Happy January of fashion to those who celebrate!
Ahead of the Council of Fashion Designers of America cocktail party tonight, followed by six full days of spring 2027 shows here in New York City—seven if you count Rachel Comey, Ralph Lauren, and Coach later today—the organization has announced its 2026 nominees and honorees. All will be celebrated at the CFDA Fashion Awards, presented by Amazon Fashion and hosted by Keke Palmer, on November 2.
Carolina Herrera’s Wes Gordon, who is celebrating the brand’s 45th anniversary this season, is nominated for a second consecutive year for American womenswear designer of the year. He joins a roster that includes two-time winner Catherine Holstein for Khaite, former winner Michael Kors, two-time nominee Tory Burch, and Diotima’s Rachel Scott, who won in 2024—a full lineup spanning generations of American fashion.
On the guys’ side, Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne, who relaunched Public School New York earlier this year, clinched a nomination for menswear designer of the year. The duo took home the award in 2014—can their renewed vigor win it again? Also up for the top prize are CFDA menswear nominee regulars Todd Snyder, Thom Browne, Willy Chavarria, and Ralph Lauren, all of whom have had a hand in menswear’s buzzy renaissance.
The Row’s Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are once again nominated for American accessory designer of the year—no surprise, given that they’ve become mainstays in this category. Also nominated are Ana Khouri, Sophie Buhai, Stuart Vevers for Coach, and Raul Lopez for Luar, who returns to the NYFW schedule after a break last season.
Always exciting is the crop of fresh talent represented in the Google American Emerging Designer of the Year. This year it includes Colleen Allen, Julian Louie for Aubero, and this year’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists Emily Dawn Long, Julia Ferentinos of Juju Vera, and Zane Li of Lii, who just last week took home the 2026 Karl Lagerfeld Prize at the LVMH Prize in Paris.
As for this year’s honorees, the international designer of the year award will go to Anthony Vaccarello for his decade of work at Saint Laurent. Meanwhile, Gap Inc. will receive the Innovation Award presented by Amazon Fashion and Demi Moore; Tory Burch will receive the positive change award; photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin have been selected as this year’s Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award recipients; Linda Fargo will take home the Founder’s Award in honor of Eleanor Lambert; Eva Chen will accept the Media Award in honor of Eugenia Sheppard; and the Isabel Toledo Board of Directors’ Tribute will be presented to Susan Cianciolo.