In move that makes the Fashion Awards more prestigious, the CFDA had a primary revelation to make. Much like the Oscars, 2015 would feature five nominees for each main 'best design' category — including women’s wear, accessories and men’s wear. Then, CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg kicked things off by handing out four special awards to honor some longstanding fashion favorites.
“We’ve had a great board meeting today, a very
fun one,” CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg told guests, before proceeding.
Betsey Johnson will receive the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award; while Millard Drexler, J. Crew chief executive officer was told he was this year’s Founder’s Award winner. Other honoree awards went to Vera Wang, Gilles Mendel, Italo Zucchelli, Jennifer Fisher, Simon Spurr, Lily Kwong, Ruth Finley, Kristy Caylor, Pamela Love, Mimi So, Jenna Lyons and Leandra Medine.
Next, the nominees competing for a chance to win one of the big six best design awards later in the year, were revealed.
Joseph Altuzarra for Altuzarra, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors,
Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough for Proenza Schouler and Ashley Olsen and
Mary-Kate Olsen for The Row were nominated for Womenswear Designer of the Year.
In the Menswear Designer of the Year category are Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell
Osborne for Public School, David Neville and Marcus Wainwright for Rag &
Bone, Thom Browne, Tim Coppens and Tom Ford.
Alexander Wang, Irene Neuwirth, Jack McCollough and Lazaro
Hernandez for Proenza Schouler, Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen for The Row
and Tabitha Simmons will compete for Accessory Designer of the Year.
The Swarovski Award for emerging talent, which comes with a bonus of financial support for the winners, saw Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne for Public School, as well as Rosie Assoulin and Ryan Roche be nominated in the women’s wear category.
Meanwhile, Shayne Oliver for Hood by Air, Alex Orley,
Matthew Orley and Samantha Orley for Orley and Ariel and Shimon Ovadia for
Ovadia & Sons are nominated for the men’s wear award. For accessory design,
the nominees are Paul Andrew, Eva Zuckerman for Eva Fehren and Rachel Mansur
and Floriana Gavriel for Mansur Gavriel.
Other awards of interest were The Media Award in Honor of Eugenia Sheppard, which will go to social media giant, Instagram. It’s the first time it has been given to a full company, not a sole person. Meanwhile, Valentino creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli will collect the International Award for their contribution to haute couture and women’s ready-to-wear.
Nominations for each award category were submitted by the CFDA Fashion Awards Guild, made up of the 450 members of the CFDA, along with top fashion retailers, journalists, and stylists.
The winners will be chosen from the nominee pool at the official CFDA Fashion Awards, which will take place June 1 at Alice Tully Hall.