Anna Wintour put it best. In the 15 years since the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund was formed, the Vogue Editor-in-Chief and Conde Nast Artistic Director has learned quite a bit from the 150 designers that passed through the program—specifically, she said, “a great deal about hard work, humor and humility, and that being a talented young designer in New York often involves a tenth floor walk-up.” That’s not an easy feat in Manolos, but (almost) always worth the climb.
Diane von Furstenberg echoed similar sentiments at Monday night’s 15th Fashion Fund awards in Brooklyn Navy Yard’s former Mast chocolate factory.
“We judges may think we are the experts, but these young designers are doing things in new ways,” the CFDA Chairwoman said. “We are actually learning from them.”
The star-studded audience featured designers Michael Kors, Zac Posen, Stuart Vevers, Joseph Altuzarra, Prabal Gurung, Phillip Lim, Christian Siriano, and Brandon Maxwell; VIPs La La Anthony, Lourdes Leon, Indya Moore, Karlie Kloss, Paloma Elsesser, MJ Rodriguez, Huma Abedin, and Reverend Al Sharpton, and a slew of fashion executives and entrepreneurs, including Xia Ding, President of JD.com which generously sponsored the gala dinner.
They, and many more, enjoyed the festive soiree as they sipped on Kim Crawford Wines in anticipation of the winner’s announcement.
But first, there was the fashion show featuring the work of this year’s 10 finalists among a powerful musical performance, tap dancers, vespas, one Tesla with a special delivery of New York’s finest queens, and an acrobat model in a hoop suspended from the ceiling. Fashion students watched all the action from an upper balcony.
“You didn’t get that 15 years ago,” said Proenza Schouler’s Lazaro Hernandez who, with Jack McCollough, won the first fund in 2004. “We had plastic plates…maybe some cupcakes.”
The duo shared words of wisdom with this year’s finalists.
“This is where it all began for us many moons ago, when we were fortunate enough to win the first CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award and launched into a new chapter of Proenza Schouler,” Hernandez recalled.
“New beginnings are definitely something we very much believe in and for many of you, this new chapter begins tonight,” McCollough added. “This is the beginning of a great, insane adventure. Trust us.”
Emily Blunt – “an actress who cut her fashion teeth, on screen at least, in one of the fashion world’s crucial role as the assistant to a certain legendary editor-in-chief, who might or might not be here tonight,” Hernandez said – was on hand to announce the awards.
“I am sorry you never got the girls spinning in a hoop, things could have been different for you,” she told the Proenza designers before announcing this year’s runners-up Emily Adams Bode of Bode and Jonathan Cohen, and then the 2018 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winner Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss.
Jean-Raymond thanked several of the judges: “Eva (Chen)…for being so kind to me when you came into my space; Andrew [Rosen], thank you for your rugged advice. I will take it very seriously. Roopal [Patel], thank you so much for being kind to me,” and so on. But he kept the best moment for Wintour. “Thank you so much for respecting me, for championing me, for sharing your contacts. I am going to say something that Anna probably doesn’t want me to say. She’s a really nice person.”
And then it was off to the post-awards celebrations, where guests chicly toasted the winners with Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque champagne.
Cheers to the next 15 years of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund!
– With contributions from Nicky Campbell
