Rachel Scott and Ralph Lauren Win Top Prizes at the CFDA Fashion Awards
Rachel Scott, who designs under the Diotima label, won American Womenswear Designer of the Year at the 2026 CFDA Fashion Awards. It is her second win in that category. Ralph Lauren took American Menswear Designer of the Year for the third time.
The ceremony was held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and hosted by Keke Palmer. The awards are presented by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), the New York trade body for American designers, and this year's ceremony was presented by Amazon Fashion. Thom Browne, a designer, is the CFDA's chairman.
Lupita Nyong'o and Francisco Costa presented the womenswear prize to Scott. Matt Damon and Tremaine Emory handed Ralph Lauren his menswear award. Source: WWD
Ana Khouri won American Accessory Designer of the Year, presented by Naomi Osaka and Joseph Altuzarra. Colleen Allen, a Brooklyn-based women's wear designer who founded her own label, won the Google Shopping American Emerging Designer of the Year award. Cole Escola and Gabriela Hearst presented that prize.
Anthony Vaccarello won the International Designer of the Year Award. Hailey Bieber, Rose and Zoe Kravitz presented it to him. Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, presented the Positive Change Award to Tory Burch, and Peter Marino was named Fashion Icon.
Catherine Holstein for Khaite, Michael Kors and Tory Burch were among the womenswear nominees the CFDA announced in September. Burch later received a different honour on the night. Wes Gordon, Dao-Yi Chow, Maxwell Osborne and Thom Browne were also listed as nominees on the CFDA's event page.
A separate prize was announced earlier in October. Zane Li of LII won the 2026 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, a award that the CFDA runs with Vogue to support emerging designers. Aisling Camps and Emily Dawn Long were named runners-up. The CFDA and WWD both reported the result on 20 October.
The red carpet drew attention too. Vogue's photo gallery of arrivals shows Zoë Kravitz and Hailey Bieber in Saint Laurent, and Demi Moore in GapStudio. Source: Vogue
For the people in the room, the awards mark a moment of recognition. For the wider industry, they are also a record of which names the trade body chose to honour this year.
