Daily Front Row

2010 March 18

Snub Central!

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Italo Zucchelli
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(NEW YORK) It's an old but very true cliché: whenever someone gets recognized, another soul or two gets snubbed. And with every competitive CFDA category featuring only three nominees, snubs are virtually unavoidable.

Let's start with the lucrative womenswear category, in which Marc Jacobs continued his record streak of nods just one night after unpacking his bags from Paris. As The Daily predicted, Donna Karan will be his chief competition. In a minor surprise, Alexander Wang was promoted to the big leagues just like Rodarte was last year. But to make room for Wang, the Mulleavy sisters were shut out this year, as were past winners Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein Collection, Narciso Rodriquez, Oscar de la Renta, and Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough for Proenza Schouler, who settled in for Accessories bid instead. But overall, the path seems clear for Jacobs to finally hoist this trophy for the first time since 1997 (!) after becoming the Meryl Streep of the CFDAs in this category.

The menswear category proved to be much more unpredictable. Michael Bastian earned his expected fourth CFDA nomination, but critical darlings Italo Zucchelli (for Calvin Klein Collectrion) and Thom Browne were the night’s most glaring omissions. Zucchelli (who won this award last year) was perhaps the most obvious MIA after thunderous reaction for his Fall 2010 effort. Alexis Bittar got a happy call from Steven Kolb in the afternoon and became an unexpected Accessories finalist, beating out the likes of Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Justin Giunta and Vera Wang.

Richard Chai joined Patrik Ervell and Simon Spurr on the Swarovski Award for Menswear shortlist, while Billy Reid and Carlos Campos were stuck on the wait list. For the second straight year, the Swarovksi Award for Womenswear will be the most intriguing category of the night (Joseph Altuzarra, Prabal Gurung, and Jason Wu are your nominees), but expect Sophie Théallet and the Cushnie et Ochs designers Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs to join the derby in 2011.

And who could have predicted Swarovski Award for Accessory Design shortlist, which includes Eddie Borgo, Dana Lorenz, and Alexander Wang? What about Monique Pean, Alejandro Ingelmo, and George Esquivel? And finally, the Fashion Icon Award went to Iman--even though Lady Gaga has a three-week break on her worldwide tour in June. Give her a call, KCD!
VALENTINE UHOVSKI