A-Z of British Style: C is for Catherine Middleton

I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Kate Middleton. When I first decided to apply to do my degree here at St Andrews, people would often ask me if I was looking to bag a prince - to an 18 year old attempting some serious academic study, this was infuriating, and as a result I'd roll my eyes at any mention of Kate and systematically avoided the 'rah'-types' hangouts about town in case people pigeon-holed me into the sloaney stereotype of middle-class girl on the hunt for a rich/posh boyfriend.

However, whilst I still avoid people who dress solely in tweed and red chinos and shout about Moet, Kate has decidedly grown on me. I think the turning-point was when she and Wills announced their engagement - the Issa dress! the shiny hair! the perfect-but-not-too-Hollywood smile! She definitely won me over, and from then on I've just loved practically every outfit she's been spotted in.

Aside from my personal views about her, it's clear that millions of others think that Kate's a true British style icon too. There a so many blogs and Tumblrs dedicated to what she wears, and literally within minutes of photographs appearing of Kate there are people pin-pointing exactly which designers and brands she's wearing - and more often than not the items she wears then sell out almost immediately, whether designer or high-street.

A-Z of British Style: B is for Burberry

Just a short decade ago, the brand Burberry was languishing in the depths of bad publicity. When Daniella Westbrook appeared wearing head-to-toe Burberry check, even co-ordinating her baby's pram with her outfit, it seemed that the brand would forever be worn by 'chavs' and scorned by fashionistas who were embarrassed to be associated with chav culture.

Burberry is famed for it's distinctive trench coat, invented by its founder Thomas Burberry

However Christopher Bailey - ex-Gucci designer - was appointed as creative director in 2001 and chief creative officer in 2009, and together with Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts Bailey has transformed and modernised the heritage brand.

Watson and Redmayne in their respective campaigns

Burberry's marketing strategy has been to harness the joint powers of social media and celebrity culture: modelling stints from celebrities such as Emma Watson and Eddie Redmayne have exponentially improved Burberry's profile among the youth demographic both in the UK and abroad, and is considered one of the most successful fashion brands on sites such as Facebook (12 million 'likes'), Twitter (1 million followers), and Youtube (14 million views)

Burberry Prorsum A/W 2012 show finale

Today the cohesiveness of the brand has gone from strength to strength, something Ahrendts has credited to Bailey's consistent vision. This month Burberry has been one of the most expensive fashion companies on the FTSE 100, consistently outperforming similar companies: Burberry has now joined brands such as Louis Vuitton and Prada as a billion-pound fashion label, and analysts say that the brand will only continue to grow.

A-Z of British Style: A is for Alexa

There's no doubting Alexa Chung's influence as the quintessential advocate of that very 'London' mishmashed way of dressing: she is constantly both prim and grunge, designer and high street, masculine and feminine, simple and variated.

Approached by the modelling agency Storm at Reading Festival when she was 16, Alexa has since appeared on the frows at various Fashion Weeks, featured on countless Best Dressed lists, graced the covers of Vogue, Elle and Harper's Bazaar, seen her eponymous Mulberry bag instantly become one of the most recognisable It-bags, and even designed her own line in collaboration with Madewell.

She consistently wears incongruous items together to create her particularly individual sense of style: ball gowns with woolly jumpers, masculine tailoring with girly bows, smart dresses with quirky accessories. An exponent of the messy bedhead hairstyle, she always wears lashings of eyeliner no matter the occasion which adds to her nonchalant couldn't-care-less attitude.