A closer look at the 'Best-Dressed List'

The 2010 International Best-Dressed List was just announced in the September issue of Vanity Fair magazine that hit newsstands recently.

The annual style issue features Lady Gaga on the cover in a long gray wig, greige nail polish (Deborah Lippman "Waking Up in Vegas") and not much else. Lady Gaga is one of the more surprising names on the list this year.

The idea of a best-dressed list belonged to the late fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert, who believed American fashion needed a boost. In 1940, she came out with the first list, which included heiress Barbara Hutton and a Mrs. S. Kent Legare "of South Carolina and Washington, D.C."

When Lambert died in 2003, she left the list to a handful of editors at Vanity Fair to oversee.

In deciding who makes the cut, several thousand ballots are sent out to designers, retailers, editors, filmmakers, photographers and former winners. The list honors "individuality, chic and originality on the highest level."

The 2010 honorees are perhaps the most eclectic group ever represented on the list. Regarding Lady Gaga, Vanity Fair style editor Amy Fine Collins explained, she "reinvented the medium of fashion. She's included anything and everything into fashion, from telephones to wheelchairs. She's consistently herself."

One of the most refreshing newcomers to the list this year is English actress Carey Mulligan, best known for her Oscar-nominated role in "An Education." Her pixie haircut and gamine figure channels Jean Seberg and Mia Farrow. Miu Miu, Prada and Lanvin are her go-to labels.

First lady Michelle Obama also made the list and was cited for her mix of designer brands with more affordable labels like J. Crew, Talbots and Isaac Mizrahi's Liz Claiborne. Other "first ladies" on the list are Carla Bruni-Sarkozy of France and Samantha Cameron of the U.K.

Another unusual newcomer is jewelry designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia, who is known for his roles in Wes Anderson films and his style, which includes tailored suits from Savile Row, an impressive beard and his signature turban.

Other men on the list include musician Pharrell Williams, news anchor Brian Williams, actor Alec Baldwin and director Martin Scorsese.

Several sets of siblings made the list, including actors Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal, French fashion icons Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon and Andrew, David and Dylan Lauren, who frequently look like they stepped out of a Ralph Lauren (their father, by the way) fashion spread.

To see all the honorees on the 2010 International Best-Dressed List, go to www.vanityfair.com.