University of Fashion Blog

Posts Tagged: "CFDA Awards"

THE COUNCIL OF FASHION DESIGNERS TURNS 60

- - Fashion Events

Ezra J. William, Tina Leung, Prabal Gurung, Laura Kim, Eva Chen and Phillip Lim won the the Positive Social Influence Award. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

American fashion’s second ‘biggest’ night took place on Monday, Nov. 7, 2022 (the first being the MET Gala), when the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), in partnership with Amazon Fashion, held its 2022 Fashion Awards extravaganza at Cipriani South Street in New York City.  An orange-haired and comical Natasha Lyonne, the evening’s host, was joined by designers Gabriela Hearst, Joseph Altuzarra, Aurora James and Proenza Schouler’s Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough. What was so special about the 2022 CFDA awards was it marked the CFDA’s 60th anniversary.

Natasha Lyonne in Proenza Schouler hosted the CFDA Awards. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

If you are a true blue follower of all things fashion, like us, then you were most likely streaming the show real time. But you just have to wonder whether there is a course on how to pose on the Red Carpet. Don’t know about you, but we had endless fun watching as each of the designers and celebs lined up in cue against the CFDA backdrop, and to quote Madonna, “struck a pose”.

As usual, this year CFDA Fashion Award honorees were chosen in advance of the show but the award winners were announced at the awards ceremony. Winners were voted on ahead of time by the CFDA Awards Guild, which is comprised of CFDA members, leading fashion journalists, stylists, and top retail executives.

The most coveted awards are always American Womenswear Designer of the Year and American Menswear Designer of the Year. Actress Christina Ricci presented the American Womenswear Designer of the Year award to Catherine Holstein of KHAITE (takes its name from the Greek word (χαίτη) meaning “long, flowing hair.”). Holstein’s label beat out nominees Christopher John Rogers, Gabriela Hearst, LaQuan Smith, and Peter Do.

Christina Ricci and Womenswear Designer of the Year Catherine Holstein of KHAITE. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

The Daily Show’s late night television host Trevor Noah was on hand to give the American Menswear Designer of the Year to Emily Adams Bode Aujla of Bode. Actor Joel Kim Booster presented Raul Lopez of LUAR with the American Accessory Designer of the Year. And actress Keke Palmer presented the American Emerging Designer award to Elena Velez.

Trevor Noah and Menswear Designer of the Year Emily Bode Aujla. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Cher in Chrome Hearts and Patti Wilson in Schiaparelli at the CFDA Awards. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

And of course, the event was filled with the most fashionable celebrities. Cher (can you believe she is 76?) opened the ceremony by presenting stylist Patti Wilson the Media Award in honor of Eugenia Sheppard. Later that night Cher presented another award alongside her goddaughter Jesse Jo Stark to give The Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award to Laurie Lynn Stark and Richard Stark of Chrome Hearts; and of course, Cher rocked a Chrome Hearts look.

Kerry Washington and Stylist Award winner Law Roach. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

A major addition to the CFDA awards is the “Stylist Award”. Those in the know, know that without stylists, a runway show or a photoshoot would be meh. Stylists work with designers, celebs  and photographers to put the “wow factor” into a designer’s designs or create a celebrity’s ‘look’. We can’t believe it took this long for the CFDA to recognize these change makers.

Stylist Law Roach received the inaugural Stylist Award from Kerry Washington. Roach gave one of the most memorable speeches of the night. The stylist extraordinaire shared that in 2016 Zendaya was invited by Michael Kors to attend the CFDA Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom. He watched the show from the kitchen. “I sat and watched from the kitchen with the waiters who served your food and drinks,” Roach said. “I said to myself that one day I’m going to be on that stage! I’m an example that anything and everything is possible.”

Natasha Lyonne and Fashion Icon Lenny Kravitz. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

The night was filled with plenty of additional highlights as well. Actor Bradley Cooper presented rock star Lenny Kravitz with the very fittingly Fashion Icon award. Meanwhile, American Businesswoman and television personality Martha Stewart presented the inaugural Innovation Award presented by Amazon Fashion to SKIMS, which was accepted by Kim Kardashian, Emma Grede, and Jens Grede. The entire Kardashian/Jenner crew (with the exception of Kourtney) attended the CFDA Awards and cheered Kim on for her big achievement.

