Erykah Badu Crowned Prestigious CFDA 2024 Fashion Icon Award

Erykah Badu and her decades of bold mesmerizing style has finally landed the esteemed creative a long-desired accolade.

On Monday night, Erykah Badu was crowned the 2024 Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Icon Award. Presented by Amazon Fashion and hosted by actress Cynthia Ervio, the award ceremony took place at the American Museum of National History in Manhattan.

André 3000, with whom Badu shares a 26-year-old son, Seven, introduced the “Window Seat” artist to accept the prestigious award, using a caution cone as a prop to signify Badu’s pleasantly lethal clothing adornment.

Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Molly Ringwald were among those in attendance, all serving as presenters for the evening. High-profiled guests included Teyana Taylor, LaLa, Winnie Harlow, Addison Rae, Kylie Jenner, Lucy Liu, Vera Wang, Katie Holmes, Blake Lively, Tyla, JT, Da’Vine Joy Randolph.

According to AP, Badu jocularly expressed that receiving this prestigious honor has been a lifelong goal, a statement that underscores the artist’s signature stance on fashion.

Erykah Badu’s Impact on Fashion

In the ‘90s, Badu’s Grammy Award-winning debut album, Baduizm contributed to the fabric of the neo-soul music genre. This genre embodies the essence of classic jazz, modernist blues, and funky hip-hop, infused with themes related to Black diaspora, with a magnetic reach that appealed to consumers of the abstract.

This prime time of Badu’s career called for the unapologetic showcase of her appearance, be it music videos, award shows, or guest appearances on mainstream platforms. The vitality of Badu’s Afrocentric appeal, with its core features including bright hues, daring maxi dresses, and her most distinct and defining item—her headwrap pieces—posed beyond the emulation of Afrocentric style. Rather, it was symbolic of her theoretical understanding of the Black woman as the mother of civilization, a bearer and receiver of life, a nurturer and respective queen, who coats her head with a potent garment as a form of self preservation.

This stems from the school of thought of the Five Percent Nation of Gods and Earths, which once influenced Badu. The women of the nation, known as Earths, are culturally adorned with head wraps as a reflection of the ideology.

Badu has since evolved from her headwrap era and has expanded horizontally with her Afrocentric appeal, adopting tall hats, jeweled headdresses, patchwork fabric, oversized jewelry statements, and more.

2024 CFDA Awards Ceremony

Badu donned an ensemble by American fashion designer Thom Browne to the CFDA ceremony. The designer described it as an “all-in-one chesterfield, sportcoat, cardigan and trousers in a combination of cashmere, mohair wool flannel and silk faille over a hobble skirt in mohair.”

The prestigious CFDA Fashion Icon Award was launched in 2010, with supermodel Iman bestowed the first honor. Notable recipients span across several sectors of pop culture, including Naomi Campbell, Beyoncé, Rhianna, Lady Gaga, Lenny Kravitz, Serena Williams, Zendaya, and Pharrell Williams.

The 2024 CFDA Awards painted a grand picture of the present fashion landscape, with designers Rachel Scott, Willy Chavarria, and Raul Lopez securing top design honors. Fresh talent like Henry Zankov received recognition alongside tributes to industry stalwarts, including Stephen Burrows and the late Isabel Toledo. Michael Kors was recognized as a positive change maker, while the media contributions of Anne Leibovitz and international impact of Daniel Roseberry with Schiaparelli were also celebrated.