HALSTON (Designer)

Halston is surrounded by eleven models for a 1972 Vogue sitting. Their fluid, silk jersey dresses and svelte clothes made from Ultrasuede are pure Halston: utterly simple and an eternal antidote to fussy dressing. These are the hallmarks of classic American design, and Halston was recognized as a master of the art. His popularity in the 1970s made him a social figure, most famously among the set that frequented Manhattan's Studio 54 club. Bianca Jagger and Liza Minnelli were friends and clients, and both were Concorde-class models for his draped jersey dresses and lean trouser suits. Halston designed for his friends, saying in 1971, "Fashion starts with fashionable people... No designer has ever made fashion alone. People make fashion". Although he died in 1990, Halston's influence has continued to grow. Tom Ford, designer at Gucci, acknowledged his Studio 54 look as crucial to uncluttered fashion in the 1990s. 

Also look up for Bandy, Daché, Ford, Maxwell, Peretti, Warhol

GUSTAFSON Mats (Illustrator)

It's difficult to overstate the elegance and artistry of this beautiful Yohji Yamamoto watercolour. The silhouetted figure displays a relaxed posture and easy gait as it strides ahead, echoing the charasteristic serenity of the watercolour's muted tones. Illustration had long been eclipsed by photography for showcasing designer collections by the time the illustrator Mats Gustafson began his career in the late 1970s. Nearly single-handedly reinvigorating the medium, his exquisite aquarelle sketches and cut-out works on paper recast illustration as a conceptual tool, extending its relevance and broadening its expressive possibilities. Early editorial illustration assignments led him to hone his focus on fashion leading to an impressive roster of editorial clients such as Vogue and Visionaire. His work in advertising has also resulted in stunning collaborations with eminent brands such as Hermès, Tiffany, Dior and Comme des Garçons. 

Also look up for Antonio, Berthoud, Gruau, Roberts, Y. Yamamoto

GUINNESS Daphne (Icon)

Daphne Guinness, heiress, artist, muse and fashion's rare bird, is captured here by theatrical photographers Markus and Indrani. The elaborately styled Guinness is a stunning and unmistakable sight. Guinness has worked with many designers and photographers during her career _ including Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld, Philip Treacy, David LaChapelle and her close friend, the late Alexander McQueen _ but she is also a creative force in her own right. In particular many of Guinness's designs are inspired by her fascination with armour and fashion's protective qualities. In 2012, Christie's in London held an auction of The Daphne Guinness founded in memory of her friend. Guinness is an exceptional icon; the very image of personal, individual style, she was celebrated in 2011 in an exhibition devoted to her at the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. 

Also look up for Blow, Ford, LaChapelle, Lady Gaga, McQueen, Treacy

GUCCI Guccio (Accessory designer)

On a terrace in Cannes, Romy Schneider caresses the classic Gucci loafers worn by Alain Delon. The snaffle loafer has been an icon of wealth and European style since it was designed in 1932 by Guccio Gucci. After rebelling against joining his family's ailing business, Gucci ran away to London. He found a job as maître d'hôtel at the Savoy where he looked after the wealthy guests, paying particular attention to their baggage. He returned to Florence and opened a small shop selling saddlery, later expanding into leather bags and shoes that were decorated with a horse's snaffle. In 1933 Aldo, his son, joined the business and designed the iconic Gucci logo using the interlocking double Gs of his father's initials. Intermittent periods of great success were counterpointed with family squabbles and even murder, marring the Gucci story. The business enjoined a renaissance under Tom Ford, who was its creative director from 1994 to 2004. 

Also look up for Fendi, Ferragamo, Ford, Hermès

GRUAU René (Illustrator)

In this suggestive advertisement for Christian Dior, the sinuous lines of a woman's hand are placed on a panther's paw, reflecting a spirit of graceful wordliness and glamour. Noted for his strong silhouettes and tonalities of colour. Gruau's images became prestigious icons of elegance. He was an outstanding graphic artist of the period after the Second World War, when his swift, expressive line was chosen by Dior's couture and perfume company to illustrate their perfume advertisements. Together with Bouché, Gruau also brilliantly illustrated haute couture of the era in French Vogue. Influenced by the posters of Toulouse-Lautrec, he used strong outlines _ a technique that perfectly accentuates fashion's shape and form. He was one of the last grand magazine illustrators before the creative possibilities of fashion photography made it equal to the fantasy of illustration. 

