Not one, but three. That was the number of winners at the 2015 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards. For the first time in the fund’s 12-year history, the Selection Committee decided to name three equal winners: Aurora James of Brother Vellies, Jonathan Simkhai and Rio Uribe of Gypsy Sport. Each takes home $300,000 and a year’s mentoring.

“I mean, have you guys seem the other nine designers? They are amazing,” an emotional Aurora James, the night’s first winner to be named, said, before making plea for the fellow talent in the room at Spring Studios to reconsider Africa which inspired her to start her company. “I would encourage you to really involve Africa in the conversation instead of just taking inspiration from there,” she said.

Gypsy Sport’s Rio Uribe recalled how he always aspired to be a part of the fashion world but had a feeling — clearly wrongfully so — that fashion didn’t want him. “I am sure it’s a cliché but it feels so surreal to be up here and talk to the people I have looked up to all my life,” he said.

Jonathan Simkhai, meanwhile, pointed to his early fashion beginnings. As he put it, “As a young boy from Westchester folding jeans in a store, I never thought I would be here.”

The night had kicked off with cocktails. Peter Som was an early arrival – “Am I the first?” he wondered — followed by Zac Posen with his stunning date Demi Moore. The evening heated up when Edie Parker’s Brett Heyman arrived with Chanel Iman, who coolly pulled off a sexy Fausto Puglisi ensemble and sent the red carpet photographers into a shouting frenzy. Jennifer Fisher and Lake Bell sported all-white looks designed by Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein Collection, who also wardrobed Anna Wintour for the occasion.

Amanda Seyfried arrived with Riccardo Tisci and headed into cocktails, where the duo joined Karlie Kloss, Zendaya, Victor Cruz, Tamara Mellon and Mike Ovitz, Ladyfag, Georgina Chapman and Harvey Weinstein, Keren Craig, Joseph Altuzarra, Thakoon Panichgul, Thom Browne and Andrew Bolton, and Vera Wang, among others.

The dinner, generously supported by Westfield World Trade Center, featured the traditional pot pie, a crowd favorite. It was the first time the finalists – including Scott Studenberg, John Targon, Matt Baldwin, Brad Schmidt, Raul Arevalo, Chris Gelinas, Becca McCharen, David Hart and Thaddeus O’Neil – got to sample the dish.

Throughout the evening, the high level of talent in the room was palpable. “In its twelfth year, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund continues to highlight the best of emerging talent in American fashion,” said CFDA President and CEO Steven Kolb.

CFDA Chairman Diane von Furstenberg thanked her fellow Selection Committee members, and made a special callout to the Fashion Fund alumni in her remarks. “It is always so touching and wonderful when you come back each year to support the new group,” she said. “We watch you continue to grow and we are proud of your success.”

Von Furstenberg was followed by Anna Wintour, who said of keynote speaker Tisci: “All roads in pop culture lead back to you.”

Tisci, in a conversation with Vogue’s Hamish Bowles, discussed early career disappointments at Ruffo Research that prompted him to go to India for two months “because I was so upset about what was happening.” He came back, did a show in Milan, “and that was the start.”

When Givenchy came calling, he was initially hesitant—he was still so young and had just started his own label – but the opportunity to make some money sealed the deal. “I came from a very simple family, and financially my family was not very well,” he said. “That is the reason why I said yes to the job.”

The party didn’t end at Spring Studios. Paul Andrew, Ryan Roche and Eva Fehren’s Eva Zuckerman — the 2014 winner and two runners-up, respectively — continued to celebrate the finalists with an after-party at Sixty SoHo.