The 2013 CFDA awards, fashion's Oscars if you will, will be handed out in mere hours. The industry has been gathering to recognize and honor its leading talents since 1981. A lot has changed since the early years of the awards. What was once a small intimate industry event is now a widely covered celebrity event. "I think it reflects a broader shift over the last few years where fashion has become more and more popular," Style.com's editor in chief Dirk Standen told us. "The internet has had a lot to do with that. It's entertainment on a par with movies and music." So to prep you for tonight's awards we've assembled this handy primer. In it you'll find the complete list of nominees, our predictions on who will take home the big prizes, and all the celebrity presenters and attendees slated to show up.
Mark Zuckerberg is having quite a month. The Father of Facebook just turned 28, bought out Instagram for $1 billion and is now facing the most lucrative point in his career: Going IPO on Friday. We’d offer him a congratulatory “poke” but sadly, that option’s no longer available. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the IPO acronym, it stands for Initial Public Offering-- meaning that the company will finally be open to stock holders where the likes of Wall Street—-and even you!—- can purchase a part of the social media company. But with the estimated $100 billion that’s supposedly coming his way, we’re wondering whether the Harvard dropout will invest in a new wardrobe. Will he finally change out of his usual uniform consisting of dowdy college hoodies, sweat-drenched Adidas shower flip flops, and tattered baggy jeans, into something more uh, dapper? Better yet, the question posed is this: Can all the money in the world transform someone from HTML geek to sartorial chic? Fashionistas can only hope! To give him an extra boost, we’ve enlisted the help of several fashion experts from designers like Carlos Campos, Alan Eckstein from Timo Weiland and Simon Kneen of Banana Republic, to editors from GQ and Esquire, to buyers and the likes to see what kind of advice they’d shed onto Silicon Valley’s hottest star. And regardless of whether he takes our suggestions or not (note to Marky Mark: you really, really should!), happy IPO Day! We’d definitely like to send you a congratulatory poke soon—- this time, live and in-person.
“Let’s put you in a ridiculous outfit,” Steven “Duckie” Cox, one half of Menswear label Duckie Brown, joked with their model. Ridiculous? Judge for yourself. With Fashion Week only a few weeks away, Cox and partner Daniel Silver were previewing their spring collection, presented in collaboration with American Crew artistic director Paul Wilson to a small group of reporters at their Meatpacking studio. The inspiration for the collection was “everything but the kitchen sink,” and the clothes live up to the name: Different materials, prints, patterns and colors define each piece. With this maximalist outlook, Duckie Brown has more than waved adieu to the austerity of 2009; they’ve killed it, buried it, and put a technicolor nail in the coffin for good measure.