Our 5 Favorite Moments from the CFDA Awards

By now, you’ve probably memorized the winners from last night’s CFDA Awards. Congrats, loves—and now behold The Daily‘s favorite moments!  

1. Seth Meyers! Seth Meyers! Seth Meyers! Returning for his second stint as the emcee of the show, the Late Night host was right at home with the fashion folk.  (Last year’s host, Joel McHale, was a touch heavy on the clichés.) “When I hosted the show in 2012, I can tell you that despite doing an excellent job, it lead to no modeling work,” deadpanned Meyers during his intro.  “Not a single job in the last five years, and I would have said yes to anything. I could have been the ugliest brother in one of those Tommy Hilfiger ads. I mean, really?” Ha! Meyers, wearing Thom Browne and NO SOCKS, paid homage to Anna Wintour and CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg. “Why did I host again?” he said. “Because I was asked by two people, Anna Wintour and Diane Von Furstenberg, and they are both very convincing. If you know them, they are very convincing. For example, Anna doesn’t so much ask you to do something as she makes the request in the form of a statement. And she never says you should do something, she says you must, oh, you simply must. It’s very effective.” See you next year!
   

   NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 05: Seth Meyers speaks onstage during the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom on June 5, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

2. Pat McGrath is one of today’s great fashion characters, so giving her the Founder’s Award was a no-brainer. Her humility was charming: “This is a business that celebrates not only talent but the will, desire and perseverance to achieve excellence,” said McGrath. “This is an industry that gave me the opportunity to work with so many extraordinary people. What people often miss about fashion is that it is so much fun. What could be better than being on set, seated with major personalities, true eccentrics, and brilliance, chanting, laughing and most importantly, creating? Fashion is an industry where the real insiders are absolutely all outsiders.” Truth!
   

   NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 05: (L-R) Model Karen Elson, The Founder’s Award Winner Pat McGrath, and model Amber Valletta pose on the LIFEWTR Winner’s Walk at the CFDA Awards 2017 on June 5, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for LIFEWTR)

3. An emotional Anna Wintour honored the late, great Franca Sozzani with the Fashion Icon award, which was accepted by her son (and Anna’s future son-in-law) Francesco Carrozzini. “Those of us who visited her in her final months saw her be herself to the end: clever, stylish, beautiful, never self-pitying, full of irreverence and wit and life,” she said. “She had many friends, but few to whom she was really close beyond her son, Francesco, and her sister, Carla. Their love was all she needed at the end.” The evening also paid tribute to some of the other names we lost in the fashion world in the past year including China Machado, Glenn O’Brien, and Jefferey Slonim. Brooke Shields (seated at our table along with Meg Ryan, Christian Siriano, Amanda Peet, Richard Lamberton, John Truex, and Edie Parker’s Brett Heyman) told us after the show why she was so touch by Slonim’s inclusion in the tribute. “He’s always been such a beautiful human being and an amazing husband and dad. The kids are lucky that they had him as a father,” she told us fighting back tears. “He was doing this long before anyone else was doing it. It’s just right he was included.”
   

   NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 05: Anna Wintour speaks onstage during the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom on June 5, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

4. It wasn’t just fashion as usual: The CFDA gang is never afraid to shed light on a political cause, and this year, the big guns came out with Gloria Steinem, Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards, and Janelle Monae honored for their contributions to January’s Women’s March with the Board of Director’s Tribute. “I think about that historic moment at the Women’s March, and I was scared,” said Monae. “When you have thousands of people looking at you like, ‘Yeah, give us something,’ it’s a scary feeling. But when I think about that march on Washington, I’m reminded of all the faces I saw from different walks of life. Young, old, gay, straight, different religious backgrounds, it didn’t matter, they were together as human beings.” And Steinem left a room that included Huma Abedin with some much-needed hope. “Now, there is more activism than I have ever seen in my lifetime,” she said. “Maybe, just maybe, thanks to all of you in this room, and billions more around the world, who are woke. We are not the richest, but we are the majority and we are woke and maybe we are about to be free.”
   

   NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 05: (L-R) Board of Directors’ Tribute Winners Cecile Richards, Gloria Steinem and Janelle Monae pose on the LIFEWTR Winner’s Walk at the CFDA Awards 2017 on June 5, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for LIFEWTR)

5. The duos! The CFDA Awards are full of young love, as some designers bring models and actors whom they have only briefly met. Last night’s power couples included Bella Hadid/Virgil Abloh, Zac Posen/Heidi Klum, Cynthia Rowley/Coco Rocha, Jason Wu/Lily Aldridge, Meg Ryan/Christian Siriano, Riley Montana/Brandon Maxwell, and Graydon Carter/Donald Trump. (Just kidding about that last one.)

   

   NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 05: Designer Christian Siriano and Meg Ryan attend the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards Cocktail Hour at Hammerstein Ballroom on June 5, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)

   

   NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 05: Priyanka Chopra and Michael Kors attend the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards Cocktail Hour at Hammerstein Ballroom on June 5, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)

   

   NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 05: Virgil Abloh and Bella Hadid attend the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom on June 5, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)

   
   

   

   NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 05: Riley Montana and fashion designer Brandon Maxwell attend the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom on June 5, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

   

   NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 05: Zhenya Katava and Nicole Miller attend the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom on June 5, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

   

   NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 05: Lela Rose and Mary Elizabeth Winstead attends the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards at Hammerstein Ballroom on June 5, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

   
   

   

   Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger (Patrick McMullan)