Gabriela Hearst Wins Womenswear Designer of the Year at CFDA Fashion Awards

Kerby Jean-Raymond for Pyer Moss receives the American Menswear Designer of the Year.

Gabriela Hearst is the winner of the American Womenswear Designer of the Year at the CFDA Fashion Awards, which was revealed in a video by chairman Tom Ford at noon today on Runway360, CFDA’s new digital platform and CFDA’s social channels.

Hearst, who was born in Uruguay, has built a luxury women’s ready-to-wear and accessories business on the principles of timelessness, quality and sustainability. She was up against Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen for The Row, Brandon Maxwell, Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford.

In accepting her award, Hearst thanked her fellow nominees and said, “I share this with my team, because vision without execution is hallucination. I also want to share it with my friends and family, we all know how much they sacrifice for us. But especially all other designers and creatives that are going through these times, we are all in this together.”

Winning the American Menswear Designer of the Year is Kerby Jean-Raymond for Pyer Moss.

Jean-Raymond, who founded his company in 2013, has based his narrative on his own heritage and activism. He was competing against Emily Adams Bode for Bode, Thom Browne, Todd Snyder and Tom Ford.

The winner of the American Accessories Designer of the Year is Telfar Clemens for Telfar, a Liberian-American fashion designer, who beat out the Olsens for The Row; Hearst; Jennifer Fisher for Jennifer Fisher for Jennifer Fisher Jewelry, and Stuart Vevers for Coach.

Christopher John Rogers was named American Emerging Designer of Year. Rogers, who has previously won a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award, was born in Baton Rouge, La. He was competing against Kenneth Nicholson; Peter Do; Reese Cooper, and Sarah Staudinger and George Augusto for Staud.

This year, the awards featured two new nomination categories: International Women’s Designer of the Year and International Men’s Designer of the Year.

Winning the International Women’s Designer of the Year is Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino. He bested Daniel Lee for Bottega Veneta; Dries Van Noten; Miuccia Prada for Prada, and Rick Owens.

Kim Jones for Dior is the recipient of the International Men’s Designer of the Year. He was up against Craig Green; Dries Van Noten; Jonathan Anderson for Loewe, and Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton.

This is the first CFDA Fashion Award for each designer in the four American categories, and represents the most diverse group of recipients in the 39-year history of the awards.

The 2020 Fashion Awards are sponsored by Klarna, the global payment and shopping service.

The CFDA Fashion Awards was originally scheduled as an in-person event on June 8, but was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. These awards serve as the CFDA’s largest fund-raiser for scholarships. In tandem with the 2020 winners’ announcement, the CFDA also disclosed the recipients of the 2020 CFDA Scholar Awards. This year, the program increased its annual student awards from $100,000 to $175,000 across seven eligible $25,000 scholarships.

CFDA Design Scholars are Chris Pleasant, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Yanbing Fan, Academy of Art University. Honorable mention is Kylie Carroll, Virginia Commonwealth University.

The CFDA/K11 Scholar (MFA/MA) is Uyen Tran, Parsons School of Design. Honorable mention is Evaristo Pereira, Savannah College of Art and Design. The $25,000 CFDA/K11 Scholar (BFA/BA) goes to Mohua Goswami, Fashion Institute of Technology. Honorable mention is Yitao Li, FIT.

The CFDA Design Scholar Suntchi Image-Maker Award goes to Eliana Batsakis of School of Art Institute of Chicago, and honorable mention is Sidonia Wu, Parsons School of Design.

The Liz Claiborne Design for Impactful Futures Scholar Award goes to Daniela Gutierrez Arreguin, Savannah College of Art and Design, and honorable mention is Rashida Birdlong of the Academy of Art University.

The Geoffrey Beene Design Masters Scholar Award goes to Milijana Delic, Academy of Art University, and honorable mention is Camerin Stoldt, FIT.