Best for: conscious luxury

Brands are scrambling to prove their eco credentials, but sustainability has been a central tenet of Ms Gabriela Hearst’s label since she launched it in 2015. She chalks her respect for the environment down to her rural upbringing in Uruguay, where many of the brand’s fabrics are sourced. It is all about the fabric with Hearst. Take the sumptuous bouclé overcoat spun from a delicious blend of alpaca, cashmere, virgin wool and silk, although she is famously a pioneer of innovative, new materials, too. Hearst brings the same ethos to her creative director role at Chloé – the heritage fashion house now has B Corp certification for its high standards of social and environmental performance – and has singlehandedly proved that unadulterated luxury needn’t cost the earth.

Best for: retro cool

Born and raised in south London, the quietly cool Ms Grace Wales Bonner belongs to a buzzy crop of young Black women blazing a trail in the once stuffy world of British menswear. What sets her clothes apart is her nostalgic, sportswear-infused collections and frequent nods to her Jamaican heritage (Mr Bob Marley is a fixture on the brand’s mood boards, while his son, Damian, has popped up in campaigns). In streetwear circles, she is best known for her long-running partnership with adidas, although good luck getting your hands on her satin-lined, top-stitched spin on the Samba, which almost broke the internet. A quick glance across her standalone line, a panoply of richly hued knits and impossibly elegant tracksuits, shows there is more to her than sell-out sneakers.

Best for: old-school craftsmanship

What is it about Ms Emily Adams Bode Aujla that has, seemingly overnight, transformed her brand into the hottest property in men’s fashion? (Mr Harry Styles and Jay-Z are fans.) After a drawn-out era dominated by slogan-emblazoned streetwear, the New York designer’s craft-forward, decidedly unflashy approach feels like a breath of fresh air. In an age of fast fashion, it is easy to forget about the people who make our clothes, but you cannot help but think about the hands behind BODE’s intricately embroidered shirts and crochet knitwear. If there is one piece that’s worth snapping up, it is a BODE patchwork jacket, the sort of vintage-style, homespun heirloom you will treasure for a lifetime.

Best for: sought-after streetwear

Ms Chitose Abe’s label Sacai is one of the more seasoned labels on our list – it was launched in 1999 – but is no less cutting-edge. You would be hard pressed to track down Abe’s grail-worthy VaporWaffle sneaker collaboration with Nike (although we are also fans of the easier-to-come-by basketball-inspired Blazer). For the most part, the Comme des Garçons-trained Abe’s collections lean towards the avant-garde, with plenty of streetwear influences thrown in. For spring/summer 2023, Sacai has joined forces with the American artist Mr Eric Haze. The resulting elaborately detailed, graffiti-style cotton blouson jacket is an instant collector’s item.

Best for: bohemia

Few do Left Bank cool better than Ms Isabel Marant, and MR PORTER is eternally grateful that she answered our prayers in 2018 and made a foray into menswear. We have been gifted brilliantly bohemian pieces, such as breezy kaftan-style shirts and printed cotton-voile shorts, that you cannot find elsewhere. In spirit, Marant is as about as Parisienne as it gets, but will venture further afield to find the best makers. Her hallmark fuzzy jacquard-knit jumpers are made in Italy. Always one to play with subversion, she has now ventured into sportswear, delivering caps, T-shirts and hoodies in tie-dye prints and out-there colours that have us brimming with excitement for summer.

Best for: understated classics

If unembellished, no-frills clothing is your bag, then Ms Nili Lotan is your woman. The Israeli-American designer is a minimalist at heart. She trades in neutral hues and classic silhouettes that will form the bedrock of your wardrobe. Whatever you do, do not call them basics. With sweaters spun from the finest cashmere and shirts cut from silk, these are elevated takes on ageless essentials. This impeccably cut, trans-seasonal checked car coat, which will go with everything, is a good place to start.

Best for: future-facing design

Skin-tight mock-neck tops covered in crescent moons seem to be everywhere, thanks to Ms Marine Serre. She is the hot young French designer who won the prestigious LVMH Grand Prize for Young Fashion Designers in 2017, blew up with Beyoncé’s seal of approval and hasn’t looked back. Her clothes are bold and futuristic. She is certainly not one to shy away from jazzy patterns and punchy colour (hot pink is the hue of the season) and guerrilla-style upcycling is central to her work. Those tops may have viral appeal, but don’t overlook everything else she has to offer.