What makes a "FASHION ICON" ?

You wear the clothes, they don't wear you.

I was the first to wear a Bjork

Fashion victim is easier to define.

We are the victims here, R3

Hats. And for that reason, I consider the late Queen Elizabeth one.

A pointy chin helps

Cue the 🌊🐄 any minute to proclaim his patchouli stinking queen as THE fashion icon of the century.

Do not use the word 'icon' unless you're Greek.

Using that word will expose you as a fad-chasing fool.

aren't icons russian R8?

OK, Russian and Greek.

Natural instincts, a team of professionals and time

A pointy chin helps.

Reese Witherspoon is not a fashion icon. She is fashionable. There’s a huge difference.

[quote]Kate Hepburn

???

Costumes played an essential role in fashioning the Hepburn “look,” and it turns out that—like everything else that mattered to her—Hepburn was vigorously involved in all aspects of her clothes. “One does not design for Miss Hepburn,” the Oscar-winning costume designer Edith Head once said. “One designs with her. She’s a real professional, and she has very definite feelings about what things are right for her, whether it has to do with costumes, scripts, or her entire lifestyle.” She wore clothes that allowed her to move freely; offscreen, she favored a sportswear look that reflected her innate athleticism.

The more I think about Katherine Hepburn and her career the more I think she was one of the most brilliant shapers of a public image ever. The truth was that the real woman was hiding in plane sight. She wasn’t a fashion icon. She was a New England lesbian in slacks. She was able to adopt it as a distinct style for a movie star and fake her way through publicity: Hugh’s, Tracy etc. In reality she looked like many lesbians if her generation. She was a great film star, no doubt- in part because she created an image and brand as we would say now. In truth she was something quite different although not unusual.

I re watched bringing up baby and summertime recently. in bringing up baby she was not good, TBH, but she was very charming and quite beautiful. In summertime, she was fascinating. She doesn't play a character, she doesn't try. She plays situatons. she's stronger than the movie. It becomes a study of her and she knows it. extraordinary. I was imagining a an actress like joan fontaine in the part, the story is just one big glossy nothing.

Nancy Pelosi is a fashion icon.

A FABULOUS red carpet gown, OP

Attitude, bitches!

"A fashion icon, to me, would be someone like Edie Sedgwick, who wore clothes in a way that nobody else had before , and created trends"

Cool.

Cool beans.

Heroin chic.

So, um...chic.

Consider Johnny Depp. He's somebody's idea of a fashion icon AND he's so, so messy.

Like Edie.

I guess in this scenario Tim Burton stands in for Warhol.

And, uh, Helena Bonham Carter can be the Warhol boyfriend after Jed.

Peter Whatever. The movie dude.

Johnny Depp never did anything groundbreaking and influential, of did I miss it ?

That certain air of savoire faire . . .

A fashion icon, for me, is one who has distinguished himself or herself in other fields but strikes everyone with the way they dress. They are no mere clothes horses.

Like Nancy Pelosi ^^^

OP. You are dead on correct about Edie. She would mix and match (fur coat over leggings, couture stuff from her mom’s closet with Rudy Geinrich (sp?), Harvard/Radcliffe preppy with crazy hats and massive Kenneth Lang (I think) ear rings. She had that ability to “throw” it all together without any stylist telling her what to wear.

“She was a beauty, gee” — Andy

^ r25 again. She once showed up at the private disco club Castel’s in Paris in a full length fur with nothing under it. Told the doorman “it’s all I’ve got to wear” in her smoke-ruined voice.

She wore leotards as a casual item because she would go from her dance classes straight to the factory, where everybody was gay and she hardly needed to worry about what she was wearing

the right caftan, the right earrings ...

I skimmed OP and thought r25 was referring to Edith Bouvier Beale

Definitely Little Edie Beale...who marched to the beat of her own drummer. Even living with Big Edie in that filthy, delapidated house....she always looked put together, turning what she had into unconventional outfits held together with pins and broaches. Because of her alopecia, she wore scarves as head coverings. She did have a flair.

Fuck you, Kate Moss.

A good scarf helps.

Anyone who walks the red carpet in designers frocks seems to be a fashion icon now. ---- No. Everyone is not an icon. Nobody things this way. It doesn't make sense to me. --- Me neither, because you set up a strawman argument.

Someone made the clothes, someone hired put them on you, you're not " fashion icon " you're just a walking billboard for a brand. --- 90% of people and models know this.

A fashion icon, to me, would be someone like Edie Sedgwick, who wore clothes in a way that nobody else had before , and created trends. ---- Meh. she wasn't original about her clothes. It was her identity and look that caught on.

I would agree that Kate Hepburn was a fashion icon, if it's true that she was the first female movie star to wear slacks, ---- why are you changing to glamorous movie stars. There are at least 500 movie stars who have been fashion icons.

that Diane Keaton is a fashion icon, for creating herself unique looks. --- agreed but I don't see SJP, --- I see it but I don't like her "iconic" fashion styles. Millions upon millions of women loved it though. To each their own.

AnnE hathaway, --- nobody NOBODY says AnnE is a fashion ICON.

Paltrow --- she is a LIFESTYLE icon, dear

or any of these braindead cunts --- aren't you charming! None of the women you mention are "braindead".

as FASHION ICONS. they's just clothes horses Paltrow isn't even a clotheshorse!

Miss Eltinge...

Anyone who walks the red carpet in designers frocks seems to be a fashion icon now.

---- No. Everyone is not an icon. Nobody things this way.

It doesn't make sense to me.

--- Me neither, because you set up a strawman argument.

Someone made the clothes, someone hired put them on you, you're not " fashion icon " you're just a walking billboard for a brand.

