What makes a fashion icon?

LONDON — New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman’s article proclaiming that Beyonce is not a fashion icon has gained a predictable amount of traction. Why? Because, as she points out, it’s rare that anyone criticises “the most feted woman on the planet”.

So when someone does, we’re interested.

So what really makes someone a fashion icon? Beyonce is dubbed “a superstar”, but the core of Friedman’s opinion is by no means surprising. We wholeheartedly agree that Ms Knowles shouldn’t be bestowed the aforementioned status — but what is interesting is the question it raises about our use of the term fashion or style “icon”.

It’s a title bandied around all too much these days. We’re sure we’re guilty of overusing it. And, like any word said over and over again, it has lost its value. But what really defines someone as a style icon?

We have a habit of attaching the tag to people who we would like to dress or look like — take Miranda Kerr or Diane Kruger for example — which is an oversight. Instead, it should be reserved for those who have created a sartorial identity that defines them wholly and endures, believes Stella’s style director Kate Finnigan.

“If we must use the term, a style icon should at least have stood the test of time,” she said. “I’ll give them three decades. So 30 years after their heyday when someone says their name, you can close your eyes and summon up an image of them instantly. Not an outfit, that’s just a good outfit, but an image that evokes a feeling or mood.”

How many of the modern-day dubbed style icons can you do that for? Kate Moss — tick. Alexa Chung — tick. Beyonce — er ... Duchess of Cambridge? Perhaps controversially, we’d say no — or at least, not yet.

So who is a real fashion icon?

Finnigan said: “From Marie Antoinette to Debbie Harry, Princess Diana to David Bowie, Michael Jackson to Jean Seberg, Courtney Love to Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn to Madonna, Edie Sedgwick to Edie Bouvier, Diana Ross to Vivienne Westwood, Patti Smith to Karl Lagerfeld. They’re familiar names, they’re cliches even. Because they’re icons.”

The Daily Telegraph’s fashion editor Lisa Armstrong once stated: “‘Style icon’ is the most annoying, misapplied phrase in modern parlance. Shoot me if I ever resort to it.”

Her dislike of the term hasn’t waned since. “If possible, I’ve developed even more of an allergy to the term style — I can hardly bear to type it — icon now than I had three years ago. It seems to be applied to just about anyone with a vaguely public profile, regardless of what they’re wearing,” she said.

“The whole area of ‘personal’ style now is so murky, not only for the obvious reason that it’s so subjective, but because almost all those actresses who look good on the red carpet have armies of stylists.”

Said actresses, she pointed out, are “paid to inhabit other characters and be in costume”. “The rest of the time they’re in slops. So it’s hardly surprisingly if most of them aren’t genuinely stylish,” she added.

Instead it’s on the streets, said Armstrong, that we’re more likely to find a genuine style icon these days. Whether that’s among the army of street-style ladies that litter the London/Paris/New York/Milan pathways twice yearly, or just “normal” people. “Because while people going about their everyday business might not be as polished, nor as festooned in expensive freebies as the show groupies, there are plenty who demonstrate a real flare in the way they’ve put themselves together and that’s great to see,” said Armstrong.

But like Finnigan, she agrees that ultimately an icon is someone who will stand the test of time: “If you want to identify the true style stars, ask yourself: Who are today’s equivalents of Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn? Whose style will they be poring over in 50 years? That definitely sorts the wheat from the chaff.”

So maybe it’s about time we held back heralding every Tom, Dick and Harry as a fashion icon and instead observed quietly, because only time will tell if someone’s really got the style mettle. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH