But not in a good way. The Oscars of fashion reflect exactly what the industry needs to change.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/style/cfda-nominations.html
Tom Ford, now chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, with Carine Roitfeld at the 2019 CFDA Fashion Awards.Credit...Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images
By Vanessa Friedman NYT July 20, 2020
When the coronavirus prompted the Council of Fashion Designers of America to postpone the 2020 CFDA Fashion Awards, the annual “Oscars of the Fashion World” (industry prom) originally scheduled for June 8, it seemed like another glittering evening of voyeurism and celebration had fallen to the pandemic.
On Monday, however, the organization revealed that while the party may be over, at least for this year, the concept would go on.
“In this time of unprecedented challenge and change for our industry, we feel very strongly that it is important to recognize the nominees representing the best of fashion creativity,” said Tom Ford, chairman of the CFDA, in a news release. It announced the names, and said winners would be named on Sept. 14, the start of New York Fashion Week.
And the nominees are….?
Almost exactly the same designers who have been nominated (and won) in years past. Which means that rather than demonstrate the strength and resilience and depth of imagination of American fashion, the award nomination list mostly revealed exactly what is wrong with it. Or some of it.
In a time when the system itself is under scrutiny in a multitude of ways — from the way its constant churn of collections and shows devalues creations to its racism — nominating a handful of very familiar names as the very best fashion has to offer simply serves to perpetrate that system.
For anyone taken aback by the recent news that it was only this month that a Black photographer was chosen to shoot Vanity Fair’s cover, or that since Tyler Mitchell became the first Black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover in 2018, there hasn’t been another; for anyone thinking that the fashion industry is rife with cronyism, entrenched gatekeepers reluctant to give up power and a deep investment in maintaining the velvet-roped-off status quo, this list of nominees gives substance to the allegations.
Simply consider the fact that the nominees for the three big awards are:
American Womenswear Designer of the Year: Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen for the Row, Brandon Maxwell, Gabriela Hearst, Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/style/cfda-nominations.html
Tom Ford, now chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, with Carine Roitfeld at the 2019 CFDA Fashion Awards.Credit...Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images
By Vanessa Friedman NYT July 20, 2020
When the coronavirus prompted the Council of Fashion Designers of America to postpone the 2020 CFDA Fashion Awards, the annual “Oscars of the Fashion World” (industry prom) originally scheduled for June 8, it seemed like another glittering evening of voyeurism and celebration had fallen to the pandemic.
On Monday, however, the organization revealed that while the party may be over, at least for this year, the concept would go on.
“In this time of unprecedented challenge and change for our industry, we feel very strongly that it is important to recognize the nominees representing the best of fashion creativity,” said Tom Ford, chairman of the CFDA, in a news release. It announced the names, and said winners would be named on Sept. 14, the start of New York Fashion Week.
And the nominees are….?
Almost exactly the same designers who have been nominated (and won) in years past. Which means that rather than demonstrate the strength and resilience and depth of imagination of American fashion, the award nomination list mostly revealed exactly what is wrong with it. Or some of it.
In a time when the system itself is under scrutiny in a multitude of ways — from the way its constant churn of collections and shows devalues creations to its racism — nominating a handful of very familiar names as the very best fashion has to offer simply serves to perpetrate that system.
For anyone taken aback by the recent news that it was only this month that a Black photographer was chosen to shoot Vanity Fair’s cover, or that since Tyler Mitchell became the first Black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover in 2018, there hasn’t been another; for anyone thinking that the fashion industry is rife with cronyism, entrenched gatekeepers reluctant to give up power and a deep investment in maintaining the velvet-roped-off status quo, this list of nominees gives substance to the allegations.
Simply consider the fact that the nominees for the three big awards are:
American Womenswear Designer of the Year: Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen for the Row, Brandon Maxwell, Gabriela Hearst, Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford.
Nice to point out the problems in the System. Would have loved more of a deeper dive into each point but thanks for raising a flag or a flicker of light.
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