Zac Posen, the designer who would rather be compared to John Galliano than Michael Kors, is front and centre of the fashion stage right now, as a profile in the New York Times this weekend highlights. His self-proclaimed likening to the disgraced ex-Dior designer doesn’t really tell us much about a man whose clothes tend to veer closer to chic than showmanship, but could the famous friends Posen’s been known to hang with, including Juliette Lewis, with whom the designer will walk the red carpet at tonight’s C.F.D.A awards, tell us more about him?

Coco Rocha – The Canadian model is oft-seen in Zac’s designs, including on her wedding day, wearing a dress he created especially for her. As well as acting as his muse and frequent collaborator, the pair share a love for Barbara Streisand’s ‘magnificent fingers’. Coco continues to prove that she’s more than a pretty face with her recently acquired role as a tech journalist, so bearing in mind his friendship with Lena Dunham too, it’s safe to say Zac likes the women in his life to be intelligent as well as beautiful. Quite right too. 

Lena Dunham – the designer crossed paths with the actress/writer/director/impressive over-achiever when they attended the same school and Zac would babysit Lena. He was fond of styling her hair ‘like a newscaster’ she once commented. Was Hannah Horvath’s GBF roomie-relationship with Elijah in series two of Girls inspired by those nights in with Posen, who designed her graduation outfit and dressed her for this year’s Golden Globes?

P Diddy – Zac struck a three year partnership deal with the flashy rapper in 2004, after which they were repeatedly spotted tearing up NYC together. Was the partnership a way of upping his cool-cred with a younger audience, or a wiley way of getting the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé into his outfits? Or maybe, they just had a shared love of a Cristal or two… 

Claire Danes – the star of Homeland, and everyone’s favourite ‘90s style icon as Angela Chase, has said that ‘My style is heavily formed by my close relationship with Zac’. A regular at his shows and in his outfits, Danes is just one of the many ‘strong women’, as he has described his clients, that Posen dresses.