WWD Reveals 2026 Honors Lineup: Arnault, Ackermann, Rider and Goldfarb Among Honourees
Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, the French luxury group that owns Louis Vuitton, Dior and dozens of other houses, will receive the WWD John B. Fairchild Honor at this year's WWD Honors gala — the highest recognition the trade publication gives to an individual for shaping fashion culture and commerce.
WWD announced the additional honourees on 24 August 2026. The gala takes place on the evening of 27 October at Cipriani South Street in Manhattan, on the first night of the WWD Apparel & Retail CEO Summit, a two-day industry gathering on 27 and 28 October (WWD).
Morris Goldfarb, chairman and CEO of G-III Apparel Group — the New York-based company behind licensed brands like Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Donna Karan in the wholesale and retail market — will receive the WWD Creative Leadership Honor. Haider Ackermann, named creative director of Tom Ford fashion in September 2024, takes the WWD Honor for Womenswear Designer of the Year. Michael Rider, who became artistic director of Celine in October 2024 and showed his first collection for the house in July 2025, receives the Menswear Designer of the Year honor.
Henry Zankov, who designs under his own name and was named artistic director of Diane von Furstenberg in May, will receive the WWD One to Watch Honor. He held his first runway show under his own label in September 2025.
Amanda Smith, CEO of Fairchild Media Group, WWD's parent company, commented on the honourees, though the specific remarks were not detailed in the announcement. The gala, an annual celebration of creative vision, performance and leadership in the fashion industry, last took place in October 2023 at Casa Cipriani in New York City, where Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior's artistic director of womenswear collections, received the John B. Fairchild Honor and Dries Van Noten was named Designer of the Year (WWD Honors).
The 2026 edition arrives at a moment of transition for several of the named designers. Ackermann's appointment at Tom Ford followed the brand's acquisition by Estée Lauder and the licensing of its fashion arm to Ermenegildo Zegna Group. Rider stepped into Celine after Hedi Slimane's departure, a house where commercial momentum under the previous designer had been closely watched. Zankov, the least established name on the list, carries both his own emerging label and the creative direction of Diane von Furstenberg, a brand built on the wrap dress and still finding its post-founder footing.
Arnault's honor places the head of the world's largest luxury conglomerate in a lineage of Fairchild recipients that includes Chiuri and, before her, figures such as Karl Lagerfeld. LVMH reported revenue of EUR 86.2 billion for the 2025 financial year, with organic growth of 2 percent across its fashion and leather goods division — the group's largest business segment.
For an industry that spends much of its calendar debating who sits in which creative-director chair, the WWD Honors offers a once-a-year moment to put those appointments on a stage and attach a name to them. The 27 October gala will do exactly that.
