All the Nominees and Honorees for the 2026 CFDA Fashion Awards

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The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has just announce the nominees and honorees for the 2026 CFDA Fashion Awards presented by Amazon Fashion, and it’s quite the lineup!

International Designer of the Year: Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent

Marking a decade at the revered French fashion house, Vaccarello is being recognized for his “sustained creative conviction, global influence, and cultural relevance.”

If rumors of his imminent departure from the brand are to be believed (and we think they are — he’s supposedly being replaced by his former director of women’s ready-to-wear design, Chloé’s Chemena Kamali) this could very well be the last public-facing event the designer attends as the head of Saint Laurent before the announcement is made. Quite the swan song if things shake out the way we are expecting.

Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award: Photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

The award is being presented in recognition of the the more than four decades during which the duo has influenced “the visual language of contemporary fashion, creating images that explore beauty, identity and the human condition via editorial, advertising, portraiture and artistic work.”

Very well deserved, if you ask us!

Positive Change Award: Tory Burch

Burch has embedded “social responsibility into the foundation of her business, leveraging her success to create meaningful, measurable change for women through the Tory Burch Foundation by expanding access to capital, education, mentorship, and opportunity for women entrepreneurs.”

Her Fall 2026 collection was also a total banger and one of our absolute favorites of the season. Honestly, she should be a front runner for Womenswear Designer of the Year for that one, but although she is nominated in that category (more on that below), the fact that she is already guaranteed this award would seem to indicate that her chances of finally taking home the top prize of the night (she’s been nominated twice in the category, but never won) are slim to none.

Founder’s Award in honor of Eleanor Lambert: Linda Fargo

Celebrating three decades at Bergdorf Goodman, Fargo has “helped define style through her distinct visual storytelling and fashion curation while being an influential champion of American fashion.”

Also, let’s be honest, the woman is always just so wonderfully kind and fabulously dressed. And her salon at Bergdorf is truly the most joyful and eclectic shop-in-shop in all of New York.

Media Award in honor of Eugenia Sheppard: Eva Chen

The CFDA is honoring Chen for “connecting fashion and technology through her role at Meta, while fostering the global conversation among designers, creators, brands, and audiences.”

Frankly, this one feels overdue. Maybe a little too overdue? Chen and Instagram’s social media supremacy have waned in recent years with the rise of Tik Tok, but even so, there’s no denying the impact she and the platform she champions have had (and continue to have) on the industry. And the world.

Isabel Toledo Board of Directors’ Tribute: Susan Cianciolo

Cianciolo’s RUN collection was “an early model of sustainable fashion and community, incorporating handwork, reuse, repair, performance, installation, film, painting, and food.”

It’s unusual for the CFDA to honor an artist like Cianciolo. Her work exists at the intersection of fashion, performance, and fine art. It’s interesting, but it feels a bit like the fly in the ointment among so many slick and highly recognizable honorees and one can’t help but wonder what discussions were had behind closed doors to arrive at this particular decision.

And now, on to the big awards of the night! And the nominees are…

American Womenswear Designer of the Year nominees:

Catherine Holstein for Khaite
Michael Kors
Rachel Scott for Diotima
Tory Burch
Wes Gordon for Carolina Herrera

Our money is on Holstein for her third non-consecutive win. Tory Burch would also be an excellent choice, but given that she’s already receiving an award that night, a second honor seems unlikely. Though we would be thrilled if it happened. Honestly, all the designers in this category are worthy of winning, though. There’s not a filler among them.

American Menswear Designer of the Year nominees:

Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne for Public School New York
Ralph Lauren
Thom Browne
Todd Snyder
Willy Chavarria

This one feels like Ralph Lauren’s to lose. He’s just been having such a great year. Though Thom Browne, Todd Snyder, and Willy Chavarria are also extremely worthy of the honor. The nomination of the Public School designers feels a little premature, though. The brand only just returned to the runway in February of this year after a nearly decade-long hiatus. Of course, given that the other four nominees are in the mix more or less every year at this point, its nice to have a new name thrown in this time around. Even if it is an old new name that has yet to really prove itself.

American Accessory Designer of the Year nominees:

Ana Khouri
Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen for The Row
Raul Lopez for Luar
Sophie Buhai
Stuart Vevers for Coach

If nominations were bricks, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen could build a townhouse with theirs at this point. We could honestly see Coach taking it for the sheer momentum they’ve had recently — the number of Coach bags we’ve see on the streets of New York in the past year boggles the mind — but Khouri would be a welcome (and unexpected) upset.

Google American Emerging Designer of the Year nominees:

Colleen Allen
Emily Dawn Long
Julia Ferentinos for Juju Vera
Julian Louie for Aubero
Zane Li for Lii

Honestly, it feels like there’s really no calling this one. Long feels like a bit of a longshot (no pun intended), especially up against Allen and Li, but there’s something very appealing about Ferentinos’s work and Louie’s menswear really is fabulous.

“The CFDA Fashion Awards presented by Amazon Fashion are a defining moment for American creativity, bringing our community together to recognize the designers and creative voices whose talent, vision, and originality continue to move our industry forward,” said Steven Kolb, CEO and president of the CFDA. “This year feels especially meaningful as we celebrate the extraordinary breadth of American creativity and its influence on culture around the world. We are proud to honor those shaping fashion today while creating a platform that inspires and supports the generation that will define its future.”

The 2026 CFDA Fashion Awards presented by Amazon Fashion will be hosted by Keke Palmer and take place on Monday, November 2, 2026, at the American Museum of Natural History for the fourth year. Additional event details will be announced in the coming months.