Industry stalwarts and emerging talents came together on Monday for American fashion’s second-biggest night of the year — after the Met Gala, that is. At the 2025 naked dress at the event in 2014 — was back to support her guy A$AP Rocky, who was honored with the same Fashion Icon award she picked up back then. “You won this so long ago, remember what I told you?” said A$AP Rocky from the podium as he accepted his award, which he dedicated to Harlem and New York City. “I said, ‘You inspire me — I’m going to win that shit one day.’ And look, we did it, baby.”
The CFDA Awards can often feel repetitive; many of the same designers win the same awards, year after year. But this year’s event came at a particularly challenging time for American designers, who are struggling with Rachel Scott, the new creative director of Proenza Schouler, before the ceremony. The Jamaican designer won the CFDA award for womenswear last year for her label, Diotima. “My everyday is thinking about the ICE raids and thinking about our climate — Jamaica was really impacted last week.”
“It just gets harder and harder … the amount of things that one has to do to make a collection great and run a company,” said Zoe Latta, one half of Eckhaus Latta, on the red carpet. “The more you want, the harder it is,” added Mike Eckhaus.
Onstage at the American Natural History Museum, however, no one talked about politics, tariffs, or the mayoral election. Jennifer Lawrence showed up for her friend, W’s editor-in-chief, Sara Moonves, who won the Media Award, and Naomi Campbell gave Alaia’s Pieter Mulier the International Award. Browne, who won the menswear designer of the year, presented courtier and designer Ralph Rucci with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Read on for more highlights from the 2025 CFDA Awards.
Bezoses on the Brain
Amazon Fashion has sponsored the CFDA Awards since 2022, but this year the corporate tie-in felt even more present during the ceremony. Host Teyana Taylor opened the ceremony with some quips about the luxury of two-day shipping, and later, CFDA CEO Steven Kolb thanked an absent Lauren Sanchez Bezos for donating $6.25 million to the organization to start a new sustainable-fashion initiative that will include scholarships and awards.
The Olsens Emerged
We rarely see Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen in public, much less hear them speak. But last night, they picked up their fourth award for accessories designers of the year. Ashley, with her hair in an Olsen tuck, gave a perfunctory speech on behalf of the sisters, who matched in long tuxedo coats with minimal jewelry (a brooch on Ashley, a chain necklace on Mary-Kate).