1. Helmut Lang

Voted by GQ as Designer of the Year 2004, it was a unanimous vote for Austrian-born Helmut Lang as the top menswear designer. Known for his austerely elegant cut and telling sense of detail, his inventiveness is easily seen with just one look. Touch the garment by Helmut Lang and one easily becomes a fan for life.

2. Ozwald Boateng

Award-winning designer Ozwald Boateng has such a wide range when it comes to his creative talent that one is unsure when creativity ends and pure joy begins. Season after season, he successfully captures the imagination of both the media and his ever expanding client base. By combining the highest standards of execution with a forward thinking, fresh, vibrant design philosophy, Ozwald Boateng has been largely responsible for the increased interest in men’s fashion over the last decade. Designing his eponymous line and for Givenchy Homme, his influence grows every season.

3. Miuccia Prada

Her husband, Patrizio Bertelli jokingly told the London Telegraph, “Miuccia is such a great designer that I knew it will be cheaper to marry her than hire her.” It might have been said in jest, but there is also a lot of truth in it. Husband and wife team expanded the Prada Empire that started as a luxury leather goods producer into a multi-brand company that dominates the fashion world from menswear, womenswear and accessories with Miuccia on the helm of the creative end and Patrizio heading the business end.

4. Jean Paul Gaultier

The reigning king of French fashion, Jean Paul Gaultier dominates haute couture, menswear and womenswear in Paris and the rest of the world. There are frequently more ideas in one Gaultier outfit than in many other designers' whole collections. With that said, it is easy to say that Gaultier has done more to stretch the definition of men's fashion than any in his era.

5. Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen’s design genius is not debatable; it is a fact! So, when the London-based designer showed off-calendar in Milan during the Fall 2004 season, retail buyers and fashion journalists made sure that they had invitations for the show. His military-inspired garments interspersed with Eastern icons and influences became both a sartorial statement and a political one. McQueen definitely has his finger on the pulse of the fashion set.

6. Giorgio Armani

“A Giorgio Armani outfit is a manly man’s suit,” is a quote often heard in the fashion circle. A Hollywood favorite dressing tinsel town’s leading men from Mel Gibson to Steve Martin, Giorgio Armani has a wide and long reach when it comes to men’s dressing with his fans age group ranging from 17 to 75.

7. Hedi Slimane

Relatively a newcomer in the menswear arena, Hedi Slimane designing for Dior Homme is Gen X, Y and I’s favorite designer, capturing the young European zeitgeist of seamless electronic music, jet setting, rootlessness, and an arty sense of style.

8. Ennio Capasa for Costume National

Mixing the influences of the east and the west, Ennio Capasa's designs are innovative and challenge the status quo of the fashion design industry. Contemporary styles balanced by sartorial elegance with emphasis on lifestyle define Ennio Capasa's creations. His military meets ethnic ‘Tribal Army’ collection for Spring 2005 demonstrated both is masterful tailoring skills and his contemporary style.

9. Byblos

Dubbed as the “lab for creative genius,” Byblos since 1973 has been home to the creative genius of Gianni Versace (1977-1979), Guy Paulin (1979-1982), Keith Varty and Allen Cleaver (1981-1996), Richard Tyler and John Bartlett. Unlike Chloe that embraces the total personality of its current head designer, Byblos has created a style and signature separated from the designer and definitely Byblos. Since the Spring 2003 season, Greg Myler, Stefano Citron, and Federico Piaggi, all formerly from Mila Schon has been at the helm.

10. Jil Sander

It’s really sad that designer Jil Sander has resigned from her eponymous fashion house. Nicknamed the Queen of German Fashion, her clothes stand out as postmodern, good taste, sanity in fashion. Her innovations and inventiveness make Jil Sander suits timeless and ageless, a set of garments for “a man of all seasons.”

Helmut Lang

Ozwald Boateng

Miuccia Prada

Jean Paul Gaultier

Alexander McQueen

Giorgio Armani

Hedi Slimane