Diana Vreeland
Irreverent in the best of ways, supremely stylish, and overflowing with ideas, everything about this maverick's life exuded invention and joie de vivre. DV paved the way for fashion journalism’s heavy hitters and dedicated her life to the pursuit of bringing all things unique to the masses. She really was the arbiter of all things quirky-chic, and her entrée at Bazaar symbolized the birth of a new breed of fashion editors, staging a coup d'etat on the socialite-scene queens who previously ran the show.

We lived for her "Why Don't You?" columns (who could forget her suggestion to wash babies' hair in dead champagne?), and oh how those costume installations at the Met shook things up! If it weren't for DV, Lauren Bacall and Edie Sedgwick may have remained shrouded in obscurity, Jackie O wouldn't have found Oleg Cassini, her wardrobe's champion, and Funny Face's Maggie Prescott would've lacked major pizzazz — not to mention all of those splashy Avedon spreads.

We've pieced together a look we know this dazzler would adore, and of course included pops of red because as she famously quipped in only a manner she could describe, "All my life I've pursued the perfect red. I can never get painters to mix it for me. It's exactly as if I'd said, 'I want Rococo with a spot of Gothic in it and a bit of Buddhist temple.'"

Photo: Rose Hartman/Getty Images