Videofashion Designers

Jean Paul Gaultier is the French king of convention twisting: his runway shows have proudly highlighted tattooed and voluptuous models such as rock star, Beth Ditto, showcased gender-bending skirt-clad men, and featured infamously conical corsetry, as immortalized by Madonna's 1990 Blond Ambition Tour.

Occasionally irreverent, frequently deviant, and always brilliant, the late Alexander McQueen was a designer whose legacy is to be neither overlooked nor undervalued. From subversively dressed models and extravagant productions to robotic cameras and futuristic reptilian prints, McQueen's dramatic showmanship was received with editorial acclaim, industry buzz, and celebrity approval.

Marc Jacobs, the king of downtown chic, is no stranger to public ups and downs. Plucked from New York City's Parsons School of Design in 1984 to start his eponymous line, Jacobs found himself unceremoniously fired from Perry Ellis in 1992 after sending his infamous grunge collection down the runway.

Since his humble beginnings selling ties to classmates, Ralph Lauren has tapped into his entrepreneurial genius and expanded his business into what has become a wildly successful multi-billion dollar grossing empire - the biggest in the world. For over five decades, Lauren has stayed true to the American lifestyle with quintessentially elegant designs and classic tailoring.

Hailing from scenic California, the sisters Rodarte, Kate and Laura Mulleavy, bring a West Coast sensibility-and immense, innate talent-to New York Fashion Week. After graduating from UC Berkeley with liberal arts degrees, the duo embarked on an ambitious course of independent design study; since their 2005 Fashion Week debut, they've impressed the fashion crowd with an other-worldly mélange.

Kaleidoscopic colors and geometric prints are Pucci to the core, and from his first designs for his college ski team to his highly covetable silk scarves, Emilio Pucci has created a legacy that has seen several rebirths since his death in 1991.

At one time known solely for its luxurious luggage, the house of Louis Vuitton has since made a name for itself on the international ready-to-wear scene. In 1997, Marc Jacobs was appointed creative director, securing the house as a must-see at Paris Fashion Week and modernizing the label's signature accessory line by collaborating with such contemporary artists as Takashi Murakami.

Prabal Gurung's exquisite sense of modern luxury and indelible glamour has earned him the respect of First Lady Michelle Obama, Nicki Minaj and Demi Moore, and has drawn acclaim from the CFDA who, in 2011, awarded the young designer the Swarovski Award for Womenswear.

Clean lines, understated elegance and tailored sophistication are Giorgio Armani's signatures, and with twelve product lines, a retail network in over 37 countries, and revenues over one billion dollars, the fashion world certainly agrees. Armani's reign - which began in 1975 and grew with the introduction of his unstructured jacket in the eighties - has grown into something massive.

Galaxy, Titanium, Moon - what may sound like extraterrestrial bodies are in fact the iconic dresses that have skyrocketed French designer Roland Mouret to international stardom. Spotted on the likes of Victoria Beckham and Nicole Kidman, Mouret's designs are both deliberately geometric and femininely draped.

If dressing the likes of Diane Kruger, Natalie Portman, and Tinsley Mortimer are tiers of success, then First Lady Michelle Obama is icing on the cake for praised designer Jason Wu. Clean lines, classic elegance, and flash-free colors and prints are Wu's signatures, and with downtown starlets and politically fashionable females as aficionados.

A mix of downtown cool, rocker grunge, and French chic, Alexander Wang's namesake label has attracted the attention of scores of the world's premier luxury retailers and celebrities, including Megan Fox, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

To think that a novice design team without any formal fashion training could win the coveted CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year Award would seem a fantastical fashion urban legend. And yet in 2010, British-born duo Marcus Wainwright and David Neville founded Rag & Bone in 2002 with a vision of making clothes that they and their friends would want to wear every day.