Also look up for Berthoud, Biagiotti, Bouché, Dior, Gustafson

GRIFFE Jacques (Designer)

In a picture from an American Vogue sitting in 1952, the model's seated pose makes a display of Jacques Griffe's diaphanous pin-tucks. The entire evening dress grows from a flamboyant pink tulle bow which uses the fabric of both bodice and skirt. It finishes ten inches from the floor _ a younger look for ball gowns at the time and known as the ballet length. Griffe trained with Vionnet where he learned the techniques of draping and cutting fabrics, such as this luscious chiffon, from the Lyons textile firm Bianchini-Férier, noted for its fluid materials in brilliant colours. After the Second World War, Griffe worked for Molyneux before opening his own maison de couture in 1946. Like Vionnet, he worked directly with the material, modelling it on a wooden dummy. Griffe's tailoring work was distinguished by the use of seams and darts as decorative details and by his invention of the boxy jacket. 

Also look up for McLaughlin-Gill, Molyneux, Vionnet

GRÈS Madame (Designer)

The white, silk jersey fabric of this evening gown has been moulded onto the figure as if it had the properties of the piece of sculpture standing next to the model. Even the play of light and shade in its deep pleats echoes the sculpture. Silk jersey is a material that lends itself to pleating in precise, fluid folds and it was a mainstay in the classicism of Madame Alix Grès, one of the great couture artists. Harper's Bazaar proclaimed in 1936 that, "Alix stands for the body rampant, for the rounded, feminine sculptural from beneath the dress". She had been trained as sculptress and it was her feeling for Classical Greek sculpture that enabled her to capture its timeless elegance in her evening gowns. Hers was an individualistic, uncompromising style where the sculptural cut of her gowns had the liquid effect of the "wet" drapery of Classical Greek sculpture that turned fashionable women into living statues. 

Also look up for Audibet, Cassini, Lanvin, Pertegaz, Toledo, Valentina

GRAND Katie (Stylist)

Fashion in the new millennium has seen the birth of the "superstar stylist", a title for which Katie Grand is undoubtedly the poster girl. A student of Central Saint Martins in London, Grand honed her skills in the 1990s at Dazed & Confused, later becoming fashion director of style bible The Face in 1999, and launching her own magazine POP in 2000. Now Grand is in high demand for her freelance styling for fashion houses such as Louis Vuitton, Proenza Schouler and her friend Giles Deacon, alongside editorials for W, Vogue and Interview where she is contributing style director in addition to her own magazine, LOVE. Her emphasis is on strong image-led content and lyrical _ sometimes controversial _ covers, often featuring famous faces. Here Kate Moss, shot by Mert & Marcus, appears to defy gravity perched in the bathtub, semi-submerged in glistening, foaming water. 

Also look up for Deacon, Enninful, Formichetti, McGrath, Mert & Marcus, Moss

GODLEY Georgina (Designer)

An otherwise utterly plain, jersey T-shirt dress springs away from the average with the introduction of organza into the hem and neck. An experimental purist, Georgina Godley uses sculpture to introduce avant-garde shape into her work. "We are dealing with a woman who is an individual now", she told Vogue. "Fashion is so retrograde, putting people down. It's not a designer's personality you're buying, it's yours. I believe in a reappraisal of sexual roles". Her contemporary work is in contrast to the historicism explored during her partnership with Scott Crolla. Their cult shop, Crolla (opened in 1981), stocked romantic men's clothes in velvet and brocade, which matched the New Romantic mood. After parting from him in 1985, Godley developed her own line, favouring a one-to-one relationship with the client, in which her creativity could be displayed by women who relish her individual experiments. 

Also look up for Audibet, Bruce, Crolla

GOALEN Barbara (Model)

The archetypal 1950s aloof and haughty mannequin, the well-bred Goalen was chauffeur-driven to the assignments in a Rolls-Royce. Careful to protect her image, she said, "I always did high fashion and I never touched anything that wasn't high quality". The photographer Henry Clarke said, "You put the dress on Barbara and she made it sing". At one time she was almost exclusively photographed by John French and was Coffin's favourite model. She was the first British model to be sent to the Paris shows by British Vogue. At the height of her fame, she toured Australia and was mobbed in the North of England. Like many models in the 1950s, she married well _ to Lloyd's underwriter Nigel Campbell. Her hips were too slender for sample sizes, so she rarely did catwalk modelling. She only worked for five years, before retiring while still very much in demand. 

