The 2009 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award winners have been announced.
Winner: Sophie Theallet
Runners-up: Monique Pean and Patrick Ervell.
Alber Elbaz shared the following words of wisdom with young designers in the room at Skylight Studios, "Success is like a bottle of perfume. Smell it - don't sniff it and don't drink it."
Source: Norman Jean Roy/Vogue
Although we mentioned the star-studded cover story, our personal favorite sitting from the November issue of Vogue, on newsstands today, is that introducing the ten 2009 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists.
In its six years, the fashion fund has nurtured and championed young, American design talent such as Proenza Schouler, Doo-Ri Chung, Alexander Wang, Rodarte and Philip Crangi.
Today Vogue.com has interviews with each of the 2009 finalists—Sophie Theallet, House of Waris, Ohne Titel, Wayne, Esquivel Shoes, Monique Péan, Gary Graham, Spurr, Patrik Ervell, and Alabama Chanin. “We had very strong applicant pool this year, particularly among the jewelers,” said Vogue's Anna Wintour in a statement. “The ten finalists we selected are a talented, diverse group, who are building healthy independent businesses in challenging times.”
The winner, who will be paired with an industry mentor and receive a $200,000 cash prize, and two runners-up will be announced at an event on November 16 in New York.
Alexa Adams (left) and Flora Gill with artist Tauba Auerbach.
Source: Norman Jean Roy/Vogue
>> This year's ten CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists have just been announced — they range from the eco-conscious (Monique Pean, Alabama Chanin) to cobblers (Esquivel Shoes) to straight-up womenswear designers (Sophie Theallet, Wayne, Ohne Titel, Gary Graham). Anna Wintour noted, “We had very strong applicant pool this year, particularly among the jewelers" — here's looking at lucky jewelry nominees Pean and House of Waris. The winner and runners-up, who are bestowed with cash prizes and industry mentorship, will be announced Nov. 16 at the annual gala.
Until then, an introduction (minus menswear nominees Patrik Ervell and Simon Spurr of Spurr).
>> I've been noticing a more concerted effort by designers to cast models of color this season, but so far, Sophie Theallet takes the cake. For her New York runway debut, the Brooklyn-based Parisian designer sent out an entire cast of black models — Kinee Diouf, Honorine Uwera, Ataui Deng — the works. It was her training — ten years under the wing of Azzedine Alaia — that first brought the likes of Vogue's Grace Coddington, New York Times's Cathy Horyn, Lou Doillon, and Vogue Paris' Melanie Huynh out of the woodwork, but I bet as they left the Altman Building this morning, the model imagery was on their minds — it was on mine.
*image: source
