Are the CFDAs Wilder Than the Oscars?

“I think fashion people are even wilder than Hollywood,” said actor Anthony Mackie, surveying the crowd shortly after he’d presented the statue for Best Menswear Designer of the Year to the gentlemen from Rag & Bone, much to the designers’ surprise. “I thought Tom Ford was going to win,” David Neville said later, still trying to process the magnitude of the honor. “We’re just a couple of boys from England who went to school together, married American girls, and we’re living a very lucky life in New York.”

The ceremony included a tribute to the late designer Alexander McQueen, a moving speech by honoree Kim Hastreiter and an Icon award for Iman, who, in accepting, said she couldn’t wait to go home, “and tell my husband, ‘see, you are not the only icon in the house.'” After the final award went to Marc Jacobs for Best Womenswear Designer of the Year, all the stars in fashion heaven poured into the lobby of the Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, to celebrate. Thom Browne, who was a swimmer at Notre Dame before launching his own heavily lauded line remarked that, because of his sporting background, he liked to see people win accolades for their achievements. Brooke Shields buzzed about with Stefano Tonchi, Anna Wintour, International Award honoree Christopher Bailey of Burberry, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim of Opening Ceremony, nominees Patrik Ervell and Eddie Borgo, Mickey Boardman, Paz de la Huerta, and the New York circle.

And then Swarovski Award for Accessory Design winner Alexander Wang announced, “I’m going to go find my ride, and then I am going to the Boom Boom Room to celebrate,” launching an exodus downtown. Jason Wu, who won the Swarovski Award for Womenswear Design, said, “This is a great posse to celebrate with.” And Richard Chai, who took home the equivalent menswear trophy, had also brought along his own kind of hardware. “This is my lucky charm,” he said, wrapping his arm around Hayden Christensen. “When he’s around everything works out.” Well after midnight, with the party showing no signs of slowing down, an ebullient Michael Kors, who had been given the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award earlier in the evening, jutted through the crowd saying, “This is primo! This is primo!”