Also look up for Bettina, Clarke, Coffin, French

DE GIVENCHY Hubert (Designer)

Snap! Audrey Hepburn, playing a model, is captured in a still from the film Funny Face (1957). Her dress, a black cotton gown, is by the man who became a lifelong friend and collaborator. "It was as though I was born to wear his clothes", said Hepburn of Hubert of Givenchy. When she was first sent to his house, Givenchy was expecting the other "Miss Hepburn" _ Katharine. His disappointment gave way to adoration. He had already worked at Lelong, Piguet, Fath and Schiaparelli, before opening his couture house at the age of twenty-five. Encouraged by Balenciaga, he specialized in clothes for the new era of air travel and grand eveningwear. In 1956 Givenchy banned the press from his shows, saying, "A fashion house is a laboratory which must conserve its mystery". He retired in 1995, making way for two of the most publicity-aware designers _ John Galliano and Alexander McQueen _ to design under his name. 

Also look up for Horvat, Lelong, Pipart, Tiffany, Venet

GILBEY Tom (Designer)

This is classic Tom Gilbey. With his trademark simplicity and an almost militaristic neatness, Gilbey was an important force in menswear in the 1960s. Here, he uses traditionally masculine details. This outfit is strong, an angular example of the new wave of British tailoring. Gilbey began designing for John Michael and in 1968 opened his own shop, in London's Sackville Street. Gilbey is one of fashion's visionaries. In 1982 he launched a waistcoat collection that suited the aspirational yuppie. Around the same time, and pre-dating the transatlantic sportswear boom by fifteen years, he said, "I'm influenced by the American campus look, it's so classic and immaculate. Jeans and T-shirt, big bumper shoes, Bermuda shorts... I hate fuss. I love things to be clean, strong and aggressive". 

Also look up for Brioni, Fish, Fonticoli, Nutter, Stephen  

GIGLI Romeo (Designer)

Benedetta Barzini is photographed enjoying Romeo Gigli's extravagant coat. Gold flowers and embroidered leaves collect around the shawl collar, cuffs and hem. Gigli's childhood was saturated in art history. It gave him an appreciation of beauty, and history and travel underly his work _ playing with elements from historical costume and non-European dress. The Gigli look was, and still is, one of the most distinctive in fashion. In the 1980s, Gigli's vision had a grandeur only equalled by that of Christian Lacroix. Silk suits, with either stovepipe trousers or long, narrow skirts, were worn with shirt collars that framed the wearer's face (as here) and placed under velvet coats that enveloped the figure in luxury. The impression was similar to that created by Poiret: a decorated bloom growing from a narrow stalk. A large collection of Gigli's most representative clothes and accessories are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 

Also look up for Gattinoni, Iribe, Meisel, Poiret, Roversi, Vallhonrat

  

GIBSON Charles Dana (Illustrator)

Before television and movies, Gibson identified an essential character as deftly and as unforgettably as any novelist. His "Gibson Girl" was the personification of America's modern woman. Probably seen wearing the fashionable shirtwaist (a masculine-styled blouse of the early twentieth century), her S-curve figure and loosely constructed mound of hair gave shape to the new woman. Her face varied slightly, but she was the icon of twentieth-century fashion embodied in an active in such Gibson books on the middle and upper-middle classes as The Education of Mr Pipp (1899), The Americans (1900) and The Social Ladder (1902). Gibson had studied at the Art Students' League in New York and worked for late nineteenth-century magazines that required illustrations for news and stories, but ultimately he invented his own story of the fashionable, independent woman of the twentieth century.

Also look up for Von Drecoll, Paquin, Redfern

GIBB Bill (Designer)

"Miles of untouched band-printed onto silk... the Bill Gibb environment, rich fabrics with richer decorations _ marbled, hand-painted, feathered, piped... flower-faced beauty". As it is, the words that accompanied this editorial picture left out a few of the techniques used on Gibb's lavish, layered and fantastical dress. He claimed to have an aversion to "the tailored thing" and his grand vision was an alternative to the lean trouser suits of the 1970s. Gibb came from a farming family, but was encouraged by his grandmother, a painter, to enjoy his hobby of copying pictures of historical costume, especially that of the Renaissance era. This influence has affected his most spectacular work. He often incorporated knitwear into his collection by collaborating with Missoni and knitting specialist Kaffe Fassett, saying, "What women want to wear in the daytime is beautiful knits". 

