Style Files: What five items would you put in a fashion archive?

Some innovations came off the runway, went through multiple iterations, lasted for decades, and stayed in our wardrobes, perhaps much longer than even their creators anticipated. What would popular archives on the history of fashion contain? Shefalee Vasudev, fashion editor and editor-in-chief of digital magazine The Voice of Fashion, lists her top five.

Iterations of the Chanel tweed jacket from the 1950s to the present. About 100 years after its creation, it is still fashionable and instantly recognizable. (Getty Images)

Burberry trench coat

The history of this iconic garment dates back to 1888, when Thomas Burberry patented the gabardine. It was a tightly woven fabric made from treated cotton twill. It was waterproof but breathable. It didn’t make the wearer sweat, but it kept them warm. It was even used by Ernest Shackleton and Roald Amundsen during their journeys to the South Pole.

At the turn of the century, the British army used this English invention to clothe its officers. At the start of the First World War, they had already ordered a special model.

The Burberry trench was designed for life in the trenches. It had rings that could be attached to vials, cards, and grenades; and room for shoulder pads. It was long, warm and waterproof.

It quickly became a status symbol among civilians as well, as men and women purchased it as a sign of national pride. It was also used during World War II. It endures all these decades later, with its signature check pattern typically used in the lining.

Chanel tweed jacket

Boxy, relaxed and made of wool, this design debuted in 1925. Defined by elegance and straight cuts, it represented Coco Chanel’s answer (and rejection) to the tortuous corsets still common at the time. The jacket, it is said, was inspired by a sweater she borrowed from her then-boyfriend Hugh Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster, while they were exploring the Scottish Highlands together. By wearing it, she would later say, she realized the comfort that women lacked. Over the past century, the Chanel tweed jacket has been revived, redesigned and re-released in numerous iterations.

Dior’s “new look”

Rounded shoulders, cinched waists and pleated, voluminous skirts made up the “New Look” of Christian Dior, his first collection, in 1947. After the years of scarcity and austerity of World War II, these clothes were of luxuriant richness. The collection began to be referred to as a renaissance of French couture. With him, Dior “brings back the neglected art of pleasing,” he later wrote in his autobiography Dior by Dior (1956).

Yves Saint Laurent pants for women

Before Yves Saint Laurent designed a women’s pantsuit, women’s suits were usually paired with skirts of several lengths. Echoing Chanel, half a century later, another French designer freed women from the chains of “should be”. The first pantsuit was released in the Spring/Summer 1967 collection. Saint Laurent named it Le Smoking and immediately launched a ready-to-wear line, so that more women could access the designs and help spread them of the radical idea.

Bottega Veneta bow clutch

Developed by Tomas Maier, then creative director of the brand, it was inspired by a small rounded box clutch from 1978 that he saw in the archives of the Italian design house. It keeps its shape and gives it a new clasp: a braided leather knot. The clutch first appeared on the catwalks in 2002 and has since been part of several collections. The Knot has been reinterpreted in several ways. There was the Origami bow, the vintage jewel bow, the metallic lace bow, the memory bow and more. The label even organized a Knot retrospective in 2014.