Mark Lee and I were filled with pride last night as so many Barneys designers were honored with CFDA awards.
First up were the Swarovski awards for best emerging designers. Barneys newbie Prabal Gurung (whose clothes will be hitting our stores this fall), accepted the award for womenswear. He talked about leaving a small town in Nepal to pursue a fashion career in New York, expressing relief that his story would not be considered “a cautionary tale.” Robert Geller, who won the menswear prize, profusely thanked his wife with whom he is “crazy in love.”
Next up were the designers of the year. Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez accepted the best womenswear award (for the third time!) with the same boyish awkwardness they displayed when they first won the Fashion Fund prize seven years ago. Micheal Bastian received his menswear award in style, wearing patched pink pants with his tuxedo. An always-enthusiastic Alexander Wang accepted his accessory prize from style icon and self-proclaimed “geriatric starlet” Iris Apfel.
It was moving to see how the room’s three biggest stars—Kanye West, Lady Gaga and Marc Jacobs—seemed so grateful to be in the presence of their fashion heroes. Mr. West was visibly in awe as he presented Phoebe Philo with her International Designer of the Year award. An emotional Lady Gaga, who won the Fashion Icon Award, revealed that she had found out about her award via a text message from Anna Wintour (“Yes, Anna texts!”). A tearful Marc Jacobs accepted his “half lifetime achievement award” (as presenter Sofia Coppola referred to it) while recognizing partner Robert Duffy and their loyal team.
The evening ended on a lighter note when Diane Von Furstenberg took the stage, explaining that host Anderson Cooper had left “to deal with the whole Wiener thing.” Her final words of the evening: “What’s wrong with straight men these days?”
The action continued at the raucous after-party, but for the Barneys team, the main event was a celebration in and of itself. Congratulations to all of our fabulous designers.
– Amanda Brooks
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