At this year’s CFDA Fashion Awards, taking place on November 6 at the American Museum of Natural History, two female designers, Vera Wang and Maria Cornejo, will be recognized with special awards that honor their contributions to and influence on the industry.
Wang, who was a Vogue editor before she got into the wedding dress business, will receive the Board of Directors’ Tribute for her impact in the bridal category, while the Chilean-born Cornejo gets the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. (Coincidentally, this year her label, Zero+Maria Cornejo, is celebrating its 25th anniversary.) To mark the occasion, Cornejo sat down with Nicole Phelps, global director of Vogue Runway and Vogue Business, and Laia Garcia-Furtado, Vogue Runway’s senior fashion news editor, both of whom have long-standing relationships with the designer and her work. Cornejo shared memories of her early life as a refugee in Manchester after having to flee Chile following the 1973 coup that ousted Salvador Allende, and discussed the different ways that sustainability played a role in her brand’s development, long before the topic became a buzzword.
Later on in the episode, Wang sits down with Phelps and Mark Holgate, Vogue’s global network lead and US fashion features director, to reminisce about her time at the magazine, working with such luminaries as the photographer Irving Penn and stylist Polly Mellen, and how she decided to make the jump from editorial to design—first as an accessories designer at Ralph Lauren, and then as the maker of the modern wedding gowns. She also recalls that the first-ever wedding dress she designed was, in fact, made for the December 1990 issue of Vogue.
While the conversation about the lack of female designers at the helm of big luxury fashion houses continues, it’s thrilling to see two independent designers being honored for doing things—and going the distance—in their own ways.
