CFDA

By all accounts, the CFDA's official afterparty at the Top of the Standard in New York City Monday night was an unforgettable evening of celebration.

The party — hosted by Nadja Swarovski — hit its stride shortly after midnight. Rodger Berman and Rachel Zoe were reportedly among the first to arrive, and things livened up considerably by the time winners Joseph Altuzarra and Billy Reid arrived — followed shortly by Jason Wu and Olivier Theyskens. A stream of Moet & Chandon champagne from the open bar put everyone in the mood to dance. Garance Doré kicked her heels off to join the revelry, and an eyewitness spotted Hamish Bowles cutting a rug, too. But perhaps the most spirited celebrators at the afterparty were also the most clandestine. Brad Goreski told a reporter, "Alex Wang and Erin Wasson are dirty dancing over there in the corner right now."

Fashion's biggest night has come and gone — but not without plenty of glamour and charm. And why not? After all, it's not every day that the industry meets up to reflect and celebrate. "It's like a reunion," Zac Posen explained. "The community works together."

"I'm excited about five decades of American fashion," CFDA chief Steven Kolb explained as he strolled the red carpet. "It's our 50th anniversary so we did a really cool retrospective, with designers from the '60s, like Donald Brooks, all the way up through the zeros to now. Its going to be really good. That's what I'm most excited about."

"I'm really excited about the fact that so many wonderful people have been nominated, and also that the whole design community comes together," fashion patron and style icon Michelle Harper agreed. "Diane von Furstenberg is an incredible leader, Steven Kolb is fantastic. And just all the efforts that they do to support designers — it's amazing."

Tommy Hilfiger, who was to be honored with the prestigious Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award, was also in high spirits. "I think, 'Is this really happening?' Then I think about the fact that I've been doing this for a long time, but also, I think, I'm too young to get this award," the iconic designer laughed.

See our snapshots and read more from the industry's biggest players and supporters — including Diane von Furstenberg, Doutzen Kroes, Jessica Chastain, and more — here, in the slideshow.

Designers, models, and celebrities alike filed into New York's Lincoln Center for the 2012 CFDA Awards Monday night.

Whether they were nominees, honored guests, or just friends of those in the industry, the attendees dressed up in some of the best American fashion available. Case in point: Garance Doré wore a green Derek Lam dress, while Jason Wu tweeted that he would debut pieces of his Resort 2013 collection at the event.

If there's any night to put on fashion's finest, then this was it. In the gallery, see all the looks from the red carpet, and check back as the evening progresses to find out who took home the coveted awards.

Winners:

Womenswear Designer of the Year: The Row

Menswear Designer of the Year: Billy Reid

Accessories Designer of the Year: Reed Krakoff

Swarovski Award For Emerging Talent in Womenswear Design: Joseph Altuzarra

Swarovski Award For Emerging Talent in Menswear Design: Phillip Lim

Swarovski Award For Emerging Talent in Accessory Design: Tabitha Simmons

Comme des Garcons designer Rei Kawakubo will be honored with the International award at this Monday's CFDA Awards, and already the industry is getting a head start on celebrating.

Earlier this week, Style.com published a tribute in which notable fashionables — including Taylor Tomasi Hill, Shane Gabier, and Chris Peters — discuss their love for the avant-garde label. Then on Wednesday, Cathy Horyn offered her perspective on Kawakubo's 40-plus-year career. "No living designer, with the exception of Azzedine Alaïa, is held in higher esteem by her peers, and none has enriched our spirit in so many original and confounding ways," Horyn wrote. In an attempt to shed light on Kawakubo's creative process, Horyn also reprinted an email from the designer, an excerpt of which is below:

"My design process never starts or finishes. I am always hoping to find something through the mere act of living my daily life. I do not work from a desk, and do not have an exact starting point for any collection. There is never a mood board, I do not go through fabric swatches, I do not sketch, there is no eureka moment, there is no end to the search for something new. As I live my normal life, I hope to find something that click starts a thought, and then something totally unrelated would arise, and then maybe a third unconnected element would come from nowhere. Often in each collection, there are three or so seeds of things that come together accidentally to form what appears to everyone else as a final product, but for me it is never ending. There is never a moment when I think, 'this is working, this is clear.' If for one second I think something is finished, the next thing would be impossible to do."

Kawakubo will not be in New York to accept her award Monday, but she has asked her longtime friend filmmaker John Waters to present and accept the award on her behalf. In the slideshow, a look back at some of our favorite looks from recent Comme des Garcons collections.

>> With a list of nominees that includes The Row's Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen and Proenza Schouler's Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez — not to mention a list of honorees that includes Rei Kawakubo and Johnny Depp — this year's CFDA Awards promise to be extra-exciting. At the announcement event in March — held at Diane von Furstenberg's studio and attended by Phillip Lim, Joe Zee, and Rachel Roy — the anticipation was nearly palpable.

"Winning a CFDA Fashion Award is the highest and one of the most coveted honors one can receive in our industry," CEO Steven Kolb said as he announced the nominees and honorees. For a complete list of those who just may receive that great honor on June 4 — as well as a list of those who definitely will, via the Council's prestigious achievement awards — see below. Then, get excited for next week's big show — which will be broadcast online for the first time ever this year — with an inside peek at the announcement event.

Womenswear Designer of the Year Nominees
Marc Jacobs
Ashley & Mary-Kate Olsen for The Row
Jack McCollough & Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler

Menswear Designer of the Year Nominees
Patrik Ervell
Billy Reid
Simon Spurr

Accessory Designer of the Year Nominees
Alexander Wang
Reed Krakoff
Jack McCollough & Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler

Swarovski Award For Emerging Talent in Womenswear Nominees
Joseph Altuzarra
Chris Peters & Shane Gabier for Creatures of the Wind
Max Osterweis & Erin Beatty for Suno

Swarovski Award For Emerging Talent in Menswear Nominees
Antonio Azzuolo
Todd Snyder
Phillip Lim

Swarovski Award For Emerging Talent in Accessory Design
Tabitha Simmons
Pamela Love
Irene Neuwirth

Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
Tommy Hilfiger

International Award Winner
Rei Kawakubo

Eleanor Lambert Founders Award Winner
Andrew Rosen

Eugenia Sheppard Media Award Winners
Scott Schuman & Garance Doré

Fashion Icon Award Winner
Johnny Depp