Breakout Designer: Gregory Chait/The Elder Statesman

Industry heavyweights always like to wage their bets for the winner of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. This year, popular opinion pegged industry faves SUNO or Wes Gordon for the win. Enter The Elder Statesman’s Gregory Chait, who stunned onlookers by proving to be the competition’s true underdog. He took home the fund’s top prize for his line The Elder Statesman—an expensive Cali-cool brand of cashmere basics. Suddenly, all eyes were turned towards his hippie knits.