Cynthia Erivo and Doechii among list of 2025’s most influential fashion figures

Wicked star Cynthia Erivo and rapper Doechii are among the 100 people selected as 2025’s most influential figures in fashion.

The stars join the coveted Business of Fashion’s BoF 500, an annual index of people who are shaping and influencing the global fashion industry.

Singer and actress Erivo, 38, shot to worldwide fame after playing Elphaba in the film adaptation of the hit musical Wicked, starring alongside pop star Ariana Grande, who played Glinda.

She is also known for playing Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin in the series Genius: Aretha, for which she was Emmy nominated, and abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet.

US rapper Doechii, whose real name is Jaylah Hickmon, is best known for her viral hits Anxiety and Denial Is A River.

The musician claimed her first Grammy earlier this year for best rap album with Alligator Bites Never Heal.

The stars are joined by award-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar, following his viral headline performance at the Super Bowl half-time show in February.

Lamar took home five Grammy Awards this year, including the prestigious song of the year and record of the year awards for his diss-track Not Like Us.

Actor Colman Domingo, singer-songwriter Tems and shogun star Anna Sawai also join the BoF 500, alongside models Hailey Bieber and Alex Consani.

The BoF 500 index began in September 2013 as a live index of the 500 most influential people in the global fashion industry.

It has since added new names to the list, which is now made up of a total of 1,613 people representing more than 98 nationalities.

Imran Amed, founder and chief executive of The Business of Fashion, said: “We put together this year’s class at a unique inflection point for fashion as the industry contends with shifting geopolitics, economic dislocation and sweeping technological change.

“This is our most global group of industry shapers yet, with new entrants from four countries represented for the first time: Montenegro, Mongolia, Cameroon and Panama, underscoring how fashion’s centre of gravity continues to shift eastwards and southwards.”

The index is made up of people from across eight categories: designers, executives, retailers, entrepreneurs, creative class, media, models & muses and catalysts.

Other entrants who made it on to the 2025 list include fashion designer and podcast host Bella Freud, model Mamuor Majeng and designers Simone Bellotti and Michael Rider.

Loewe’s Pascale Lepoivre also joined the list along with designer Giambattista Valli, i-D Magazine’s Thom Bettridge and photographer Daniel Obasi.