Other articles by Michael Quintanilla:

The frill is gone for fall fashions

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Tired of the same old, same old celebrity to stylishly emulate? You should be, because they all tend to look alike wearing every possible trendy thing out there — and often all at once.

It's no wonder that the celebrity syndrome has reached a saturation point. Once, the women who set the style were not showbiz celebs, but high-society women. Among them were Wallis Simpson, Barbara "Babe" Paley, C.Z. Guest and the ultimate sophisticate, Jackie O. They were photographed and written about for their chic, sophisticated style. They were women who had a persona that was a trend (read: taste) unto itself.

Wallis Warfield Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, was reared in Baltimore and was the romantic heroine of the 20th century. The King of England gave up his throne in 1936 to marry her. She was no looker, but she had tremendous style.

Paley was one of the famously beautiful Cushing sisters who became a Vogue fashion editor and married very well (her mother taught her to pursue socially prominent and wealthy men) and more than once.

She was considered the best-dressed woman in the world in her day and eventually was inducted into the Fashion Hall of Fame in 1958. Also a trendsetter, she removed her Hermes scarf from around her neck and tied it to the handle of her handbag while at lunch one day. By the next day, women in New York — and later across the country — had copied the idea.

Socialite C.Z. Guest was married to one of America's wealthiest men, Winston Frederick Churchill Guest, a second cousin to Winston Churchill.

Her look was pure class. Once, when photographer and Oscar-winning costume designer Cecil Beaton photographed her, Guest was pregnant and told him that another headshot would be too boring. So she handed him her manicure scissors and told him to cut her long hair.

He did, and her boyish crop created an iconic photo.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, of course, is often considered the ultimate sophisticate. Once America's first lady and later the wife of billionaire shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, she favored very simple clothes in strong colors.

Oleg Cassini was her "official" designer, but her style was really the result of her admiration for Hubert deGivenchy, who was trained by Cristobal Balenciaga, the king of simple, sculpted shapes, and a favorite look of the former first lady.