As editor of British Vogue since 1992 Shulman is an indisputable pillar of British fashion. But despite being integral to the UK fashion industry, Shulman has not been consumed by the world of fancy frocks in such a way as to be afraid to criticise its often strange mores. Her journalistic instincts have propelled her to highlight important issues in fashion – she has led her voice to the debate on size and anorexia and has criticised designers who produce, she says “minuscule” sample sizes to shoot in magazines. A quiet force in mid-height heels Photograph: Julian Broad for the Observer
The model, presenter, writer and soon to be designer is one of a handful of celebrities who understands clothes. She doesn't claim to have reinvented the sartorial wheel but she does know when a navy jumper can wield as much power as a Chanel dress. Consequently, designers are desperate for her to wear their clothes. But Chung is no label whore – something which makes her endorsement of a brand all the more powerful. Her presence front row at a LFW catwalk is social media gold dust Photograph: Richard Young/Rex Features
His sense of personal style may be one-note but the Arcadia business tycoon bankrolls much of London Fashion Week. Topshop's sponsoring of the NEWGEN program which pushes emerging design talent to the forefront is a key component in what makes London fashion week and its support of the new so different to the other major fashion cities. His table at the British Fashion Awards played host to Donatella Versace, Kate Moss and Harry Styles. His fashion chain is worth an estimated $3bn and his expansion plans for Topshop – he has just unveiled plans for a 40,000 sq ft store on Fifth Ave in New York – betray his ambition to dress the world in “girlfriend jeans” and bomber jackets Photograph: Richard Young/Rex Features
The CEO at Whistles has been directing the aesthetic at the high street label since 2008. Before that she was brand director at Topshop where she took the brand to the heart of fashion. Her modern and often understated wardrobe viewpoint comes across in the Whistles clothes which for the past two seasons have been showcased on the catwalk. In private Shepherdson is quick, intelligent and persuasive.This season Whistles will join the official LFW schedule and a month later will the brand will unveil its debut menswear line. Photograph: David Fisher/Rex Features
The multi-million pound business entrepreneur who founded netaporter.com has been chairman of the British Fashion Council since 2014. There she has sought to use her digital and commercial expertise to champion the fashion industry as a business in the context of a global economy. With the launch of Porter this month – the glossy magazine from the netaporter brand – Massanet is on a mission to redefine publishing. Most importantly, and true to her glossy alpha reputation, the BFC parties under Massanet's watch have become way slicker Photograph: Frank May/Corbis
Topman's creative director and style enthusiast has pushed menswear design talent front and centre of the British fashion agenda. Richardson has been instrumental in taking London menswear from being a mere afterthought at LFW to having its own fashion week, London Collections: Men. Topman not only shows there – this season hosting a catwalk which rained actual drizzle and a specially commissioned soundtrack featuring poet John Cooper Clarke – it backs new designers showing there too. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian
The breakfast DJ is a quiff on a fashion crusade. As ambassador for the British Fashion Council, Grimshaw is a hired mouth employed to talk up the UK fashion industry. At the menswear shows in January he was seated front row dutifully throwing out positive soundbites and his unspecified role at LFW next week will be to support the industry by bringing the right celebrities to the right events. Photograph: Richard Saker for the Observer
The Kenyan-born British 19-year-old isn't the industry's most successful model, nor its most recognisable face. But her contribution to the industry has been enormously powerful in her short, barely year-long career. Her appearance in Prada's autumn/winter 2013 campaign and cameo appearances on the Italian brand's catwalk have been hugely symbolic. She is the first mixed race model to land a campaign for the highly influential label for 20 years. What she stands for – a statement of intent regarding diversity within the industry – is incredibly powerful Photograph: Leandro Justen/Rex Features
With her gap-toothed smile, curly moptop, sky-high heels and head-to-toe Prada look, stylist Grand is a fixture on only the best front rows. Working at The Face and Pop, she has also styled shows for Prada, Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs. Now the Editor-in-Chief of LOVE magazine, her approval can transform the most mainstream of celebrities into something cool. This is a trademark Grand trick – one she has performed on the Downton Abbey girls, Victoria Beckham, Sienna Miller and – most recently – Miley Cyrus. Her own position as premier UK stylist remains rock solid Photograph: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
