BERNARD Augusta (Augustabernard) (Designer)

During the 1930s there was a revival of interest in classical art and an evening gown was an especially suitable garment for re-creating the flowing movement of the draperies of Ancient Greek statues. It is this sculptural form and the long, floating line billowing out at the bottom that Man Ray captures in his photograph. 

Augusta Bernard enjoyed a successful career during the first half of the 1930s. A neoclassical evening gown she designed in 1932 was chosen by Vogue as the most beautiful dress of that year. Augusta Bernard belonged to that eminent band of couturières between the two World Wars, which included Chanel, Vionnet, Schiaparelli, Louiseboulanger and the Callot Soeurs. Like Vionnet, she was a technician with a mastery of the bias cut. By cutting the fabric of the dress on the cross-grain, she achieved a fluidity that gave the evening gown great elasticity and a refined, draping quality. 

Also look up for Boulanger, Callot, Chanel, Man Ray, Schiaparelli, Vionnet  

BERGÈRE Eric (Designer)

These spare wrap dresses represent the self-assured work of Eric Bergère. Briefly apprenticed to Thierry Mugler, he arrived at Hermès aged just seventeen. It was Bergère who gave modernity to Hermès' luxury, using the then passé snaffle and H logo to add wit. In doing so, he famously created a camp, mink jogging suit. Bergère blends European humour and respect for tradition with the Americans, like Anne Klein... very simple clothes, very elegant", and he keeps detail to a minimum, using a thin tie belt or a tiny bow on a knitted camisole top. His first collection under the Bergère label was tightly edited: twelve pieces of knitwear in three colours and one jacket in three different lengths. "I want the jackets to be like cardigans, I try to make everything lighter _the finishings, the linings, the foundations_ but they must still have a definite shoulder". 

Also look up for Evangelista, Von Fürstenberg, Hermès, A. Klein, Testino   

BERETTA Anne-Marie (Designer)

In an abstract, graphic, red, white and black scheme, two leather coats are trimmed with B to signify the work of Anne-Marie Beretta. Her trademark is a play on proportions, from wide-collared coats to mid-calf-length trousers and asymmetrical lines, used here to break the conformity of these coats. The upper part of each letter is larger, throwing the emphasis onto the shoulders and thereby minimizing the widths of the model's hips. Beretta has used these techniques for many different collections, including ski-wear, but when she opened her own boutique in 1975 it was with business-like tailoring, similar in style to those collections she has since designed for the Italian label MaxMara. Beretta wanted to pursue a career in fashion from an early age - by the time she was eighteen she was designing for Esterel and Antonio Castillo. In 1974 she established her own label. 

Also look up for Castillo, Esterel, Maramotti

BERARDI Antonio (Designer)

Antonio Berardi's woman is a goddess-like heroine, an attitude reflected in his clothes, which are structured, empowering and true to the female form. His cutting techniques and decorative detailing have led him to be compared to John Galliano, with whom he trained for three years before finally being accepted as a student at Central Saint Martins in London (on his fourth attempt). The designer's Italian roots manifest themselves in his love of traditionally crafted and hand-worked lace and macramé. His stunning leather pieces are decorated with embroidery and pierced with cutwork, specialist techniques that were reintroduced at a time when simplicity was being championed elsewhere. His light-as-air, lingerie-style eveningwear is intended to be flirtatious rather than vulgar. He describes his style as "sensual, sexy and thought provoking - and intrinsically feminine".

Also look up for V. Beckham, Galliano, Mouret, Pearl 

BÉRARD Christian (Illustrator)

As his painted caption reports, Bérard's subject in this rich watercolour sketch wears the train of her ruby velvet gown draped over a medieval chain slung around her hips. Like his close friend Cocteau, Bérard was a master of many artistic media. He designed the stage sets and costumes for several of Cocteau's plays. During the 1930s he turned his artistry to designing fabrics and to fashion illustration, becoming associated with Schiaparelli and Surrealism in fashion. His drawings appeared in Vogue for the first time in 1935. They were so well received that he worked for Vogue until his death in 1949. Also like Cocteau, Bérard's draughtsmanship is immediately recognizable by its very stumpy, spidery line that is liberally imbued with vivid colours. It was this lush style, enhanced by his vision of fashion as a kind of theatre, that he brought to his graphic work for Vogue. It was defined as romantic expressionism. 

Also look up for Bouché, Cocteau, Creed, Dalí, Rochas, Schiaparelli

BENITO (Illustrator)

Benito, one of the masters of fashion illustration of the Art Deco period, captured through his simple, supple strokes the statuesque women in their extravagant gowns who epitomized the 1920s. His outstanding characteristic was the extreme elongation of the figure to emphasize the elegance of the silhouette. His style was reminiscent of sixteenth-century Mannerist painting and of the Cubist paintings of Picasso and the sculptures of Brancusi and Modigliani. Benito was also noted for his inventive vignettes. The close links between fashion and interior decoration are shown with perfect clarity and create an Art Deco harmony of design, colour and line. Born in Spain, Benito went to Paris at the age of nineteen, where he established himself as a fashion artist. Along with Lepape, his illustrations for Vogue reflected the haut monde of the Jazz Age. 

Also look up for Bouché, Lepape, Patou, Poiret

BENETTON Luciano (Retailer)

Unusually for fashion advertising, the clothes in this photograph can barely be seen and are not the central focus of the picture. Two people of different races are handcuffed together but it is not clear who is handcuffed to whom, and why. "I am not asked by Benetton to sell clothes", claims the photographer and former creative Oliviero Toscani. "The communication is a product in itself". Such advertisements were an iconoclastic method of selling fashion. Previously Benetton's adverts has featured young people of all nationalities, the "United Colors of Benetton" tagline referring to both their worldwide customers and the rainbow spectrum of knitwear and clothing. Luciano Benetton, the family-run company's founder, admits these 1990s images contrast with its design philosophy: "It is true our clothes are not at all extreme or controversial". 

Also look up for Fiorucci, Fisher, Strauss, Topshop