5th Annual CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund Winners

In partnership with the GAP, and generously underwritten by American Express, Appleman Foundation, Barneys New York, Coach, Evgeny Lebedev, Hudson Bay Trading Company, Juicy Couture, Kellwood Company, Liz Claiborne Inc., L’Oréal Paris, Nordstrom, Theory, and VOGUE

On November 18, 2008, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and VOGUE announced the recipients of the fifth annual awards from the CFDA/VOGUE Fashion Fund. The winners and runners-up are :

Winner: Alexander Wang

Runners-Up: Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai of VENA CAVA ALBERTUS Q. SWANEPOEL

The winner and runners-up will meet regularly with a team of business mentors, who will be assembled based on the designers’ specific needs for business expertise and resources. Additionally, the winner will received $200,000 and the runners-up will each got $50,000. The cash awards are designed to encourage and enable these “emerging” designers to pursue their design plans.

The CFDA/VOGUE Fashion Fund (CVFF) was established in 2003 to help emerging American design talent find continued success in the business of fashion. This year, 145 individual design businesses requested applications. From the 102 that were completed, the CVFF Selection Committee selected 10 finalists, whose names were announced in July 2008.

The 10 finalists were:
ALBERTUS Q. SWANEPOEL
ALEJANDRO INGELMO
ALEXANDER WANG
IRENE NEUWIRTH
JASON WU
JUAN CARLOS OBANDO
OBEDIENT SONS & DAUGHTERS – Swaim & Christina Hutson
ORGANIC – John Patrick
RICHARD CHAI
VENA CAVA – Lisa Mayock & Sophie Buhai

From Cfda

"Anybody can get anything, anytime, anywhere...unique and inspirational."---Lois Huff

Lovin Life, Truth Is

CFDA's BIG Winners

Alas, the ball is over and the winners have been announced for the 2008 CFDA Awards, which were held last night at New York's Public Library. {see list full list below of the nights big winners} The controversial Tom Ford won menswear designer of the year, while in the accessories department, Tory Burch took home the statue instead of three time winner Marc Jacobs and five time nominees Michael Kors {is it just me or is he the next Susan Lucci, remember almost only counts in horseshoes}. Meanwhile Francisco Costa {for Calvin Klein} beat out Marc Jacobs, Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough for Womenwear.

In grand style, as always, the CFDA paid homage to legendary couturier Yves Saint Laurent, who succumbed to brain cancer in his home early Sunday morning. Among last nights attendees Ashley Olsen looked stunning in a a smoking suit- reminiscent of YSL's creations- from Calvin Klein's 2008 resort collection and CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg had some of her own private YSL collection flown to her from her home overseas just to wear her black vintage YSL jacket. With Naomi Campbell sporting a few items form the most recent YSL collection, we all know that while he was not in physical attendance this year, he was defiantly sitting there in spirit.

Womenswear Designer of the Year:
Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein

Menswear Designer of the Year:
Tom Ford

Accessory Designer of the Year:
Tory Burch

Swarovski Award for Womenswear:
Kate and Laura Mulleavy for Rodarte

Swarovski Award for Menswear:
Scott Sternberg for Band of Outsiders

Swarovski Award for Accessory Design:
Philip Crangi

The Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award:
Carolina Herrera

The Board of Director's Special Tribute:
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg

International Award:
Dries Van Noten

Eugenia Sheppard Award:
Style.com's Candy Pratts Price

**Image courtesy of Getty Images

CFDA.Vogue Fund & GAP

For ages now it seems like I have been on the quest to find the perfect white blouse. I have ran into ones that are super stiff {you know, like cardboard}, too sheer {50 thread count sheer}, too basic. Well you know where I'm going with this one; all of the shirts were horrible. They really sucked, well up until the CFDA/ Vogue Fund winners teamed up with Gap to produce a line of blouses last year. And alas, my search was over. Perfection. Functionality, femininity and romance all intertwined in the woven threads of 10 white shirts. Doo.Ri, Thakoon, and Rodarte were the masterminds behind the immaculate blouses that were only sold in select Gap flagship stores. All of whom were CFDA Fund winners and quite naturally I wanted to buy every shirt, which were surprisingly affordable.

Let's fast forward a year. Three As Four, Philip Crangie Jewelry, Band Of Outsiders, Michael Bastain and Phillip Lim are the new kids on block. I like this crop of shirts and that's the problem. I just like them and nothing more. There is nothing screaming at me telling me to jump up and go buy them. I'm left feeling somewhat disappointed, almost hurt. It's not all bad news. Philip Lim's shirts are beautiful {AS ALWAYS} and Band of Outsiders has a perfectly tailor-made design. Maybe my style has changed and I'm over reacting.