goldin's piece "Invisible Invisible" (pictured at right) plays on the series of "invisible (insert object here)" photos in lolcat land.

The show received a fair amount of publicity with a precede written up by Wired, a video crew on hand from Current (it doesn't look like they have the story up yet), and, of course, publicity from icanhascheezburger.com. Tickets for the show were snapped up only a few hours after they were made available, and the one-of-a-kind show was off and rolling.


San Francisco artist Doc Pop (pictured at left) describes himself as not being someone who is heavily into technology. He experiments with memes that sometimes combine ideas from the Internet with applications in the real world. One piece he had on display was a flyer for a lost LOLCAT that responds to "cheezburger" (see below).

The number given on Doc's flyer leads curious callers to an absolutely awesome original nerdcore hip-hop song about lolcats. Doc said he hopes the flyers spread out from their San Francisco roots to other cities. I'm doing my part by sending copies to a couple of friends back in my home state of Kansas.

Check out the rest of my pictures from the event below. (Sorry I didn't get pictures of everything and I know I missed a couple of good ones.)


"Neeyon Harblz" by Dino Ignacio



"Ur soulz... givez dem to me" by Amy Strunk



"Lost LOLCat" by Doc Pop



"Culur, Ur Doin it Wrong" by Gareth A. Hopkins




"Longcat and Tacgnol Redux" by Alise-Ann Glover



"I Does It" by Amanda Siska



"The Amazing Lolcat" by Nina Kempf (This piece was one of the largest at 3 feet by 5 feet, ready for your very own kitty sideshow)



"4:57 am Nightmare" by Heather Anderson (It says "oh hai..." in the upper left)



"LOLCat Whiteboard" by Josh Zubkoff (One of my favorites. I love interactive art, and I saw several people erasing and rewriting the bubble box)



"I Can Has Chainburger" by Emily Cox



"2001 - A LOLcats Odyssey" by Brian K. MacDonough



"I Has a Bucket" by Elija Evenson (It seems optimistic to me that the walrus is seen holding his beloved bucket instead of longingly searching for it or bemoaning its loss.)



"Invisible Invisible" by Marianne Goldin

The 50 Sexiest Women Over 50

Actress Katey Sagal arrives at the series premiere screening of FX Network's "Sons of Anarchy" held at the Paramount Studios theater on August 24, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images North America)

50. Katey Sagal
Born January 19, 1954

Why She Sizzles: She made geeks’ hearts pound as the voice of Leela for "Futurama." Hot ladies are always welcome at Comic Con.

Sagal continues to voice Leela for Futurama DVD movies. image via api.ning.com

When We First Fell in Love: She got her big break when Gene Simmons asked her to sing backup on the Kiss album Calling Dr. Love. She was later one of the original Harlettes for icon Bette Midler.


Career Highlights: Sex-starved Peg Bundy on "Married…With Children," lead roles in "8 Simple Rules" and "Sons of Anarchy"

Katey as Peg Bundy. Image via Canada.com

Career Lowlights: Looking a little too Peg Bundy for the 1989 Emmy Awards.

Katey at the 1989 Emmy Awards. Image via Wikimedia.org.

“Work”: Not as far as we can tell (i.e., if she has, it’s terrific).

50 Over 50 Full List Next>>

Obama Grows 13 Feet, Campaigns in Pennsylvania, Makes SMASH!

They say Barack Obama is growing larger than life and it's now seemingly come true. Thanks to some tricky depth of field photography, the presidential candidate is appearing to look HUGE. Gotta wonder if this is some media bias (present company excluded).

Check out this shot Sky News is using where Obama looks like Andre "the Frigging" Giant:

Arrrrrrrgggrrrrrrrrr!!!


Obama waves during a campaign event at SeaGate Convention Center October 13, 2008 in Toledo, Ohio. Not pictured: The smoldering city of Cincinnati through which he just rampaged.

This podium is 11-feet tall itself.

Then by comparison, here's how McCain is shot by the politicarazzi: