Will the award go to Alexander Wang, the 26-year-old whippersnapper with a penchant for dominatrix themes, whose most recent collection was praised for deconstructing power suits and using lingerie as outerwear? Or to the frequently-copied Marc Jacobs, whose collection was a triumph of minimalism? Or grande dame Donna Karan, whose label turns 25 years old this season?
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In this category, Michael Bastian—the former men’s fashion director at Bergdorf Goodman launched his label in 2006—is up against David Neville and Marcus Wainwright of Rag & Bone as well as the more seasoned Tom Ford. Bastian’s hyper-butch clothes are a reaction to American Apparel-inspired fey hipsterdom. Rag & Bone is not entirely dissimilar—the designers there are known for a love of military detailing, camouflage, and light S&M references. The CFDA loves Ford, but he won menswear two years ago, making a repeat seem a little less likely this go around.
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With his chunky quilted handbags and candy-colored high heels, Marc Jacobs has been churning out must-have items for years. But in this category he has some serious competition. First up is Alexis Bittar, Brooklyn-born 41-year-old designer whose love of Lucite and kitsch have made him a favorite among stars like Cameron Diaz and Madonna. (His most recent campaign featuring Joan Collins was a standout this advertising season.) Also vying for the award: Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, the much loved boys of Proenza Schouler. Anything’s possible, but they did win last year.
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The Swarovski Award, which is presented in three categories, includes financial support from Swarovski as well as exposure to the company’s crystal resources. Breakout star Joseph Altuzarra made a name for himself in New York, but was raised in Paris, where he crafted the aesthetic for his signature body-hugging, show-stopping dresses. The masculine/feminine duality of his designs is echoed in the designs of Prabal Gurung, the man behind Michelle Obama’s Correspondents’ Dinner dress. But perhaps the stand out is Jason Wu, a former Narcisco Rodriguez intern, who has quickly become a favorite to young stars (and the first lady) who love his downtown elegance, clean lines, and festive prints.
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Richard Chai, who helped launch Marc by Marc Jacobs and is responsible for revamping TSE, entered menswear in 2008 and has since impressed with his minimalist, but impeccable designs including surprising combinations of fabrics and architecturally innovative details. Chai is competing against Patrik Ervell, the Swedish-born designer whose Dickie-like pants combined with art-school chic jackets in his signature utilitarian materials—from parachute fabric to latex rubber raincoats—impressed on the runway in September. Rounding out the completion is Simon Spurr, who brings refined British swagger to his well-tailored suits in bright colors and surprising patterns. “I like to think we’re a modern, European-influenced brand that does luxurious, handcrafted, and wearable pieces,” he told Interview.
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Clearly the leader at this year’s CFDAs, Alexander Wang is up for his second award of the evening for his accessories, competing with Eddie Borgo and Dana Lorenz in the Swarovski category for emerging talent. Though the designer won the women’s category last year and his sky high boots and beautiful leather bags sold out in record time, Wang is not necessarily a shoe-in as Lorenz is known to show off sparkle as well. Also in the running: jeweler Eddie Borgo, whose self-proclaimed “tough but romantic” collection of high-class punk pieces includes spiked double rinks and crystallized cuffs.
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Michael Kors, this year’s winner, is known for his witty asides on Project Runway and his love of classic American sportswear. For more than twenty years, Kors has been remixing and reinventing the ‘50s and ‘60s—Portofino, Malibu, the Beach Boys, camel colored everything. Then came that little reality show he’s on (“a plain potato sack would be more flattering,” he recently told one misguided contestant) and with it, a whole new level of celebrity. When Macy’s CEO Terry J. Lundgren told The New York Times recently that this was Kors’s “moment,” the designer confidently replied, “My moment? Well, I’ve had a few.”
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From the time he showed his first collection as a senior at Central St. Martins’ until his suicide in February at the age of 40, Alexander McQueen was one of the most feared and admired designers. In an age where the entire fashion business seems dependent on getting dresses on the backs of celebrities in exchange for editorial coverage, he was the rare designer who abhorred Hollywood and the media. When a journalist asked McQueen where his “genius” came from, he replied that he had no answer to such a stupid question. Instead he did his work, which indeed was genius, a cyber-punk couture vision of the world where inspiration ranged from Alice in Wonderland to Siouxsie Sioux.
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Since Paper magazine launched as a newsletter in 1984, it has been a New York institution, a champion of the creative underclass, and a last vestige of the city’s bohemian past. Now co-editor Kim Hastreiter is being honored for her contributions to fashion journalism. Over the last 26 years, she’s been a megaphone for the quirky, the experimental, and the great, from the legendary Geoffrey Beene to newcomers like Andre Walker. As Isaac Mizrahi told the New Yorker: “She’s always got some crazy person she’s hawking, someone you have to meet and no one’s ever heard of. Then, two years later, everyone knows who they are, and you can’t get an appointment for love or money.”
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The storied Burberry label is known for its classic haymarket check bags and its perfectly fitted khaki colored trenchcoats. As its design guru since 2001, Christopher Bailey has—to quote The New York Times— “the dual task of paying tribute to the house’s storied past…while bucking convention.” So far, he’s been monumentally successful both with fashion critics and with customers. In 2007 and 2006, he won the British Fashion Council’s menswear designer of the year awards. This year, as the fashion industry was just getting out from under the horrible recession, Burberry posted profits of $118 million off sales of $1.8 billion.
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Long before supermodels like Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington wouldn’t work for less than $10,000 a day, there was Iman. Born in Somalia, her father was a diplomat who fled with his wife and daughter to Kenya amid political unrest. In 1975, Iman was discovered by the well-known photographer Peter Beard while studying political science at the University of Nairobi. From there, she scored her first assignment with Vogue, went on to work with virtually every A-list photographer of the last 30 years, and married David Bowie in 1992. Though this makes her something of a trailblazer in an industry where black women have always been largely ignored, she can’t stand it when people describe her as an ethnic supermodel.
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Tonne Goodman began her career as an assistant to Diana Vreeland at the Costume Institute, before going on to work as a reporter in the Style department of The New York Times Magazine under Carrie Donovan, and then as a top stylist for the late Liz Tilberis during Harper’s Bazaar’s iconic reign during the nineties. In the decade that she’s been the fashion director at Vogue, Goodman has worked with photographers the world over and styled virtually every big name actress in Hollywood, among them, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Editor in chief Anna Wintour wrote that Goodman “taught a generation of actresses how to be classic and cool and right for their times.”
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