Anna Wintour and Diane von Furstenberg Celebrate the 2016 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Finalists

While Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump were rallying on the eve of the Presidential election, the fashion industry was celebrating a different kind of election: the winners of the 13th annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. The announcement was made at a gala last night that was hosted by the CFDA’s selection committee, including Anna Wintour (who wore a custom Altuzarra floral jacquard dress with sequins), Diane von Furstenberg, and Steven Kolb, all of whom welcomed guests at Spring Studios. Ken Downing, Mark Holgate, Jeffrey Kalinsky, Reed Krakoff, Jenna Lyons, David Neville, Andrew Rosen, and Marcus Wainwright were among the committee members.

“What’s there to say–they’re a great group!” von Furstenberg told The Daily before greeting Michael Kors, the eve’s keynote speaker, and his date, Zendaya. The actress just launched her own clothing line, Daya by Zendaya, and stunned in a Michael Kors Collection navy silk crepe dress with white floral sequined embroidery.

“It’s a very diverse and interesting class, so it’s really difficult to decide who the winner should be,” said Kolb, president and CEO of the CFDA. “We voted this morning, and as part of the vote, somebody has to make sure it’s the right tabulation, so I already know who won.” Since The Daily, and the rest of the crowd, didn’t have the inside scoop just yet on the winner, we got the lowdown from some of the finalists at the cocktail hour.

“It’s a huge honor. I’m pretty freaked out right now, to tell you the truth, but in the best possible way,” said finalist Adam Selman. “This has given me a huge platform, and any time I get a chance to talk about my brand and what I want to do, I’ll take it. I obviously want to win—it goes without saying—but at the end of the day, it’s been huge for me. I’ve had a blast.” The designer was named a runner-up in the competition, receiving $150,000, along with fellow runner-up Stirling Barrett of Krewe du Optic. Attendees who donned his designs last night included Grace Hartzel, Anja Rubik, Ladyfag, and Vanessa Moody. We also talked to Rochambeau’s co-designer and finalist Joshua Cooper (Laurence Chandler is his biz partner), who broke down what it was like to meet Anna Wintour for the first time. “It was very scary! She’s actually an amazing woman, but from the outside there’s obviously some intimidation,” Chandler told us. “She was very gracious with her time and gave us real words of wisdom. We feel honored to just be on her radar.”

The winner of the night? Laura Vassar Brock and Kristopher Brock, the husband-wife duo behind Brock Collection, who will receive $400,000, the mega-prize. A slew of celebs, models, and fellow designers came out for the honoring, like Solange Knowles, Karlie Kloss, Victor Cruz, David Copperfield—his fiancée Chloe Gosselin was a finalist—Thom Browne, Olivia Munn, Alexander Wang, Hailey Baldwin, and Kelly Rowland (who both wore Baja East), Phillip Lim, Eva Chen, Hilary Rhoda who attended with Zac Posen (and wore a ZAC Zac Posen silk chiffon pink-multicolored polka dot dress from the designer’s Resort 2017 collection), Martha Hunt, Jennifer Fisher and Audrey Gelman (both in Hellessy), Romee Strijd, Anne V., Prabal Gurung, Georgia Fowler (who wore Protagonist), Andrew Bolton, and others.

Additional finalists included Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk of Area, Jih Oh, Morgan Curtis of Morgan Lane, Maryam and Marjan Malakpour of Newbark, and Chris Stamp of Stampd.