High Fashion Hits the Tony Awards Red Carpet 2015

Did anyone else think last night's TONY Awards red carpet looked like an extension of the CFDA Awards? That was not a coincidence. In the past, the awards ceremony celebrating live theater was barely watched by television fans. Unlike the Academy Awards, it was not the destination for celebrity fashion inspiration.

Legendary costume designer for Broadway, William Ivey Long (hell, even my Hubby knows his work) reached out to Anna Wintour for help with all of the above. Together with Vogue staff and the team at PR company KCD Worldwide, they made sure to give the stars lots of styling and designer help for the evening.

Like your typical Anna Wintour fest, many fashion designers attended with a celebrity as their date. Bernadette Peters arrived with Zac Posen; Joseph Altuzarra escorted Vanessa Axente, and Francisco Costa had Kendall Jenner on his arm representing Calvin Klein.

Some of my favorites on the red carpet were slightly biased because I am a big fan of performer's talent and performances first. Just off of Mad Men and nominated for The Heidi Chronicles, Elisabeth Moss wore a flower embroidered Oscar de la Renta column dress. Vanessa Hudgens, who starred in Gigi on Broadway, wore a beautiful floral print gown by Naeem Khan.

Kelli O'Hara, whom I loved way back in her Jekyll & Hyde days was the big winner last night for Best Actress in a Musial. She also wore a gold Oscar de la Renta dress. Jennifer Lopez wore Valentino, Canadian singer Kiesza wore a stunning if unconventional dress from Aluzarra. One of my favorite actresses on Broadway (Wicked) and tv (Pushing Daisies) Kristen Chenoweth hosted the Awards in a slinky silver, Zac Posen.

Congratulations to all of the talent, both dramatic and sartorial this week. Bravo for making the Great White Way the great red way with amped up TONY Awards red carpet fashion.
Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

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CFDA Award Winners 2014

All right! The CFDA, Council of Fashion Designers of America honored their own last night.  I can't say I agree with every choice, but I will say I have never met anyone who didn't work their butt off to be here. 

Rihanna was honored with being the Style icon of the year.  While her stylist-assisted looks have been interesting at times, my personal belief is an "icon" should be someone who has crafted their own individual style.  A look that goes against popular trends, is so distinct that just their signature accouterments would be recognizable (think Anna Wintour's glasses and hair bob, Audrey Hepburn's pearls and cigarette holder...).  A flashy, carefully composed concert and red carpet agenda does not individual style make.  To me, a style icon should look striking on the way to the coffee shop when no one is looking.   More ironic, Rihanna showed up at the fashion awards by not wearing any (well, except for a fur muff to hide her muff).  That's like a top chef winning the James Beard Award and going on a hunger strike n'est-ce pas?

New Yorkers through and through, the dapper casual boys of Public School NYC Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow won Menswear Designers of the year.  They won last year's Swarovski Award for Menswear for new talent and were also the Vogue Fashion Fund's darlings before that.  Their collection is a great mix of casual looks executed in high end luxury fabrics.

Joseph Altuzarra won Womenswear Designer of the Year.  Like his counterparts, he also followed a trajectory of winning awards for new talent all the way up to this highest award by winning the Vogue Fashion Fund then Swarovski Award.  His collection is a reflection of his multi-cultural background.

For those of us in a certain generation, they will always be the Olsen Twins of childhood TV.  Accessory Designers of the Year Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen have since created a lifestyle empire with their luxury label The Row as their signature.  They work intensely on each collection themselves and vendors love them for their dedication to using the best quality materials, whatever the cost.

A new award this year went to Patrick Janelle for Instagrammer of the Year, showing the CFDA Awards are a little more progressive, if not a few years behind the times.  They only started inviting or recognizing bloggers a couple of years ago.  Tom Ford was recognized for Lifetime Achievement, which seems premature, considering he is in the prime of his career.  I think they just wanted to guarantee his handsome presence on the red carpet.

All of the winners last night are extremely talented and worked hard to be where they are.  Every professional that survives year after year does.  However, when it comes to these and other high profile awards, I see the same handful of names pop up every time.  What does it take to cast a wider net and view a true range of designers in the industry?  Can the public see a label that Anna Wintour didn't handpick and direct the rest of the world to celebrate?

What unrecognized designer would you nominate?
Photos from the CFDA and Getty

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2012 CFDA Fashion Awards

The 50th anniversary of the fashion industry's top honors took place at Lincoln center Monday night.  Super luxury brand, The Row by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (yes, those Olsens) won Womenswear Designer of the Year.  Menswear Designer of the year was awarded to Billy Reid, who thanked his mother for not allowing him to pursue his dream of being a football coach.

Swarovski awarded emerging talents Joseph Altuzarra for women's, Phillip Lim for menswear and Tabitha Simmons for accessories.

Fashion fans from Hollywood came out to support the people who kept them beautiful, like Zoe Saldana, Jessica Chastain and Kate Bosworth.

The Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award went to Tommy Hilfiger.  The International award was awarded to Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons.  Scott Schuman and Garance Dore were honored with the Media Award.  Johnny Depp won the award for Fashion Icon.

No matter which style maven you rooted for, everyone agreed that host Seth Myers (SNL) was terrific.  He skewered the initially cool audience into howling laughter when they finally figured out how to laugh at themselves.  Besides wearing a black dress tribute to Marc Jacob's outfit at the Met Ball, his zingers included:

“I hear tangerine orange is the color of the season. Which means Valentino was ahead of the trend since his skin is already that color. Valentino actually couldn’t be here tonight because he’s in the hospital getting another arm surgically attached so he can hold more dogs.”

 “This fall on NBC tune into Karl Lagerfeld’s new show, ‘Are You Fatter than a Fifth Grader?’”. I mean, is this a thing already?

To watch the awards yourself, tune in to Style.com at 5 PM Tuesday.  

Olsens photo by Jamie McCarthy.  Wintour/Hilfiger photo from Wire Image.

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