Icons of Style: The People Who Shaped Fashion Then and Now

From Audrey to Rihanna, explore the trailblazers who define what it means to be a true fashion icon

Credit: @InStyle

Fashion has always been more than just clothes: it’s language, expression, rebellion, elegance, identity, and sometimes, all at once. A fashion icon is someone who doesn’t just follow trends, they set them. They don’t wear clothes; they own them. But more than what they wear, it’s how they wear it, what they represent, and the cultural ripple effect they create.

Fashion icons are a mirror of their time and, often, the reason the mirror shifts. While trends come and go, true fashion icons leave behind a permanent silhouette in style history. And as culture evolves, so do our icons but the impact? That always lingers.

The Timeless Icons – Then

Before Instagram and TikTok, before street style was documented on every sidewalk, there were icons who defined generations with a glance, a dress, or a statement suit. These were the pioneers who taught us that style could be a statement, a rebellion, or even a revolution.

Audrey Hepburn is the ultimate symbol of elegant minimalism. With her gamine charm and black Givenchy dress in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, she redefined what it meant to be effortlessly chic. She proved that simplicity could be powerful that a little black dress, ballet flats, and a pixie cut could say more than diamonds.

Coco Chanel, the original disruptor, broke the rules before anyone knew how to write them. She gave women pants, jersey fabric, and the freedom to dress for themselves. She didn’t just design clothes, she changed how women moved through the world. The Little Black Dress? That was Chanel. And it’s never left our wardrobes.

Princess Diana was a royal with a rebellious streak and a wardrobe to match. Her post-divorce style era is legendary, think off-duty sweaters, bike shorts, revenge dresses. Diana’s fashion evolution mirrored her personal transformation: from a sheltered royal to a woman in command of her own image. Her blend of regal glamour and relatable streetwear made her a global fashion muse.

David Bowie shattered every boundary the fashion world tried to set. Through Ziggy Stardust and beyond, he was fearless in using fashion as performance, as identity, as transformation. He blurred gender lines, played with silhouettes, and reminded the world that clothing is art and art doesn't have to explain itself.

These icons didn’t just dress for themselves, they dressed for a cultural moment, and sometimes, they helped shape it.

Credits: @InStyle

The Trailblazers of Today – Now

Fast forward to today, where fashion is documented, dissected, and shared at lightning speed. The red carpet is now just one of many runways; Instagram grids and paparazzi shots hold as much sway as Fashion Week. In this hyper-connected world, new icons are born not just from what they wear, but how they use what they wear.

Rihanna is not just a fashion icon, she’s a fashion force. From bold streetwear to dramatic Met Gala moments (we’re still not over that yellow Guo Pei cape), she dares to go where others won't. With Fenty, she didn’t just launch a brand—she changed the industry conversation around inclusivity, diversity, and representation.

Zendaya is the style chameleon of her generation. She moves between vintage Valentino and futuristic Mugler with ease, all while collaborating closely with her stylist Law Roach to tell a story with every look. She doesn't just wear clothes, she performs them. Her red carpet appearances are deliberate, transformative, and deeply expressive.

Harry Styles has taken gender-fluid fashion mainstream without apology. He wears pearls and painted nails one day, and a Gucci lace blouse the next all while keeping it authentic. With his Vogue cover in a dress, he kicked open doors that others only knocked on. His style challenges what masculinity can look like and proves it can be soft, flamboyant, and bold.

Timothée Chalamet, the red carpet’s poetic rebel, plays with color, fabric, and silhouette in a space that was once rigid and uniform for men. His backless suits, sequined harnesses, and silk shirts signal a shift in what we expect from menswear and who gets to have fun with fashion.

These modern icons aren't just influencing what we wear, they’re influencing why we wear it. They're using social media, red carpets, and their personal brands to push boundaries and open up fashion to broader, more inclusive definitions of beauty and identity.

Credit: @Marie Claire

How Fashion Icons Influence Culture

Fashion is never just about fabric. It’s social, it’s political, and often, it’s revolutionary. And at the center of those shifts? The fashion icon someone whose style speaks louder than most people’s voices. But what exactly is their impact?

1. Trend Creation vs. Personal Style

Fashion icons don’t just follow trends, they bend them, reinvent them, or leave them behind altogether. There’s a fundamental difference between someone who’s on-trend and someone who sets one. Icons often develop a recognizable style, think Steve Jobs’ turtleneck or Grace Jones’ sculptural power suits but they’re not afraid to evolve it.