Khloé Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner

There were plenty of additional wins for the evening including Andrew Bolton receiving the The Founder’s Award in honor of Eleanor Lambert from non-other than Anna Wintour, Jeffrey Banks receiving the Special Anniversary Award from Stan Herman,  The United Nations receiving the Environmental Sustainability Award from Amber Valletta, and The House of Slay—aka Prabal Gurung, Laura Kim, Phillip Lim, Tina Leung, and Ezra William—receiving the Positive Social Influence Award from Eva Chen. During one of the a tearful moments of the night, Shannon Abloh accepted the posthumous Board of Trustee’s Award on behalf of her late husband, Virgil Abloh.

AND THE WINNERS ARE……

American Womenswear Designer of the Year: Catherine Holstein for Khaite

American Menswear Designer of the Year: Emily Bode Aujla for Bode

American Accessory Designer of the Year: Raul Lopez for Luar

American Emerging Designer of the Year: Elena Velez

Fashion Icon: Lenny Kravitz

Positive Social Influence Award: Slaysians from The House of Slay featuring Prabal Gurung, Laura Kim, Phillip Lim, Tina Leung and Ezra William

Founder’s Award in Honor of Eleanor Lambert: Andrew Bolton

Amazon Innovation Award: Kim Kardashian, Emma Grede and Jens Grede of Skims

Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award: Laurie Lynn Stark and Richard Stark of Chrome Hearts

Media Award in Honore of Eugenia Sheppard: Patti Wilson

Environmental Sustainability Award: The United Nations (to be accepted by Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General)

Stylist Award: Law Roach

Special Anniversary Award: Jeffrey Banks

Gigi Hadid, Thom Browne and Anna Wintour at the CFDA Awards Dinner. (Photo Credit: FashionWeekDaily)

So tell us, do you have a fav designer?

CFDA FASHION AWARDS: FASHION’S OTHER BIG NIGHT

- - Fashion Events

Designer/Stylist Law Roach and Zendaya in Vera Wang, winner of the Fashion Icon Award. (Photo Credit: Vogue)

Fashion’s second biggest fashion event (the MET Gala being the first) happened on Wednesday November 10th, the CFDA Awards. Some of the biggest names in fashion attended an in-person extravaganza for industry insiders at the Pool + the Grill, located in the Seagram Building on Park Avenue in Manhattan. The mezzanine, in the back of The Grill, proved the perfect perch from which to ogle the guests. The energy of the night was filled with excitement and awe. All of fashion’s heavy hitters were in attendance, as well as some very well-dressed celebrities.

CFDA Chairman and designer Tom Ford and Dapper Dan, winner of the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award . (Photo Credit: Vogue)

“I’m so happy to be back at a fashion gathering,” said Tom Ford to Vogue Magazine as he stepped away from cocktails for a moment to reflect on the evening. “I’ve been Chairman of the CFDA for almost three years and this is the first CFDA Awards I’ve been able to host. We wanted it to be much more intimate, but still very chic.”

Hostess Emily Blunt in Christopher John Rogers. (Photo Credit: Shutterstock)

The award ceremony, hosted by British actress Emily Blunt (of Devil Wears Prada fame), was held in front of a live audience and a troupe of celebrity presenters (last year’s ceremony was all digital due to the COVID-19 Pandemic). Some of the honorees were announced ahead of the awards ceremony, such as Zendaya winning the Fashion Icon Award, as well as Anya Taylor-Joy winning the first ever Face of the Year Award.

But, let’s face it, if it weren’t for their fashion stylists, would these gals have won these awards? Case in point, this year’s The Hollywood Reporter Top Stylist of the Year Award went to Law Roach (who also works with Anya Taylor-Joy, Kerry Washington, Tiffany Haddish, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Aldis Hodge, Tom Holland and Hunter Schafer). Read about the 12 stylists that you should be following on Instagram: https://www.crfashionbook.com/fashion/a36632100/12-stylists-you-should-be-following-on-instagram/

 

Anya Taylor-Joy in Oscar de la Renta and Gigi Burris hat. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Tom Ford’s mission for the 2021 CFDA Awards was to promote the talent that America has to offer. “I’m excited to show how American fashion has impacted the rest of the world, whether the rest of the world is ready to acknowledge that or not,” he said to Vogue Magazine. “That is my goal, to help the rest of the world understand how much they have taken and how much America has given to fashion globally.”

Demna Gvasalia, the creative director behind Balenciaga, and winner of the International Womenswear Designer of the Year Award couldn’t have agreed more with Ford. “American fashion has had the biggest impact it could have on someone like me. I was a Soviet kid who grew up in a country where people didn’t even know that fashion designer was a profession,” he said, holding his CFDA statuette. “The first time I discovered that you could be a fashion designer was when I discovered Tom Ford, when I was 10 or 11 years old. My dream of fashion actually began with discovering Tom Ford.”

