Here’s Who Won Big At The 2016 CFDA Awards

As far as awards shows go, it doesn't get bigger than the CFDA Awards for the fashion industry. And so tonight's event, hosted by Joel McHale and held (for a change of scenery) at Hammerstein Ballroom, was pretty much the biggest night of the year for people in the business. So, who walked away victorious from the unofficial Oscars for the style set? The toniest award, arguably, is the Womenswear Designer of the Year category. Marc Jacobs beat out Joseph Altuzarra, Proenza Schouler's Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Rodarte's Kate and Laura Mulleavy, and The Row's Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen for the top honor. Thom Browne won Menswear Designer of the Year, besting some tough competition: Public School's Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne, Rag & Bone's Marcus Wainwright and David Neville, Tim Coppens, and Todd Snyder. This year's Accessory Designer of the Year went to Mansur Gavriel's Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel. The label and its beloved bucket bags beat out Joseph Altuzarra, Irene Neuwirth, Proenza Schouler's McCollough and Hernandez, and The Row's Olsen twins. Other major categories included the International Award, which went to Gucci's Alessandro Michele (presented by Anna Wintour). Michael Kors presented Norma Kamali with the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award; Kors commended Kamali for designing stylish athletic garb long before athleisure was a thing, and also for being ahead of the curve in terms of e-comm. Donna Karan was presented the Founders Award by Calvin Klein (talk about two illustrious household names of American design). Business of Fashion scooped up the Media Award, received by the site's founder, Imran Amed. Lady Gaga's BFF and former stylist Brandon Maxwell was beyond thrilled to nab the Swarovski Award for Womenswear, beating out Monse's Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia as well as Ryan Roche. (Maxwell's touching acceptance speech, in which he talked about his experience growing up gay in a small town, and how dressing women gave him a sense of hope, purpose, and opportunity, even brought Naomi Campbell to tears.) Orley's Alex, Matthew, and Samantha Orley were given the Swarovski Award for Menswear; other contenders were Gypsy Sport's Rio Uribe, and John Elliott. The third Swarovski Award, for Accessory Design, went to Paul Andrew, who was up against Gigi Burris, and Brother Vellies' Aurora James. Typically, the Fashion Icon Award is announced ahead of time, but this year, the CFDA kept mum about which stylish celeb was getting honored, though the Twitter speculation (correctly) began to build earlier in the evening about the recipient. Beyoncé walked away with a Trova statuette, joined on stage by Blue Ivy as well as her own mom, Tina Knowles, and the crowd basically lost it (as one would expect). Besides that Fashion Icon nod and the parade of famous faces that tend to show up as designers' guests, there's also always an intriguing selection of A-list presenters. This year's roster included Claire Danes presenting the Womenswear Designer of the Year, Alexander Skarsgård doing the honors for Menswear Designer of the Year, Alexa Chung presenting the Media Award, and Karlie Kloss and Ansel Elgort doling out all three Swarovski awards. Broad City's Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer presented the Accessory Designer of the Year category, and jokingly asked Wintour and the CFDA's chairman, Diane von Furstenberg, when they'd be appearing on their brilliant Comedy Central show; now, that'd be quite the episode. Other talent on the lineup for this year's Awards (introducing other aspects of the show besides the accolades) included Jenna Lyons, Lena Dunham, Riley Keough, and Heidi Klum. Congratulations to the latest crop of CFDA-decorated design talents. Stay tuned for the full rundown on the event's other major element: that red carpet, of course.