Take Rihanna: She’ll wear a vintage John Galliano slip dress one day, then turn heads in a Balenciaga puffer gown the next. She’s not trying to create a trend, she’s expressing a mood, an idea, a point of view. But in doing so, she creates a ripple effect: suddenly, sheer gloves or oversized silhouettes start showing up everywhere.

Personal style, when fully realized and unapologetically lived, often becomes the blueprint for a new fashion moment.

2. Redefining Beauty Standards and Gender Expression

Fashion icons challenge the status quo of who gets to be seen as beautiful, stylish, or powerful. Consider Billie Eilish: her early oversized fits were a deliberate rejection of the body-focused scrutiny that dominates pop culture. When she later chose to embrace corsets and lingerie-inspired fashion, it wasn’t a betrayal of her past, it was a reclaiming of choice.

Icons like Harry Styles and Alok Vaid-Menon are actively blurring the binary, not just through clothing but through how they carry it. They make queerness visible in spaces that were once strictly coded like the men's section of the red carpet.

And body diversity? We're seeing that shift too. Icons like Lizzo and Paloma Elsesser prove that bold style doesn’t belong to one size or shape. When they appear on magazine covers or front-row at Paris Fashion Week, they're not just wearing designer looks, they’re expanding who fashion is for.

3. From Muse to Mogul

Many modern icons aren't just passively influencing fashion, they're building it from the ground up. Collaborations with legacy houses like Dior, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton used to be rarefied. Now, they’re becoming co-authored cultural moments.

Think of Zendaya’s historic Valentino campaigns more than modeling, she’s storytelling. Or Pharrell Williams stepping into the role of Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Creative Director: that’s not just a branding move—it’s a redefinition of who gets to shape the future of luxury fashion.

Beyond collabs, many icons have taken full creative control. Beyoncé’s IVY PARK, Rihanna’s Fenty empire, and even Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS all reflect an era where celebrities don’t just wear fashion, they build global brands with inclusive, intentional vision.

In short, fashion icons influence culture by doing more than looking good. They shift narratives, build businesses, and turn personal style into public statement.

Credit: @ACCESS.sb

What Makes Someone a Fashion Icon?

The title of "fashion icon" isn’t something you can buy, borrow, or fake. It’s earned over time, through vision, vulnerability, and a relentless commitment to self-expression. So what exactly separates an icon from someone who just wears cool clothes?

1. Consistency Without Predictability

True icons have a point of view. Their style is an extension of who they are, it’s consistent, but never stagnant. It evolves with time, but always feels authentic. Think of Chloë Sevigny: from downtown cool in the ’90s to avant-garde couture today, her style has never chased trends, it’s always led with character.

Or consider Tilda Swinton: whether she’s wearing Haider Ackermann tailoring or a genderless kimono in Cannes, her looks radiate a quiet confidence. The through-line? An unmistakable her-ness.

2. Cultural Impact

Being a fashion icon isn’t about fame, it’s about meaning. Your look has to do more than turn heads; it has to saysomething. Maybe it’s political. Maybe it’s personal. Maybe it changes how people see themselves.

Princess Diana’s style became a symbol of independence in the wake of her public divorce. Erykah Badu’s headwraps and towering accessories aren’t just fashion, they’re homage, storytelling, and cultural preservation.

Icons have that power: to turn a look into a legacy, a silhouette into a signal.

3. Longevity and Reinvention

Virality fades. Icons endure.

The difference between a moment and a movement often lies in reinvention. Madonna didn’t stay iconic by doing the same thing, she shape-shifted, anticipating and influencing cultural tides. The same goes for more recent figures like Lady Gaga, who swung from meat dresses to vintage Armani to demure custom Schiaparelli, all without losing the essence of “Gaga.”

Even someone like Timothée Chalamet, still relatively early in his career, is already showing signs of that staying power because he takes risks. Because he’s consistent in his commitment to the unexpected. Because we’re watching not just what he wears next, but what it means.

Your Style, Your Statement

Fashion icons show us that clothes aren’t just fabric, they’re language. They remind us that personal style can be political, poetic, powerful. Whether you find yourself in Hepburn’s simplicity, Rihanna’s edge, or somewhere in between, the point is not to copy, but to claim your look. Because the real secret is this:

Every fashion icon started by dressing for themselves.

So now, over to you—
Who is your ultimate fashion icon, and how have they inspired your look?