Our sister site, Fashionologie, has been steadily tracking the winners of tonight's CFDA Awards. They are...Rodarte for Womenswear Designer of the Year, Proenza Schouler for Accessory Designer of the Year, Ralph Lauren for the Popular Vote Award, Italo Zucchelli and Scott Sternberg tied for Menswear designer of the Year, Tim Hamilton for the Swarovski Award for Menswear, Alexander Wang for the Swarovski Award for Womenswear and Justin Giunta for the Swarovski Award for Accessories.
The MAC team was on hand this evening, recreating Fall 2009 makeup looks from Womenswear Designer of the Year nominees Narciso Rodriguez, Marc Jacobs and Rodarte. Led by makeup artist James Kaliardos, the small team had just over an hour dedicated to each set of girls. A couple of our backstage snapshots above.
>> American designers are trickling in at Alice Tully Hall for tonight's CFDA Awards — CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg was first to arrive, International Award winner Marc Jacobs walked the red carpet arm and arm with fiance Lorenzo Martone, Kirsten Dunst came with Womenwear of the Year nominees Rodarte, presenter Diane Kruger arrived with Swarovski nominee Jason Wu, Doutzen Kroes is resplendent in Zac Posen, and all were greeted on the front steps by a crowd of models in the nominees' creations.
Swarovski nominee Alexander Wang said he's "not nervous at all" — he woke up today and "forgot it was the CFDAs," but we'll have to wait and see if this turns out to be a night to remember for him, after all . . .
The ceremony is now underway, and host Tracy Ullman opened with a Kiefer Sutherland-headbutting joke — Proenza Schouler is an Accessory Designer nominee, and arrived with Daphne Guinness in tow — the CFDA crowd is a notoriously tough crowd, and the joke was met with "weak laughter."
Later on, Tracy, known for her designer impressions on her eponymous TV show, took a crack at impersonating Anna Wintour. Michelle Obama, who wasn't there in body, accepted her Special Tribute Award by video, and Rodarte's Laura and Kate Mulleavy accepted their Womenswear Award saying they watched Midnight Cowboy this afternoon to calm their nerves.
And the winners are . . . (nominees here):
>> THE MODELIZER —Gisele Bundchen is one of the last models able to hold a major magazine cover on her own, according to Anna Wintour, but even she may be losing her touch. Her May 2009 Vanity Fair cover was the lowest-selling for the magazine in nearly two years, and her April 2009 Harper's Bazaar cover was the lowest-selling for the magazine since November 2008. When Gisele was on the September 2007 Vanity Fair cover (left), it was the third-biggest seller that year. Vanity Fair's spokeswoman's suggestion for the change? "It might be that she's losing her looks." [NY Observer]
>> Alber Elbaz arrived in New York on Saturday to present Lanvin's Cruise 2010 collection, which is in categories based on needs — “men’s tailoring for women, capsules for traveling and weekend” — this morning. Another one of the needs the collection addresses? How to offer special clothes without the high price tags — hence the inclusion of tees starting at $119 and cotton dresses at $450. Alber said before that part of the collection was inspired by Damages; today he added Samantha Ronson to the list of influence.
Bazaar's Glenda Bailey brought temporary intern Tallulah Willis, who hugged the designer, to the presentation, and Alber chatted about how he worked through his recent birthday and is looking forward to a vacation: “I’m still trying to find that perfect spot. It used to be Asia. But now I’m looking all over Europe. But once you find a location, you can’t find a nice home. And once you find a nice home, you don’t like the interiors. You see, we’re very picky in this fashion industry.”
>> INSIDER WIRE —Glenn O'Brien spoke to Fashion Week Daily and Page Six last week after being replaced by Fabien Baron at Interview, leaving much-repeated quotes like "It's like a Greek tragedy. Like watching a company going insane, instead of a person" in his wake. In retaliation, Interview owner Brant Publications has filed a lawsuit again O'Brien today, alleging that he breached a confidentiality agreement by giving the aforementioned interviews. [WWD]
>> Tom Ford just finished editing his first feature film, A Single Man, with Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, and Matthew Goode — still no release date for this year — and although he's not supposed to be talking about the movie, he slips a few details to the Times UK.
When he told Julianne Moore she was sweet to do his film, "She said, ‘I’m not doing it to be sweet. I like the script’. I’m sure she called her agent though to check it wouldn’t be career death.” And despite his reputation for sexing things up in fashion, there's very little overt sex in A Single Man. Ford would like to do a film every three years — he finds it compatible with designing because it's so slow. “And a lot of the processes are the same.”
The man seems to be in the midst of changing sensibilities: instead of his usually stringent diet, he admits that he's currently five pounds overweight because he ate a lot of doughnuts during filming. The Botox is down to a minimum, and sex is not so much his thing anymore: “I hate talking about sex. Thing is, people look much better naked. They’re all the same colour and they can’t screw up. You see someone at the gym and they look great. Then they put on their clothes.”
Tonight marks the 2009 CFDA Award ceremony and we'll be reporting from backstage. In preparation for tonight's event, here is a recap of this year's nominees. Below each picture you'll find the designer's name and the category from which they were nominated. Stay tuned for the results...
