Once a year, the Council of Fashion Designers of America decides on the most influential members of the American fashion industry to receive one of the most prestigious awards for fashion designers. The CFDA will be holding the awards ceremony this summer on June 3, but you don’t have to wait until then to get excited about it. Over the weekend they announced the nominees for the 11 award categories, getting everyone hyped up and excited for the event. And with Diane von Furstenberg as the CFDA president, you know this is going to be good.
What are the awards categories?
There are 11 categories to celebrate American fashion design. There is one award that recognizes international designers, but other than that, all the nominees are American designers or their business is based in the United States. The categories cover awards for mensware, womensware, accessories, and more:
Womenswear Designer of the Year
Menswear Designer of the Year
Accessory Designer of the Year
Swarovski Award for Womenswear
Swarovski Award for Menswear
Swarovski Award for Accessory Design
International Award
Media Award
Founders Award
Fashion Icon Award
Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award
Who’s nominated?
There are three nominees for the first six awards listed above, and here they are:
Womenswear Designer of the Year
Alexander Wang
Marc Jacobs
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler
Menswear Designer of the Year
Michael Bastian
Thom Browne
Steven Cox and Daniel Silver for Duckie Brown
Accessory Designer of the Year
Alexander Wang
Phillip Lim for 3.1 Phillip Lim
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler
Swarovski Award for Womenswear
Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters for Creatures of the Wind
Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs for Cushnie et Ochs
Erin Beatty and Max Osterweis for Suno
Swarovski Award for Menswear
Tim Coppens
Todd Snyder
Public School’s Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne
Swarovski Award for Accessory Design
Irene Neuwirth
Jennifer Meyer
Pamela Love
Check out this list for a full run-down of nominees.
Who is going to win?
Just as many people will soon figure out with March Madness, it’s hard to be 100% sure about future winners. But we can still make some guesses. Proenza Schouler, designed by McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, are nominated for two categories and just missed an award last year when they lost to Mar-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s line The Row. The twins aren’t nominated this year, so the odds are looking good for a new duo to step up and claim the prize. Alexander Wang is also nominated for two awards. Double the nominations mean double the chances!
Who are past winners?
The list for awards recipients of past years includes a lot of big names, that’s for sure. In 2012, the Olsen twins grabbed the award for Womenswear Designer of the Year and Billy Reid received Menswear Designer of the Year. Johnny Depp was given the Fashion Icon Ward, and Tommy Hilfiger was honored with the Geoffrey Been Lifetime Achievement Award. For a full list of winners from past years, check the CFDA website.
Stay tuned for more information regarding the awards and the CFDA, and sooner than you know it summer will be here and the awards will begin!