“Can we acknowledge we got Anna Wintour to Brooklyn? That’s worth cheering for.”
Karlie Kloss made the point at the 2017 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund (CVFF) dinner, which moved across the river for the first time to The Weylin, a beautiful domed space that was once the Williamsburgh Savings Bank. Wintour, it has to be noted, looked right at home.
Monday’s event marked the fourteenth CVFF awards. Teyana Taylor, in Baja East, was among the first to arrive with the label’s designers John Targon and Scott Studenberg. They were followed by Young Paris, and then JD Fashion’s Xia Ding, who was on the hedged red carpet with Fei Fei Sun. Alexander Wang’s date for the night was Nikki Minaj, while Prabal Gurung had Taylor Hill on his arm.
Cocktails had a festive vibe as past finalists caught up and mingled with the current crop. Among them were Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, the Fund’s first winners in 2004, Joseph Altuzarra, Thom Browne, Ryan Roche, Marc Alary, Eva Zuckerman, and Chloe Gosselin with husband David Copperfield in tow.
Many of the guests embraced American fashion, and they looked terrific: Lauren Santo Domingo in Calvin Klein, Imaan Hammam in Mateo New York, Paloma Elsesser in Adam Selman, Soo Joo Park in Tome, Martha Hunt and Lais Ribeiro in Cushnie et Ochs, Grace Hertzel in Derek Lam, and Sara Sampaio in J.Mendel. And that’s just naming a few of the fashion highlights.
The music at cocktails was so good that people almost didn’t want to move onto the dinner. Alton Mason, who perfectly pulled off a red Gucci suit, couldn’t help but shimmy for the occasion. “I do love fashion,” he said. “I love that it’s fresh and a self-expression of individuality.”
The autumn wonderland replete with gorgeous tablescapes – courtesy of Raul Avila – added to the evening’s magic. “It’s so beautiful, and very contemporary and arty,” said Xia Ding of JD Fashion, which supported the evening and emerging American talent. “The Chinese consumer really likes American designers right now, like Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang, and Jason Wu. We are trying to help designers access the enormous market in China.”
Wintour thanked CFDA Chairwoman Diane von Furstenberg in her remarks, recalling some memorable – and amusing – exchanges between the two.
“I know our industry thinks of you as our fairy godmother,” the Vogue Editor-in-Chief said. “Personally I see you more as a combination of Aphrodite and Athena . . . And certainly my very favorite goddess to receive an email from, like this one: ‘Jetlagged. I’m in Santa Barbra at Amazon campfire. I think it’s time for women to shine before humans totally surrender to artificial intelligence. Miss you, Diane.’ Or: ‘The world is insane. Am in the Galapagos. Women really have to fight for their rights we are so much stronger than men … If you need me just whistle. Love you.’”
As for the winners, the top prize went to Telfar’s Telfar Clemens. “I know it’s been a hard long road, but that’s what pioneers do,” he said, adding, with trophy in hand, that “this is coming back to Queens.”
Runner-up Ahlem Manai-Platt nodded to her fashion community, many of which were in the room. “You talk about team and how people are important,” she said. “This is the team. You find your family and you go with them forever.”
Fellow runner-up Becca McCharen-Tran had a powerful message for women: “The goal or point of Chromat is to celebrate women in all aspects of womanhood, in all genders… in all bodies. I believe in celebrating inclusion and hope this is the way fashion is moving. It’s not a trend. This is where fashion should be.”
Keynote speaker Maria Grazia Chiuri, Artistic Director of Christian Dior, had a similar message of women’s empowerment, especially in an industry that is still largely male-dominated. “Be brave,” she said. “Believe in yourself. You have to do what you feel is right for you.” And if you make a mistake, so be it. “It’s good, because it’s your mistake,” she said. “Believe in yourself and dream…and don’t stop dreaming.”
