Robert Geller

Also, Olivia Wilde is the face of H&M's Conscious Exclusive and designers make cute notebooks for charity.

Last night's CFDA Awards were a decidedly star-studded affair, what with Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Sofia Coppola, Jessica Alba, Gerard Butler, Naomi Watts, and host Anderson Cooper spending time on the stage. Cooper had to leave early because of "that Weiner thing," or so Diane von Furstenberg said, but otherwise the audience received plenty of face time with their star of choice--there were even a couple of moments when one could forget this was, you know, a fashion industry event. But only a couple.

The CFDA Awards are a time to reflect on the amazing work of American fashion designers and industry professionals. (And a chance to wear an evening gown, which doesn't come around as much as I wish it would.) In honor of tonight's ceremonies, we've rounded up our favorite looks from this year's CFDA nominees and I've got to say, they're all pretty amazing. From Pamela Love's hefty gems to 3.1 Phillip Lim's quirky dudes, the CFDA noms are a diverse bunch. Hurry up and click through to see the best of the best of American fashion and place your bets on tonight's winners.

Another year, another CFDA Awards. Tonight Diane von Furstenberg and Steven Kolb announced the nominations for 2011's awards. But before she began to read out the names, DvF told the crowd at her packed studio that the organization would be putting together an auction for the victims of the Japan natural disasters. "We're going to put together big packages. Designers, clients, suppliers--everyone is getting involved." As for the nominees and honorees, there were very few surprises, except for maybe one.

When Ann Taylor unveiled its collection designed by last year's CFDA Fashion Fund nominees, we oohed and awed. And pouted. Because despite the fact that we would have bought the entire capsule--and we mean that--it was not produced. Today, we received good news that the samples--created by Joseph Altuzarra, Prabal Gurung, Billy Reid, and Loden Dager, to name a few--are now up for auction on eBay, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting the CFDA. Unfortunately, unless you're a size zero--and a Karlie Kloss zero at that--the only options are to bid on jewelry and accessories by Eddie Borgo and Pamela Love. Oh, and Robert Geller's outfit, which is a much more reasonable size 4. While we admit that those are pretty good options, we still wish Ann Taylor would have produced a proper collection with these guys. Mostly because I want the Loden Dager outfit real bad.

When designers are selected as finalists for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, they compete in a set of challenges to win the grand prize--$300K and mentorship for the year--which this year went to Billy Reid. One of these challenges was presented by Ann Taylor. The 10 finalists--Joseph Altuzarra, Billy Reid, Christian Cota, Eddie Borgo, Gregory Parkinson, Oliver Helden and Paul Marlow of Loden Dager, Moss Lipow, Pamela Love, Prabal Gurung and Robert Geller--were each given a box of images from Ann Taylor campaigns from the '50s, when the brand launched, through to today, and asked to create a look that would "rejuvenate, redefine and modernize the concept of wear-to-work dressing and set the next major career style trend." The results? Pretty amazing. Last night, to celebrate the opening of their new concept store on 5th Ave. and 21st St., Ann Taylor revealed all the challenge looks. Winner Billy Reid created a look that paired high-waisted houndstooth-print pants with suspenders and a magic trench coat--the lining comes out and turns into a bubble hemmed shift dress. Pamela Love created a leather bag with a horn handle and a matching necklace and cuff. The color combination of Loden Dager's aqua blazer and blush pants was spot on. You can check out the looks modeled by the incomparable Karlie Kloss below.

Ten American designers just got a lot happier. The CFDA and Vogue announced their ten finalists for the seventh annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund initiative, and we're pretty pleased with the results (as we're sure they are as well). Though the process is far from being over--the winner and two runners-up will be announced on November 15--having the list in our hands is enough to make us sit on the edge of our seats. The finalists are as follows:

Don is the new Ken: Mattel is coming out with four Mad Men dolls: Don Draper, his wife Betty, his colleague Roger Sterling and office manager Joan Hol

moreJeremy Kost was backstage at Robert Geller, and captured the boys on film. [gallery][gallery exclude="17205"]