BUSINESS FASHION: PERFECT 10

ESSENTIEL
Headquarters: Antwerp
Creative Directors: Inge and Esfandiar Eghtessadi
Turnover: £1m (€1.6m)
This Belgian label, run by Inge and Esfandiar Eghtessadi, is hot and still going strong. They started out six years ago with little more than a series of T-shirts, but the collection today is complete, including a children's and (for the first time) men's collection. Essentiel is a major winner, selling via their own shops in cities like Ghent, Antwerp and Hasselt, and in selected multi-label stores. Romantic, colourful, flirtatious and ultra feminine, Essentiel is brimming with ideas and has lots to offer. No wonder stores outside Belgium can't wait to get hold of them.

VERSACE
Headquarters: Milan
Creative Director: Donatella Versace
Turnover: £280m (€400m)
Over the last few years Versace has experienced its anni horribili. The fashion press weren't overly excited by the rock 'n' roll glitter that designer Donatella has been producing, and the Versace audience seemed to be shrinking by the day. Then Donatella went into rehab, which convinced the popular press that the once-glorious empire of Gianni was coming to a close. But Versace's future is finally starting to look a little brighter. Donatella's health seems to be better than ever, her spring/summer collection boasts life and colour (and the sleek signature of the house), and new CEO Giancarlo di Risio is trying to cut down on costs.

DRIES VAN NOTEN
Headquarters: Antwerp
Creative Director: Dries Van Noten
Turnover: £17m (€24.6m)
One of the most successful fashion houses in Belgium is NV Van Noten Andries, which carries the label Dries Van Noten. Dries is arguably the best known member of the Antwerp Six, the students that graduated from the Antwerp academy. Van Noten became known for his theatrical inspiration and unusual shows in places like swimming pools or metro stations. Fifteen years later, he still designs highly creative clothes, and his shows are among the best Paris fashion week has to offer. His headquarters are still in Antwerp and his flagship store 'Het Modepaleis' ('the fashion palace') heralded the beginning of a new fashion district near Nationale

GUCCI
Headquarters: Milan
Creative Director: Alessandra Facchinetti
Turnover: £1bn (€1.6bn)
This was surely a tough one. Allessandra Facchinetti came in as a sort of stand-in for Tom Ford, the Texan heralded as one of the best stylists Gucci ever had. Ford said goodbye to the label in April 2004, which means the summer collection of 2005 is a first for the new designer. Facchinetti failed to inject quite the same chic and sexy gusto that Ford displayed, but the label is still going strong. Gucci is still more than fashion: it's that bamboo bag, those flashy heels, it's pure sex... at least some of the time.

NATAN
Headquarters: Brussels
Creative Director: Edouard Vermeulen
Turnover: £8.9m (€12.9m)
If you're an avid royal watcher there's a good chance you'll already have come across Natan or its designer, Edouard Vermeulen. Starting out as an interior designer, Vermeulen bought a couture house on Brussels' prestigious Avenue Louise and ventured into fashion. Twenty years later, Belgian princess Mathilde ordered a few outfits and princesses Maxima and Laurentien of Holland followed suit. Today, Natan stands for pretty, luxurious and not-as- expensive-as-you'd-guess. The spring/ summer collection 2005 is flirtatious and colourful, and enjoys a certain '50s grandeur. A name to keep in mind.

LOUIS VUITTON
Headquarters: Paris
Creative Director: Marc Jacobs
Turnover: £700m (€998m) for first half of 2004
One of the hottest labels in the fashion world, Louis Vuitton has become a household name as part of the leading luxury consortium LVMH (see Dior). Vuitton recently opened new stores in Shanghai and Johannesburg, and is looking east for new markets like India and Russia, where Vuitton bags and clothes are selling out. Vuitton's CEO, Yves Carcelle, has the vision for growth while creative director Marc Jacobs introduces chic glamour to the rich and famous. Jacobs - notorious for his forays into grunge culture - now promotes a chic and pretty image that is more feminine than ever.

DIOR
Headquarters: Paris
Creative Directors: John Galliano (women's collection) Hedi Slimane (men's collection)
Turnover: £411m (€595m) for Dior Couture
It is impossible to explain the magic of Dior. John Galliano will soon celebrate 10 years designing for the company, and celebrate they should. Galliano has taken the house that was started in 1947 by Christian Dior and breathed new life into it. A Dior show is always pure theatre, and Galliano didn't disappoint for spring/summer 2005, with neat tailleurs, fancy dresses, and the sort of luxury that only a house of the highest calibre could produce.

CHANEL
Headquarters: Paris
Creative Director: Karl Lagerfeld
Turnover: Undisclosed
Lagerfeld surprised us all last winter when news broke that he was working on a special H&M collection, but of course the real Karl is still into Chanel, a job he's done for almost 20 years now. Lagerfeld's vision of Parisian chic creates works of wonder both on and off the catwalk; the shows he envisions for Chanel are among the best in Paris, and his flair with models and actresses (Nicole Kidman promotes the perfume N¡5) is notorious. Mademoiselle Coco Chanel loved the fake jewellery, bi- colore shoes, bags with chains, twinsets and tweed jackets, and so does Karl, who still works with the ingredients of the fashion house of the '20s.

PRADA
Headquarters: Milan
Creative Director: Miuccia Prada
Turnover: Undisclosed
The story of Prada is the stuff of fairy tales. A woman with a PhD in political sciences and communist beliefs falls in love with a male entrepreneur and together they build one of the strongest empires in luxury. That is how Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli started out, 20 years ago, with just a series of black nylon handbags and a triangular logo boasting the label Prada. Today, Prada stands for Italian avant-garde fashion and the label's boutiques spring up in the biggest cities around the world, built by such architectural luminaries as Rem Koolhaas. A ticket to the Prada show is still a dream come true for most fashion journalists.

DIRK BIKKEMBERGS
Headquarters: Milan/Paris
Creative Director: Dirk Bikkembergs
Turnover: £27.7m (€40m)
Dirk Bikkembergs loves football, and has had the nerve to ask football players like ex-Belgian player of the year, Gilles de Bilde, to model his menswear collection. The result? A blast. Bikkembergs was one of the Antwerp Six (also see Dries Van Noten) but moved to the Milan area, where he has shown his glamorous outfits for the past two years. The spring/summer collection looks divine: lots of green pant suits and dresses (open split at the front) for her, and more pants and T-shirts for him. Bikkembergs was big at the beginning of the '90s because of his shoes, but the revival means he is now bigger than ever.