40 and Fabulous: Fashion Rule Breakers
This year marks W’s 40th anniversary. To celebrate, we take a look back at the boldest and bravest style makers who have appeared on our pages. Click here to purchase *W: The First Forty Years*.
1
Whether sporting a sequin-encrusted body stocking or a feather-festooned costume during her Half-Breed album phase, the original pop provocateur has never been afraid of walking on fashion’s wild side.
2
Somehow, the Nicaraguan bombshell made every outfit—from a man’s pantsuit to a bohemian frock (like the one, above, far left, she wore to Michael and Tina Chow’s wedding)—look immensely sexy.
3
Speaking of Tina… With her gamine hairstyle and proclivity for simple, clean-lined clothes, the late model and jewelry designer became a muse to the likes of Helmut Newton and Karl Lagerfeld, who credited her with inventing minimal chic.
4
Decades after she hit the scene with her flattop ’do and high-def style, Grace Jones is still influencing fashion—not to mention today’s pop stars, who continually mine her sartorial repertoire, which includes this majestic Issey Miyake look.
5
From her early punk bondage gear to her recent political-slogan tees, Vivienne Westwood has stood as the grande dame of subversive English fashion for over 30 years.
6
She’s always known how to shock an audience. Here she models Jean Paul Gaultier—her way.
7
The erstwhile Filipino First Lady might have been stripped of her power but never of her butterfly-sleeve dresses, which were as much a symbol of her reign as her 3,000 pairs of shoes were.
8
Before she wore raw meat and rode around in an enormous egg, Gaga was just a girl in ugly jeans and a pretty Miu Miu jacket.
