Looking Back At 20 Years of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund

This year marks 20 years since CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund was established. Back then the industry was still feeling the destabilizing effects of the 9/11 attacks. “The Fashion Fund is our riposte to the forces of destruction and whimsy to which emerging designers are especially vulnerable,” wrote Sally Singer in the November 2004 issue of the magazine which announced the creation of the Fund. The year prior, she explained, Vogue and the CFDA met to discuss ways to “give a leg up to the next generation,” citing a series of watershed events, including Calvin Klein’s retirement, Donna Karan selling to LVMH, the death of Bill Blass, and the milestone anniversaries of Ralph Lauren (his company had just turned 35), and Oscar de la Renta who had just turned 70.

“The trouble with the young designers—Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Isaac Mizrahi, each singularly gifted—was that they’d been the young designers since the Reagan/Bush era,” Singer explained. “New York, to ensure its place as a world capital of wearable fashion, needed new blood, quickly.” It’s interesting to read those words now, all these years later, both because it seems like our preoccupations have remained more or less the same, but also because that level of candor is rare these days.

In an industry that thrives on and demands a steady stream of newness, it’s absolutely crucial to create a foundation upon which young designers can build and thrive. Looking back at the 200-ish designers that can claim the title of CVFF finalist or winner is a quick history lesson in the trends of the times, as well a reminder that every designer started small, with a dream and a prayer. Just look at Thom Browne, who was a runner-up in 2005, and last year was named Chairman of the CFDA. A few years later, when Vogue asked the designer to share advice with the “new class,” Browne said, “I think the most important thing from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund is the mentorship. So choosing the right mentor should be carefully considered. And don’t see things in the short term. Always think and see things in the long term.”

Although many labels have had to close up shop since being named a CVFF finalist, there are a great number of labels that have prospered and become part of New York fashion’s creative core: Proenza Schouler (famously the fund’s first-ever winners), Rodarte (2006), Phillip Lim (2006 and 2007), Jason Wu (2008), Billy Reid (won in 2010), Prabal Gurung (2010), Altuzarra (2010 and won in 2011), and Todd Snyder (2013), and Tanya Taylor (2014) all took part in the Fund in the first decade, while Bode, Vaquera, Batsheva, Kidsuper, LaQuan Smith, Area, Eckhaus Latta, Luar, Willy Chavarria, and Collina Strada all participated in the last 10 years.