Most Influential Blacks In Fashion

1. Tyra Banks

The first black woman to grace the covers of GQ and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue in the 1990's, Banks, 36, has continued to break barriers even after retiring from modeling in 2005. Earnings from the 7-year-old, globally syndicated series "America's Next Top Model," which Banks hosts and executive produces, put her at the top of Forbes' list of the highest earning women in prime-time television, after netting $30 million in 2009. Of course, Banks is influential in day-time television, as well, winning an Emmy for "The Tyra Banks Show," which she will say farewell to in 2011.

Naturally, Banks won't sit still after it ends, though. It's been announced that she is entering the publishing world with a book series dubbed "Modelland" and has also re-signed with IMG Models. Now that's something to smile ear-to-ear about.

Most Influential Blacks In Fashion

2. Naomi Campbell

While the 40-year-old model has inspired as many bad headlines as good, she's still the most influential black model in the game, 20 years and running. A part of the "Big Six" supermodels of the 1990's, alongside Kate Moss, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer and Linda Evangelista, Campbell has more Vogue covers than any other black model and has appeared in iconic videos with artists like Michael Jackson, Jay-Z and George Micheal.

Her age-defying body is still gracing high profile ads and her organization, Fashion for Haiti, held two celeb-studded benefit runway shows in 2010 which displayed her enduring pull in the industry and her power as a philanthropist.

Most Influential Blacks In Fashion

3. André Leon Talley

While most folks in mainstream America hadn't heard of Andre Leon Talley until he appeared as a judge on "America's Next Top Model" this past season, Vogue's flamboyant editor-at-large (now a "contributing editor") has been pulling the strings backstage at the world's most powerful fashion magazine for decades.

The 60-year-old editor has taken a number of designers of color underneath his wing, including Rachel Roy and the newcomer Laquan Smith. He has also been a cheerleader and style mentor for Venus and Serena Williams, Jennifer Hudson and Michelle Obama, helping get those ladies and others into the pages and onto the cover of the fashion bible.

Most Influential Blacks In Fashion

4. Bethann Hardison

Hardison has helped change the notion of beauty within the fashion industry through her work as a model, then modeling agent from the 1980's to the present. First discovered by African American designer Willi Smith in the late 1960s, Hardison became one of the first black models to make an impact before heading behind-the-scenes as a model agent.

She started Bethann Management in 1984, a company which helped score Veronica Webb a highly coveted Revlon contract, propelled Tyson Beckford to become the first black male in a Ralph Lauren campaign and assisted hundreds of other black models, big time and small, in various ways. The always outspoken Hardison teamed up with Iman in the late 80's to create the Black Girls Coalition and has continued to raise questions about racism in the industry and provoke change.

Most Influential Blacks In Fashion

5. Robin Givhan

One of the most revered fashion journalists today, The Washington Post's fashion editor Robin Givhan won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for criticism, the first time a fashion writer has ever walked away with the esteemed award. The Princeton grad worked at Detroit Free Press, the San Francisco Chronicle and Vogue before beginning her 15-year reign at the Post. In that time, her uber-intelligent trend analysis and show reviews have become must-reads for all industry types. In 2009, she stationed herself in Washington D.C. to cover the always
fascinating Michelle Obama sartorial beat.

Most Influential Blacks In Fashion

7. Chanel Iman

With a fashion-forward name like Chanel Iman Robinson and a long and lean body to match, was there really any doubt this young model would succeed? Only 20-years-old, the three-quarters African American, one-quarter Korean model has been on fire for the last four years and is showing no signs of stopping. There isn't a month that goes by that Iman doesn't grace a fashion spread in a major magazine, nor a season that she doesn't strut the catwalks of the biggest designers.

Now appearing in sexy Victoria's Secret ads, as well as walking VS's televised fashion show, the bubbly Iman is far and away the leader of the next generation of top black models, alongside Jourdan Dunn, Arlenis Sosa and Sessilee Lopez.

Most Influential Blacks In Fashion

8. Sean "Diddy" Combs

Picking up where Russell Simmon's Phat Farm left off, 40-year-old Sean "Diddy" Combs first kicked in the doors of the fashion industry in 1998 with his label Sean John, a line that was nominated for the prestigious CFDA Menswear of the Year award in 2000 and 2004 and graces the largest print ad in Times Square. His men's fragrances, Unforgivable and I Am King, which he says are inspired by black leaders like Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali, have both won the coveted FiFi award, otherwise known as the Oscar of the perfume industry.

With support from fashion's grand dame Anna Wintour (she's sat front row at his Sean John shows and tapped him to star alongside Kate Moss in high-budget Vogue fashion spreads), along with a new exclusive distribution deal with Macy's, Diddy has proven himself a true mogul.New York City.

Most Influential Blacks In Fashion

6. Pat McGrath

Once dubbed the most influential makeup artist by Vogue, beauty master Pat McGrath helps drive the trends fueling the multi-billion-dollar cosmetics industry season after season. McGrath, a British woman of Jamaican descent, began her makeup career with no formal training, but her natural talent took her to the top, eventually working with famed photographers like Helmut Newton and Steven Meisel, painting the faces behind-the-scenes at mega influential shows like Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and Stella McCartney. She was recently named the Global Creative Design Director of Procter & Gamble in 2004, focusing on the CoverGirl and MaxFactor brands.

Most Influential Blacks In Fashion

9. Constance White

One of the only black women consistently sitting front row at the most important shows, eBay style director Constance White has definitely earned her place. The industry vet worked as a style reporter at the New York Times and as an executive fashion editor at Elle before joining the tech-driven eBay. Her 1998 book "StyleNoir" also charts the history of black folks in fashion, a lineage which she has now joined.

Most Influential Blacks In Fashion

10. Edward Enninful

Super stylist Edward Enninful, 35, has always had edge. Since the age of 18, he has served as fashion director of the fashion-forward British glossy i-D magazine, which mixes the colorful style (and people) seen on the streets with high fashion.

The multi-tasking, Ghana-born stylist is also contributing editor to three other magazines: American Vogue, L'uomo Vogue and Vogue Italia, where he was key in developing the magazine's historic 'Black' issue. "[I'm] determined to show how chic black people are," he told the Times last year. A honorable goal, indeed.

Most Influential Blacks In Fashion