Kennedy's contribution to British fashion was acknowledged in a most official manner in 2012 – when she received an MBE. In reality, this was a long time coming. Kennedy is often referred to as 'fashion's fairy godmother' and with good reason. She set up Fashion East, a new talent initiative, in 2000 and each season, the show introduces three young designers at London Fashion Week. Kennedy's eye is legendary – she launched the careers of designers now part of the establishment of British fashion: Jonathan Saunders, Richard Nicoll and Simone Rocha. Ashley Williams – the star from the latest trio – is set to fly too, and that’s in no small part thanks to the Kennedy magic Photograph: Rex Features
With 1.44m followers on Twitter, and 4.2m on Instagram, Cara Delevingne is the supermodel for the social media generation. Delevingne’s use of these platforms is unsurpassed and it’s boosted an already promising modelling career. She's appeared on the cover of Vogue three times, and closed the Chanel couture show in January. The 21-year-old is also photographed incessantly off the catwalk – often accompanied by friends Rihanna, Rita Ora and Michelle Rodriguez – and the influence of her hoody, high tops and cap look can be seen on teenagers across the land. Her signature bold eyebrows have even been cited as a factor in a surge in eyebrow transplants in the UK. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian
Russell Marsh might not be a household name but the casting agent is certainly responsible for discovering models who now are. Working with Prada on shows and advertising for 10 years, he ‘found’ Lara Stone, current Vogue cover girl Daria Werbowy and Russian beauty Sasha Pivovarova. After parting ways with Prada, his taste keeps him at the top of the game – he now casts the models for shows including from Victoria Beckham to Christopher Kane and Celine. In short, a meeting with Marsh can transform a model's career Photograph: PR
Christopher Kane's status as the visionary of his generation was confirmed in January last year when Kering – the luxury conglomerate who has own Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga – bought a majority stake in his company. It's much deserved. The Scottish 31-year-old, who runs his business with his sister Tammy, has been the nucleus behind trends on the London catwalk – with trickle down effect to the high street – since 2006. His first collection stormed out in a riot of dayglo and since then, he has played with gingham, pastels, dinosaurs, highlighter pens and – this season – botany. Kane makes these inspirations into something sexy, edgy and accessible – but also something distinctly his. It's a formula that will take him far Photograph: David Fisher/Rex Features
At the helm of GQ for 15 years, it goes without saying that Jones is a big deal in British menswear. You could call him an immaculately-dressed figurehead. He's cemented that position recently, working as chairman of the British Fashion Council's Menswear Committee. His pet project has been London Collections: Men, the men's fashion week held in London every six months since summer 2012. Now with four seasons done and dusted, big brands including Burberry and Tom Ford show at LCM and it draws in £40m worth of media coverage. That's in no small part thanks to Jones' global clout. London menswear is in his debt Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian
Fashion bloggers are now 10 a penny on the front row, so the first generation are part of the fashion establishment. Susie Lau, who set up the blog Stylebubble in 2006, is one of the blogger elite, with around half a million page views a month. Recognisable for a personal style that leans towards the bright and bold – always with signature top knot – Lau is a big supporter of young talent. She writes about designers on Stylebubble and practices what she preaches – wearing the designers she admires for images on her blog and in pictures snapped by street style photographers outside shows. It’s this that clinches her influence. Lau is a walking advertisement for London brands at the most creative edge of fashion Photograph: Suki Dhanda for the Observer
As the British Fashion Council’s Ambassador for Emerging Talent, and the chair of the NEWGEN committee, Mower is arguably the woman responsible for maintaining London Fashion Week’s global reputation for the best and brightest young designers. It helps that she has the ear of Anna Wintour. A multi-tasker by nature, Mower is a journalist too, and Contributing Editor to American Vogue. Wearing this hat, she is often the first to break news of British designers into the US. She’s got a great track record – designers from Christopher Kane to Simone Rocha and JW Anderson have had the hand of Mower in their career Photograph: Rex Features
At Burberry since 2001, Christopher Bailey has come to represent this most British of brands. This association will be further strengthened this year. Already Chief Creative Officer, he will also become CEO when Angela Ahrendts leaves the company. Less a hands-on designer, his is the kind of mind that sees the bigger picture. Bailey has masterminded Burberry’s emergence as the biggest brand at London Fashion Week – social media-friendly tactics like ‘rain’ during a finale, or a performance by Tom Odell is all him, and he made sure Burberry were one of the first brands to livestream shows. His aesthetic – very British while also modern and wearable – has seen profits reach £428m in 2013 Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images
