The Elder Statesman’s Greg Chait, Jennifer Meyer Maguire, and Tabitha Simmons take The Fashion Fund’s three prizes.
“We’re all human beings, wearing different clothes,” Tobey Maguire philosophized during cocktail hour at tonight’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards. The actor was in a room full of people whose professional lives revolve around said clothes, but at an event that’s about recognizing the very talented human beings—in this case, young American designers—behind them.
Maguire’s wife, Jennifer Meyer, was one the evening’s ten nominees. You often hear at gatherings like this that it’s an honor just to be included, teared up when J.Crew’s Jenna Lyons approached her with kind words. “Everything that she’s created, I’ve looked up to her,” Meyer explained, dabbing her eyes.
She wasn’t the only designer feeling loved, or with a notable date in tow. Richard Chai squired Christina Ricci, and Liv Tyler and Liya Kebede came in with the Proenza Schouler boys. Ashley Greene was hoping to act as 26-year-old nominee Wes Gordon‘s lucky charm, not that either copped to being superstitious. “We didn’t do any voodoo dolls,” said Gordon, who’s not yet a CFDA member but is surely about to be fast-tracked. Claire Courtin-Clarins wore Suno in support of the brand’s Max Osterweis and Erin Beatty, and noted that her sister, Virginie, had donned last year’s winner, Joseph Altuzarra, in an attempt to lend extra “confiance.“
First prize went in the end to The Elder Statesman’s Greg Chait, who can now enjoy being one of the fashion world’s top Google searches. The runners-up were Tabitha Simmons and—what do you know—Meyer. “It’s a group I could have never dreamed of being a part of,” Meyer had said before the results were announced. As the evening’s keynote speaker, Burberry’s Christopher Bailey, put it from the dais: “Dreaming can be profitable.”
All photos by David X. Prutting/BFAnyc.com
