Every year, the CFDA selects the crème de la crème of emerging designers to find the CFDA/Vogue Fashion fund finalists—10 hopeful creatives representing the best of their craft, competing to be the winners, with two runner-up spots. Amidst the past few years of fashion funders, there was a pause in the famed design challenge since COVID, but five long-awaited years later, the design challenge is back, with none other than Tommy Hilfiger leading the charge. The design challenge at hand? Stripes and stars (not to be confused with stars and stripes, mused CFDA CEO Steven Kolb).
“It’s the 20th anniversary of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. The design challenge allows us judges to see how the designers can follow an assignment,” Kolb told Vogue. “We wanted to back some of the favorite moments of past years of the fashion fund, and thanks to Tommy Hilfiger’s support, we brought back the design challenge. Because of his generosity, each designer got $10,000 to execute their assignment.”
Earlier the same day, designers Sebastien and Marianne Amisial (Sebastien Ami), Kate Barton, Grace Ling, Connor McKnight, Soull and Dynasty Ogun (L’Enchanteur), Presley Oldham, Spencer Phipps (Phipps), Taylor Thompson (5000), Jane Wade, and Jackson Wiederhoeft (Wiederhoeft) arrived at the Warren Street Hotel one by one alongside esteemed muses sporting individualist interpretations of the Stripes and Stars theme. Upstairs, the designers mingled with one another in the 7th-floor suite three-room-suite, preparing their muses to meet the judges, showcasing a notably friendly and supportive vibe between peers competing for the same coveted title. Near the brocade sofas, jewelry designer Presley Oldham posed for a commemorative selfie with muse Louisa Jacobson—the cool-girl actor dripping in a halter top of baroque string pearls, diamonds, and moonstones.
Nearby, ever-the-edgy Grace Ling chatted with model Alex Consani, sporting silver stiletto XL long nails to match a well-tailored black blazer closed with a sculptural metallic pin. In front of the floor-to-ceiling window, design duo L’Echanteur styled their muse, rapper Joey Bada$$, in an all-blue look with star constellation appliques and a floor-length vest (forget about menswear being boring). Meanwhile, second-time fashion funder Jackson Wiederhoeft hand-sewed the final touches of muse AnnaSophia Robb’s sparkling white gown, featuring approximately 30,000 glass beads applied by hand and a seemingly impossibly snatched, corseted waist. And fellow fashion funder Jane Wade chatted with Rob about a kismet coincidence between the two—Wade helped make Robb’s 2022 wedding dress while working at Daniel Frankel.
