Who designed the clothes back then?

How long ago is back then?

If you mean in the mid 1800's and before then, you had a special seamstress or someone who would make the clothes with alot of your input. It wasn't really design.

In the early 1900's, Paul Poiret and other designers took charge.

The 1920's was Chanel's time

In the 1940's Dior changed fashion