--- 90% of people and models know this.

A fashion icon, to me, would be someone like Edie Sedgwick, who wore clothes in a way that nobody else had before , and created trends.

---- Meh. she wasn't original about her clothes. It was her physical identity and look that caught on.

I would agree that Kate Hepburn was a fashion icon, if it's true that she was the first female movie star to wear slacks,

---- why are you changing to glamorous movie stars. There are at least 500 movie stars who have been fashion icons.

that Diane Keaton is a fashion icon, for creating herself unique looks.

--- agreed

but I don't see SJP,

--- I see it. I don't like her "iconic" fashion styles. Millions upon millions of women loved it though. To each their own.

AnnE hathaway,

--- nobody NOBODY says AnnE is a fashion ICON.

Paltrow

--- she is a LIFESTYLE icon, dear

or any of these braindead cunts

--- aren't you charming! None of the women you mention are "braindead".

as FASHION ICONS. they's just clothes horses

--- Paltrow isn't even a clotheshorse!

R33 I agree about contemporaneous references to singularity for iconic fashion, just as I do ‘genius’ for sciences, arts, literature, corporate management, whatever. Only the perspective of time validates its authenticity.

[quote]I was the first to wear a Bjork

Hardly, r2.

R36 - I completely agree. Also, far too many people who are obviously not legends are given the title of "legendary.

R38 Well in the world of working class persons of color competing in Balls, yes.

R1 Nailed it. It is RULE #1.

Audrey Hepburn did more with her little ballet flats, boat necks, little black dress, and short elfin hair in "Sabrina" than a multitude of women trying much harder.

Liz Taylor's ball gown in "A Place in the Sun" was copied everywhere by high school girls going to proms . . .

Jackie gave the pillbox hat new life . . .

Diana brought back pearls in a way the Queen and her mother and sister couldn't, pie-crust collars, and sapphires got a huge lift (beyond the UK, at least, where they had often featured as engagement rings - cf. the Queen Mother's, Princess Margaret's, and Princess Anne's engagement rings) and low-heeled court shoes . . .

Fashion Icons I can think of:

Jackie Kennedy O

Marilyn M

Audrey Hepburn

Liza M (thanks to Halston)

David Bowie

Lenny Kravitz (dude is always on point)

Dianne Keaton

Cher (Bob Mackie)

like him or not, Tom Cruise is always on point with what he wears and his brand

George Clooney ^ see above

Alan Cumming

Sting

Prince

Cary Grant ("THE" fashion icon for men)

-Not everyone can be a fashion icon. I think first you have to be an icon in other ways. Then people notice what you wear, how you present yourself and your brand, and if it's consistently good.

Nominate some currently reigning Fashion Icons. You won't like my list.

Rihanna, Gaga, Cardi B, Jennifer Lopez, Cher, Dolly, Carine Roitfeld, Anna Wintour, Daphne Guinness, Lou Doillon,

Kanye West (🤮), Johnny Depp, Timothée Chalamet, Justin Bieber, Olly Alexander, Harry Styles, Lil Nas X, Maluma

PARTIAL LISTING

Also Kim K (🤮🤮🤮)

Lenny Kravitz..

Jim Morrison, with the leathers....and the Rolling Stones, each had a unique style.

Why would you consider Marilyn a fashion icon, r41? Women didn't emulate her style. It was neither couture or unique.

I would say Nan Kempner was the pure distillation of a fashion icon as were Babe Paley and CZ Guest.. A lot of celebrities and just plane rich people hire stylists now. That kind of disqualifies them from being fashion icons. Obviously Anna Wintour is one as well.

Do the clothes have to make sense?

Isabella Blow was a fashion icon and her sensibility was outre verging on the bizarre. I loved her look but no one could have managed it but her.

Tilda Swinton and Robert Downey Jr. make similar choices. I think they dress with a highly developed sense of personal style but I'm not quite sure they're fashion icons.

R46 Agree. Marilyn was not a “Fashion” or style icon.

Howdy Doody. The checked shirt and suspenders.

R46 respectfully disagree. Women have been emulating MM's looks, both her movie looks and her "regular" clothes, forever.

A great sense of style.

Jane Birkin. She elevated casual clothes like no one else.

The number of women who, to this day, try to dress like Birkin in the 70s, must be in the millions. They are all over LA, New York, London

A fashion icon is a person with unique good looks who wears original clothing. You want to scrutinize them. With women it's their hair, make-up, and perfect body enhanced by wonderful clothing.

Not as well known now as in her heyday, but Ines de la Fressange is another style icon.

To answer the OP's question, a fashion icon is simply someone who can wear clothes, whether casual or formal, and make it all their own. They are the original, and everyone copies them.

Oops, forgot my link.

Sophia Loren, Lauren Bacall and Babe Paley all strike me as classic fashion icons.

Picture of Ines de la Fressange. She elevated the basic French woman's uniform, especially the over 50 set: tailored blazer, jeans or slacks, shirts and sweaters (especially the simply white button down), and flats. There are millions of carbon copies of her.

She looks great R59, the shoes and jacket really make the outfit. And her slender model figure

Look out, OP—some time ago there was a thread on Edie as fashion icon, and it was invaded by a furious dissenter who insisted that Edie had done nothing to innovate in style, on the grounds that black leggings, fur coats, and big earrings had all been around long before she showed up.

R46 r49

Marilyn Monroe was a damaged and depressed, drug addicted whore who get lucky.

Lots of mentally ill people in this thread

Let it go, r51, Marilyn is simply wearing the fashion of the day there. There's nothing distinctive or novel about that ensemble.

Marilyn made FAT fashionable, and millions of women around the world are still inspired by her

R65 = Elizabeth Hurley.