The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund awards honor up and coming designers– past winners have included Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang, and Rodarte. So it’s kinda a big deal. This years winner was Telfar, a Liberian-American designer I hadn’t heard of before. Turns out, he showed his first collection 12 years ago and is known for his basic, gender neutral looks. The red carpet saw stars wearing everyone from 2017 nominees, to past winners, to established powerhouses.

Paloma Elsesser in Adam Selman

This is FIRE. A total slam dunk. I hadn’t heard of this model before, but apparently she is the face of FENTY, Rihanna’s beauty line. Adam Selman was a runner up for 2016’s award, and the designer behind Rihanna’s  infamous see-through crystallized dress from the 2014 awards, so their connection makes sense.

Danielle Brooks in Chromat

Chromat was one of the runners-up, and based on this look, I can’t imagine how they made it that far. This is straight out of the Wet Seal from my childhood mall.

Karlie Kloss in Christian Dior

Love this. Love the pattern, and appreciate Karlie’s consistent and effective use of flats on the red carpet.

Fei Fei Sun in J. Mendel Resort

I like this as well, but wish she had picked a less heavy shoe. The chunky black heels really bring down the light filminess of the dress.

Nicki Minaj in Custom Alexander Wang

Wang is a past winner of this award, and a designer that’s really hit and miss for me. This is a definite miss. It’s very much in Nicki’s wheelhouse, but for custom work it’s sloppy and un-creative.

Lauren Santo Domingo in Calvin Klein

I am surprised that this is Calvin Klein- it reminds me a lot of some of Armani Prive’s feathered gowns from his recent collections. It’s more than a little high fashion Muppet, but I still kind of love it.