This year’s CFDA Awards just got a little—well, a lot—cooler as the Council of Fashion Designers of America has just announced that Erykah Badu, the major musical force and magical being, will be honored with the Fashion Icon award.
“I’ve always had a love for taking bits and pieces of the things I am attracted to and creating something far more grand than the sum of those parts,” said Badu in a statement. “From the music I make, to the looks I put on, to the technology I’m developing; I’m always looking for more innovative, exciting ways to be more expressive and connect with people—to be closer to nature.”
The Awards will take place at the American Museum of Natural History on October 28, and Amazon Fashion will once again serve as a presenting partner. Shop with Google, meanwhile, has partnered with the CFDA to present the American Emerging Designer of the Year award.
This year, Stuart Vevers will receive the Amazon Fashion Innovation Award on behalf of Coach for Coachtopia, the label’s innovation lab focused on sustainability, waste reduction, and circular fashion. “When we started to imagine Coachtopia, we saw it as a lab for experimentation, a dedicated space inside of Coach to design the world of tomorrow,” said Coach Creative Director Stuart Vevers in a statement. “Coachtopia is already influencing how we design the
rest of Coach, but my greatest hope is that it inspires others, other industries even, to join us on
this journey to create a future that is fit for the next generation. I am honored to be recognized
for the belief in experimentation and the possibilities of design.”
Daniel Roseberry of Schiaparelli will receive the International Designer of the Year Award, while Michael Kors will be presented the Positive Change Award for this work fighting hunger with Watch Hunger Stop, his support of God’s Love We Deliver, and of the United Nations World Food Programme. The Media Award in honor of Eugenia Shepard will be presented to Annie Leibovitz, while the recipient of the Founder’s Award in honor of Eleanor Lambert will be Hamish Bowles. Stephen Burrows, a legend in the American fashion landscape, will receive his well-deserved flowers as he is to be presented with the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award.
Khaite’s Catherine Holstein, who won for Womenswear Designer of the Year the last two years is absent in the category this season: is this the year Tory Burch wins big, or will Diotima’s Rachel Scott stage an upset? This year, CFDA chairman Thom Browne is nominated twice, for both the menswear and womenswear prizes, a rare feat; could he swing both? Will Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen of The Row, at this point perennial nominees, add another Accessories Designer of the Year Award to their mantle?
“This year’s nominees and honorees represent the gamut of American fashion creativity and excellence,” Steven Kolb, CEO of the CFDA said. “As our biggest fundraiser of the year, the CFDA Fashion Awards presented by Amazon Fashion significantly contribute to the CFDA Scholarship Fund to support tomorrow’s generation of designers and future nominees and honorees of this special night and we are grateful to Amazon Fashion for their leadership.” Read the full list of nominations below:
Womenswear Designer of the Year
Rachel Scott, Diotima
Marc Jacobs, Marc Jacobs
Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough, Proenza Schouler
Thom Browne, Thom Browne
Tory Burch, Tory Burch
Menswear Designer of the Year
Mike Amiri, Amiri
Emily Adams Bode Aujla, Bode
Thom Browne, Thom Browne
Todd Snyder, Todd Snyder
Willy Chavarria, Willy Chavarria
Accessories Designer of the Year
Ana Khouri, Ana Khouri
Stuart Vevers, Coach
Catherine Holstein, Khaite
Raul Lopez, Luar
Tory Burch, Tory Burch
Emerging Designer of the Year
Presley Oldham, Presley Oldham
Connor McKnight, Connor McKnight
Tanner Richie and Fletcher Kasell, Tanner Fletcher
Jackson Wiederhoeft, Wiederhoeft
Henry Zankov, Zankov