Also look up for Birtwell, Mesejeán & Cancela, Missoni, Porter

GHESQUIÈRE Nicolas (Designer)

After serving an internship with Agnès B and assisting Jean Paul Gaultier, Nicolas Ghesquière was plucked from relative obscurity to become the creative director at Balenciaga in 1997. He reinvigorated the brand with electrifying, cutting-edge collections, mixing minimalism with technology to design clothes "for a woman who is looking to the future". His spring/summer 2007 collection for Balenciaga was just that. Ghesquière produced a vision of fashion's future. The model is a sharp, slick and cool as the black-and-white printed silk dress and black leather waistcoat she wears, cut around the body with a laser precision. Her jointed leggings in gleaming gold metal are astonishingly delicate pieces of armour, while her scraped-back hair and gargantuan goggles complete the silhouette of a futuristic fashion android. Ghesquière's fifteen-year tenure at Balenciaga ended in 2012. 

Also look up for Balenciaga, Gaultier, Kane, Simons, Tisci

GERNREICH Rudi (Designer)

The topless bathing suit, worn here by Peggy Moffitt, Rudi Gernreich's favourite model, was developed to meet the trend for topless bathing. It was also intended to be something of a feminist statement, as was his no-bra bra of 1964, which was the first to allow the natural shape of a woman's breasts. Gernreich also invented the high-cut, buttock-baring, thong bathing suit. His radical body-based clothes of the 1960s and 1970s reflected the social revolution of women's liberation and his early designs provided unprecedented freedom of movement. In the 1950s he produced knitted swimwear without the usual boning and underpinning and he developed the concept into tube dresses. It was Gernreich's early influences that helped to develop our relationship between stretch and comfort; Rudi joined several modern dance companies and became fascinated by the leotards and tights of the dancers. 

Also look up for Coffin, Heim, Rabanne, Sassoon

GAULTIER Jean Paul (Designer)

The Breton stripe, modelled here by Hannelore Knuts, is given iconic status by l'enfant terrible fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier. Since establishing his label in 1978, he has taken inspiration from a  variety of influences, from the traditional ethnic textiles and techniques of historic costume, to the dishevelled garb of London's punks. Playing with sexual iconography _ from the ambiguity of men in skirts, to the overtly erotic costumes of Madonna's "Blonde Ambition" tour _ has become his trademark. His menswear uses camp clichés of macho bodybuilders and butch sailors, simultaneously celebrating and challenging archetypal gender roles. His skillful ability to adapt pop culture has given success on and off the runway, designing costumes for films such as The Fifth Element (1997). As with most of his work, his style is a humorous, energetic and eclectic challenge to the French establishment. 

Also look up for Alexandre, Van Beirendonck, Galliano, Madonna, Margiela, Pita

GATTINONI Fernanda (Designer)

The serene allure of Gattinoni's brilliant green, brocade evening coat is captured by Clifford Coffin in a photograph for American Vogue in 1947. Hinting at Imperial Chinese influences, its Zen-like dignity anticipates the refined ethnicity of Romeo Gigli. Gattinoni trained at the Rome fashion house Ventura, before opening her own atelier. Here she attracted the likes of Audrey Hepburn. Ingrid Bergman and Anna Magnani _ film-star clients renowned for their highly photogenic mix of thoroughbred grace and soft femininity. In the 1950s, with the great success of films such as Roman Holiday (1953), Rome became synonymous with the glamour of cinema and Gattinoni came to epitomize cultured European sophistication and romance. She also offered indulgent escapism _ twenty-five full-time embroiderers were employed to decorate wedding dresses _ for a clientele weary of postwar realities. 

Also look up for Coffin, Gigli, Molyneux 

GARREN (Hairdresser)

From the strawberry-red, Sophia Loren bouffant to the boyish, platinum, Andy Warhol bob, Garren has been the architect behind all of supermodel Linda Evangelista's publized, chameleon-like hairstyle changes. His directional approach has been witnessed not only in the high-glam look he achieved in collaboration with photographer Steven Meisel in the late 1980s, but also in the spiky "chicken do" (his trademark punk-inspired style seen earlier that decade), which he modified in the softer, more feminine gamine cut seen in the wake of the waif look. His extreme work in editorial and on the catwalk for Marc Jacobs and Anna Sui id tempered in the salon where he gives reality a chance. As he told American Vogue, "As soon as a client comes in... I'm checking out the way she moves, her shoes, her handbag and body language. That tells me what her needs are".

Also look up for Evangelista, Jacobs, Meisel, Recine, Warhol