The Most Influential People in New York Fashion, 2014 Edition

Click through to dig into our list of the most influential members of the New York fashion industry.

Author:: Lauren Sherman
Publish date:: Feb 13, 2014
Social count:: 1619

What fashion loves nothing more is an announcement. And lucky for us, there were plenty of them over the past year. Marc Jacobs leaves Louis Vuitton. Nicolas Ghesquiere joins Louis Vuitton. Eric Wilson departs the New York Times for InStyle! Cathy Horyn retires long before we were ready for her to go. The more times in a week one can throw "breaking" into a headline, the more adrenaline is pumped, the more page views are generated, and the more deeply we fall under fashion's spell.

What was most interesting about this past year's biggest fashion moments is that many of them happened right here in New York. (Or were at least engineered by New Yorkers.) So with that, we'd like to welcome you to the Fashionista 50 -- our list of the most influential members of the New York fashion industry. It's surely subjective, but objective in its goal: to highlight the people who pushed fashion forward over the past year. It's our third go at compiling the Fashionista 50 -- the first in 2011, the second in 2013 -- and this time around, we've tightened up the relaxed methodology just a bit. Along with the parameters that we've used in the past -- to be considered, one must work and live in New York for most of the year -- we also chose not to include creatives (graphic designers, art directors) or those who are strictly focused on the fast-growing menswear market. The reason being that these two categories could and should be standalone lists. (Which we may indeed compile as the year progresses.) One could argue that every category on this page could have a top 50 list of its own, but again, everything is rightfully up for debate.

We also, per usual, asked quite a few industry insiders for their input. And finally, we listed each person in alphabetical order within their category. You’ll find the entire Fashionista 50 list below. Click on the person’s name to read a full bio. And if you really want to click through the whole slideshow, you can do so here.

Would you like to offer your two cents as well? Please leave a comment. But before you even go there: Kimye is not included. They spend too much time in Los Angeles.

Designers

Oscar de la Renta
Marc Jacobs
Michael Kors
Tamara Mellon
Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, Proenza Schouler
Diane von Furstenberg
Alexander Wang

CEOs and Investors

Mickey Drexler, J.Crew
Lawrence Lenihan, FirstMark Capital
Shana Fisher, High Line Venture Partners
Robert Duffy, Marc Jacobs
Andrew Rosen, Theory

Editors

Mickey Boardman, Paper
Eva Chen, Lucky
Stefano Tonchi, W
Anna Wintour, Vogue

Stylists

Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele
Grace Coddington
Lori Goldstein
Carine Roitfeld
Karl Templer

Buyers

Steven Alan
Claire Distenfeld, Fivestory
Linda Fargo, Bergdorf Goodman
Jen Mankins, Bird Marigay McKee, Saks
Tomoko Ogura, Barneys