ARNOLD Eve (Photographer)

Eve Arnold's camera captured the gold beaded skullcap, glossed lips and lacquered nails of a model backstage at a Lanvin show in 1977. Arnold rarely used studios; relying instead on natural light and her hand-held Nikon. Her work was always respectful and sympathetic to its subject, background details were never an afterthought _Arnold insisted, "You have to take advantage of the variables. It might be the smile, the gesture, the light. None of which you can predict". She took pictures of black women modelling in Harlem fashion shows in 1948 and continued the project for two years, until Picture Post published her story. As a result, she was offered a job as the first female stringer for the Magnum Photos agency. A long friendship with Marilyn Monroe produced some of her best-known images. But Arnold's work covered a broad spectrum_ "everything from serious disaster to Hollywood hoop-la".

Also look up for Lanvin, Lapidus, L. Miller, Stern

ARMANI Giorgio (Designer)

A man and a woman wear the hallmarks of a great modernist: tailoring that trades stiff formality for assured relaxation. Giorgio Armani laid the groundwork for the easy, minimalist working uniform od emancipated 1980s women and blazed the trail for designers such as Calvin Klein and Donna Karan. His menswear was equally mould-breaking: taking the stuffing and stiffness out of the suit, he made the laid-back style of southern Europe coveted around the world. Armani was assistant to Nino Cerruti before starting his own business in 1973. His name came to the fore when he dressed Richard Gere for the film American Gigolo (1980). Every scene was choreographed to work for Armani's clothes, prompting Gere to ask, "Who's acting in this scene, me or the jacket?" In 2005 Armani made his debut in haute couture with his Giorgio Armani Privé collection. The same year the Guggenheim Museum, New York, dedicated an exhibition to him. 

Also look up for Abboud, Cerruti, Dominguez, Klein, Prada, Valentino

ARDEN Elizabeth (Cosmetics creator)

In one of Baron de Meyer's famous advertisements for Elizabeth Arden, a model resembling a figure from a Modigliani painting wears the Arden face. The name behind one of the century's greatest cosmetic houses was inspired by Tennyson's poem "Enoch Arden" and a love of the name Elizabeth. Her real name was Florence Nightingale Graham and she worked as a beauty treatment girl for Eleanor Adair in New York where, in 1910, she opened her own salon on Fifth Avenue with her signature red door. One of the first gurus to encourage exercise, she opened a spa and health retreat in Maine in 1934, and was passionate about horses. Arden developed a range of make-up for Hollywood that would not melt under the lights and was later used by women when they were out dancing. In 1935 she launched the legendary Eight Hour Cream, which remains to this day a cult beauty product.

Also look up for Bourjois, C. James, De Meyer, Revson, Uemura

ARAI Junichi (Textile designer)

Junichi Arai has been described as the "truly enfant terrible of Japanese textiles... a naughty boy playing with high-tech toys". His favoured toys are the jacquard loom an digital computer. The fabric illustrated here is typical of his work, which commonly uses metallic fibres and turns them into exquisite works of art destined only to be admired. The son and nephew of weavers, Arai was born in Kiryu, a historic centre for textiles. He initially worked with his father on kimono and obi cloths, which he developed, eventually acquiring three-dozen patents for new fabrics. From 1970 Arai worked experimentally and began long-standing collaborations with Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake, who would suggest phrases such as "like clouds", "like stone" or "driving rain" for Arai to magic into a representative fabric by using his idiosyncratic weaving techniques.

Also look up for Hishinuma, Isogawa, Jinteok, Kawakubo, Miyake 

APFEL Iris (Icon)

"Rare Bird", the title of the popular 2005 Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition featuring Iris Apfel's couture collection, summarizes the style icon's character perfectly. The Queens (New York) native, textile entrepreneur and former Women's Wear Daily staffer has become a figure in pop culture revered for her honest intelligence and witty style. The only child of a clothing boutique owner and mirror manufacturer, Apfel possessed an affinity for fashion at an early age. Her lauded wardrobe, assembled with care over the course of her life, is a rare combination of haute couture and flea-market gems, showcasing her eclectic taste and individuality. Seen here modelling Rei Kawakubo's designs for Comme des Garçons for the cover of Dazed & Confused magazine in 2012, her irreverent personality and distinctive sense of style is ever apparent. Apfel has stated "the worst fashion faux pas is looking in the mirror and seeing somebody else".

Also look up for Blow, Cunningham, Guinness, Kawakubo, Wintour

ANTONIO (Illustrator)

Antonio's watercolour model embraces a deconstructed mannequin for Italian Vogue in 1981. This surreal element, a tradition created by Dalí, Cocteau and Bérard in the 1930s, was a theme used by Antonio throughout his career. Texan Jerry Hall was painted with Lone Star emblems and cacti growing from her Stetson, while Pat Cleveland was metamorphosed into a stiletto boot. Despite this visual play, Antonio worked from life, building sets as a photographer would. Antonio was inspired by the drawings of Boldini and Ingres, which becomes clear when looking at the fine finish on his pencil drawings. His work dominated fashion illustration for a decade, encouraging a discipline that had diminished throughout the 1950s. Antonio worked with a clique of international models and high-profile friends who converged on Paris in the 1970s. Tina Chow, Grace Jones and Paloma Picasso were regular sitters.

Also look up for Chow, Dalí, G. Jones, Khanh, Versace

ANTOINE (Hairdresser)

Josephine Baker was one of Antoine's many famous clients _she wore his wigs like skullcaps for her stage performances. Born in Russian Poland, Antoine moved to work in the Parisian salon of hairdresser Monsieur Decoux. He acquired a following and, cannily, Decoux took his star stylist to the fashionable seaside town of Deauville; there Antoine was introduced to the society he would coif for decades. On his return to Paris, Antoine set up his own salon, selling his own haircare and cosmetics range _the first to do so. Although he is famed for his "Eton crop", he always maintained he could not claim it as his own. At the time he said he was simply carrying out the orders of a client who returned three times to have her short bobbed hair cut progressively shorter to suit the increasingly sporty lifestyle enjoyed by women of that era. The peak of Antoine's career was the coronation of George VI, when he supervised 400 coiffures in one night. 

Also look up for Alexandre, G. Jones, Kenneth, De Meyer, Talbot