Daily Front Row

2011 August 1

CFDA Welcomes Biggest Class of New Members

Comments | | Print

alice + olivia's Stacey Bendet, CFDA 2011 member
Getty Images View Gallery

(NEW YORK) Industry talent certainly isn't lacking this year, as indicated by the CFDA's largest class of inductees to its membership of designers in the Council's 49-year history. The 33 new members add up to a total count of 406 CFDA designers honored for their fashion prowess since the organization's 1962 inception. This year's crop runs the gamut from established labels, like Nine West's Fred Allard, to young wunderkinds including Jen Kao and Christian Cota. On the charitable end, Toms Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie made the cut, as did CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund runners-up Prabal Gurung. Fellow Fashion Fund runner-up Eddie Borgo, who recently scored a $100,000 grant from the CFDA and Tiffany & Co., is also among the 2011 designer coterie. Designers with considerable bankable collabs and endeavors to date, like Stacey Bendet of alice + olivia and Charlotte Ronson, also nabbed the prestigious CFDA stamp of approval. “Each new member is uniquely talented and collectively they add strength to the ever growing influence of the CFDA and American fashion," said CFDA executive director (and recently-minted CEO) Steven Kolb in a statement. The latest CFDA corps, listed below, will be toasted at a fete hosted by Donna Karan this fall. 
ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV 

Alexa Adams and Flora Gill, Ohne Titel
Fred Allard, Nine West
Miho Aoki and Thuy Pham, United Bamboo
Gaby Basora, Tucker
Stacey Bendet, alice + olivia
Eddie Borgo, Eddie Borgo
Kip Chapelle and Sonja Rubin, Rubin & Chapelle  
Christian Cota, Christian Cota  
Luis Fernandez, NUMBER:Lab
Tess Giberson, Tess Giberson
Rogan Gregory and Scott Hahn, Rogan/Loomstate  
Joy Gryson, Gryson
Prabal Gurung, Prabal Gurung
Mara Hoffman, Mara Hoffman
Jen Kao, Jen Kao  
Shaun Kearney, Cynthia Steffe
Andrea Lieberman, A.L.C
Dana Lorenz, Fenton/Fallon  
Melissa Joy Manning, Melissa Joy Manning  
Derrick Miller, Barker Black Limited
Claude Morais and Brian Wolk, Ruffian
Blake Mycoskie, Toms Shoes
Gregory Parkinson, Gregory Parkinson
Patty Perreira, Barton Perreira
Charlotte Ronson,  Charlotte Ronson  
Ippolita Rostagno, Ippolita
Olivier Theyskens, Theory
Trish Wescoat Pound, Haute Hippie