CDFA Fashion Awards 2014: Awardees and Honorees

Designers, celebrities, and editors alike flocked to Lincoln Center, New York to give tribute to the awardees and honorees for the Annual Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards. The second most important event after MET Gala, CDFA Awards recognised the extraordinary design excellence in womenswear, menswear, accessories, and journalism accomplishments.

According to the CDFA Web site, Joseph Altuzarra bested Alexander Wang and Marc Jacobs for the Womenswear Designer of the Year category. It was not the first time that Altuzarrra garnered an award at the CDFA. He also coveted the Swarovski Award for Womenswear in 2012 and has rose from a fashion darling to one of New York's top fashion contender.

Public School's Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne garnered the Menswear Designer of the Year Award after moving ahead of Thom Browne and Rag & Bone's Marcus Wainwright & David Neville. Not new CDFA Awards, Chow and Osborne also brought home last year's CFDA Swarovski Award for Menswear.

The twin Ashley Olsen & Mary-Kate Olsen of The Row received the Accessories Designer of the Year Award. They rose above Alexander Wang and Proenza Schouler's Jack McCollough & Lazaro Hernandez.

Meanwhile, Shane Gabier & Christopher Peter of Creatures of the Wind took home the Swarovski Award For Womenswear. The designers bested Rosie Assoulin and Wes Gordon.

Tim Coppens received the Swarovski Award for Menswear besting Todd Snyder and Shayne Oliver for Hood by Air. The Belgian-born designer was also a recipient of the Fashion Group International's Menswear Rising Star Award in 2013.

Irene Neuwirth got the Swarovski Award for Accessories moving ahead of Jennifer Fisher and Marc Alary. Neuwirth is famous for setting colorful semiprecious stones in bold settings with Amy Adams, Drew Barrymore, Reese Witherspoon, and countless other celebrities wearing her jewelries.

Bethann Hardison received the Founder's Award in Honor of Eleanor Lambert. She has gone a long way in fashion from model to model agent to all-around agitator and founder of Diversity Coalition. Although she wouldn't take credit for the Kenyan-born British model Malaika Firth who was the first black model to star in a Prada campaign.

Ruth Finley was honored with the Board of Directors' Tribute. The octogenarian great-grandmother was the founder and publisher of the programing clearinghouse of the fashion industry "Fashion Calendar" over the last sixty-five years.

Tom Ford was honored with the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. Gucci's former Creative Director was known for invigorating the flapping Italian Brand during the 1990s with his provocative ad campaigns. While at Gucci, he received CFDA's International Award in 1995. Later on he launched his namesake brand and became the fashion industry's reigning master of sex.

Raf Simons of Dior was honored with the International Award for immediately transforming the fashion scene with his own revolutionary aesthetic codes in Dior's historic house codes of the ready-to-wear and haute couture collections.

Paul Cavaco was honored with the Media Award in Honor of Eugenia Sheppard. Cavaco is the "C" behind the well-known international fashion public relations and production capital KCD.

Finally, the singer Rihanna was honored with the Fashion Icon Award for her undeniable international influence as the bold-faced ambassador for fashion labels. The Barbados-born pop sensation bravely experimented with statement-making looks just like the almost-naked outfit that she wore at the CDFA Awards.

For additional information on the CDFA Fashion Awards 2014, visit http://cfda.com/cfda-fashion-awards.

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