Chanel's Major Merchant Maureen Chiquet
Claim to fame: On Oct. 1, Chiquet, 41, takes over as president and chief operating officer of Chanel Inc. from Arie Kopelman, who is retiring after 18 years.
Defining moment: After a stint peddling L'Oreal hair color to supermarkets in France, Chiquet spent 15 years at Gap Inc. She helped develop the Old Navy division before being named president of Banana Republic. But she has had zero experience in luxury goods.
Luxury quotient: Chanel's core businesses in the U.S. look strong, but hot brands cool. Chiquet's merchandising savvy should help keep the 94-year-old brand evergreen.
Bottler of Miracles Olivia Chantecaille
Claim to fame: As creative director of her family-owned cosmetics business, she can convince a soap-and-water minimalist that $290 face cream is a reasonable--even a requisite--purchase.
Defining moment: Chantecaille, 31, co-founded the company in 1997 with her mother Sylvie, the brains behind Estee Lauder's groundbreaking Prescriptives brand.
Luxury quotient: A near religious devotion to exotic ingredients has helped propel the brand. The success of its $290 lifting cream more than doubled the company's skin-care sales--making it one of the few makeup lines to thrive in that competitive market.
Chic Shoemaker Diego Della Valle
Claim to fame: He took his family's century-old shoe factory in the Marche region of Italy and turned it into a leading luxury leather-goods brand with $466 million in sales last year.
Defining moment: Della Valle started Tod's in 1978 after spotting a photo of the Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli wearing soft driving shoes--leading to the brainstorm that casual shoes could be chic.
Luxury quotient: In November 2000, Tod's S.p.A.--which also includes Hogan, a lower-priced line of accessories, and the sportswear brand Fay--was entered on the Milan stock exchange. But Della Valle's current triumph is his football team, Fiorentina. Maybe a line of soccer shoes is next.
King of Bling Sean Combs
Claim to fame: Entrepreneurial jack-of-all-trades P. Diddy is a Grammy-winning music producer--performer, CEO of the fashion label Sean John and an investor in the young couturier Zac Posen. He is also an actor, a marathoner and a political cheerleader.
Defining moment: Combs staked his claim as a marketing mastermind with the buzz generated by his 28th-birthday bash and its allstar videotaped invite.
Luxury quotient: He has built an image--and an industry--around his flinging of bling. Last year he designed an SUV with six TV screens, and his date this past July 4 was an original copy of the Declaration of Independence.
Haute E-tailer Natalie Massenet
Claim to fame: Anyone who has doubts about luxury fashion selling online has yet to meet Massenet, the founder of Net-a-Porter.com Based in London, the high-end shopping website gets about 5.5 million page views a month.
Defining moment: A former fashion-magazine editor, Massenet, 39, came up with the idea for the company when she couldn't find designer collections online. Net-a-Porter.com launched four years ago with just eight employees.