Paloma Elsesser and Demna Gvasalia, winner of the International Womenswear Designer of the Year Award . (Photo Credit: Vogue)

“It’s not something I ever could have dreamt of to be here tonight and to have this kind of award,” Gvasalia continued. “I feel like I’ve been fighting for my place in fashion and to receive this award today, it’s like three years worth of therapy in some way. It’s the most amazing feeling, to feel heard, seen, and understood, and that’s what this award represents to me. It’s amazing. I don’t feel alone anymore.”

Feeling seen and accepted was a common theme throughout the night. Emerging Designer of the Year winner Edvin Thompson of Theophilio stated after his win, “It represents my community, Jamaica, and really carving out a space in the fashion industry to tell our stories.”

Sara Ziff, founder of The Model Alliance, and winner of the Positive Social Influence Award. (Photo Credit: Vogue)

Sara Ziff, the founder of The Model Alliance, received the Positive Social Influence Award. The award gave the former model the opportunity to continue the discussion around models’ rights. “It’ll be a decade [since I started the Model Alliance] in February so it’s been quite a long road. Of course it’s nice to be recognized, but I wanted it to be meaningful and that’s why I used the opportunity to ask the industry to step up and do better,” she said of the decision to ask Carré Otis and Beverly Johnson to share their stories of abuse in the modeling industry before presenting Ziff with her CFDA trophy. “What keeps me going is I know that we’re on the right side of history,” Ziff stated.

Aurora James received the Founder’s Award in honor of Eleanor Lambert .(Photo Credit: Vogue)

Aurora James, the Creative Director and Founder of luxury accessories brand Brother Vellies, as well as the founder of the Fifteen Percent Pledge (James became an advocate for Black businesses). After receiving the Founders Award in Honor of Eleanor Lambert from Vogue’s Anna Wintour, James reflected on her award. “I am over the moon to receive this award; it means so much. The amount of emotional capital that I spent over the past 18 months working on the Fifteen Percent Pledge and that my whole organization spent relentlessly day in and day out fighting for economic equality—it just feels so incredible to be acknowledged in this way for all the hard work that we’ve done,” she said.

Iman and Zendaya, the winner of the Fashion Icon Award. (Photo Credit: Vogue)

The winner on the Fashion Icon Award, Zendaya, was nearly speechless after receiving her award from Iman, listing the model, Cher, Diana Ross, and her grandmothers among her own fashion icons. “I’m speechless,” Zendaya said with a stunned smile. “I just got an award and Iman gave it to me! I’m still not over that.”

Emily Bode Aujla is the winner of the Menswear Designer of the Year Award. (Photo Credit: Vogue)

The final two awards of the night went to Emily Bode Aujla who won for Menswear Designer of the Year and Christopher John Rogers for Womenswear Designer of the Year. “It’s so inspiring to see all of the change that all of the people in this room have created,” said Bode Aujla as she revealed that she will be opening a west coast store. “Something that I’ve bet on is retail. Our New York store is surpassing our online right now by 30%,” she added.

Womenswear Designer of the Year winner Christopher John Rogers. (Photo Credit: Vogue)

Rogers is also focusing on the future of his brand, “The sky’s the limit. We’re really about intentionality at CJR and about moving with purpose. Whatever it is next will hopefully be as impactful and full as what we’re doing now.”

Below is a list of all the winners of the most fashionable awards show:

American Womenswear Designer of the Year: Christopher John Rogers for Christopher John Rogers.

American Menswear Designer of the Year: Emily Adams Bode for Bode.

American Accessories Designer of the Year: Telfar Clemens for Telfar.

American Emerging Designer of the Year: Edvin Thompson for Theophilio.

International Women’s Designer of the Year: Demna Gvasalia for Balenciaga.

International Men’s Designer of the Year: Grace Wales Bonner for Wales Bonner.

Fashion Icon: Zendaya.

Face of the Year: Anya Taylor-Joy.

Positive Social Influence Award: Model Alliance.

Founder’s Award in honor of Eleanor Lambert: Aurora James for the 15 Percent Pledge.

Environmental Sustainability Award: Patagonia.

Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award: Dapper Dan.

Media Award in honor of Eugenia Sheppard: Nina Garcia.

Emily Ratajkowski and Nina Garcia, winner of the Media Award in honor of Eugenia Sheppard. (Photo Credit: Vogue)

Board of Directors’ Tribute: Yeohlee Teng.

Yeohlee Teng winner of the Board of Directors’ Tribute. (Photo Credit: Vogue)

So tell us, do you agree with the CFDA’s choice winners? And do you think there should be a Best Stylist Award?