LAST night, the Council of Fashion Designers of America held their 18th annual awards – only this time they relabeled the event the American Fashion Awards, they invited in E!’s TV cameras and voila! Seventh Avenue’s own Oscars Night was born.
Designers and celebrities wearing a glorious display of finery flocked to the 69th Regiment Armory on 25th Street and Lexington Avenue for what is likely to become the most dressed-up evening on the calendar.
Among the 1,000 guests at the $1,500-a-head dinner were Sophia Loren, Tommy Hilfiger, Claire Danes, John Kennedy and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Donald Trump, Julianna Margulies, Sarah Jessica Parker, LL Cool J, Bette Midler, Yoko Ono and Cher.
Honorees included Cher (noted for her influence on fashion), Yves Saint Laurent (a Lifetime Achievement Award) and an international award to Yoji Yamomoto, Carolyn B Kennedy’s favorite designer. The evening’s highlight was the presentation of the three Perry Ellis Awards, which the CFDA sets aside to recognize talented young American designers. (In the past, the awards have honored – and in many cases launched – the now sterling careers of fashion big-timers like Cynthia Rowley, Anna Sui, Kate Spade and Daryl K.)
This year the contenders for Womenswear included Josh Patner and Bradley for Tuleh, Katayone Adeli and Rebecca Danenberg. In the Menswear category: Tony Melillo (for Nova USA), Cynthia Rowley and Matt Nye.
Also receiving awards were Michael Kors (Womenswear designer of the year), Calvin Klein (Menswear), Marc Jacobs (Accessories) – while the late editor of Harpers Bazaar, Liz Tilberis, received a posthumous Humanitarian award.
CNN ‘Style” anchor Elsa Klensch, who was honored with the Eugenia Sheppard Award for Excellence in Fashion Journalism, called the transmission of the show on June 13 on E! Television ‘long overdue.”
”The fashion industry is now such an enormous force in American life,” she told The Post. ‘We’ve got so much to offer visually, and not only with the clothes.”
She added: ‘This could never have happened without television. Even when designers have their faces in magazines, it doesn’t have the impact that having them on television does.” Klensch applauds the fact that last night the Ralphs, Donnas and Calvins of the world were as important as the Nicoles, Toms and Gwyneths.
Designers, who each took a table of 12, used the occasion to thank those who used their clothes in fashion shoots over the last year – or promoted them.
Rumors flew during the weeks before the event about who would be sitting with whom; Giorgio Armani, for example, invited Rita Wilson and Claire Forlani.
Actresses Anjelica Huston, Juliana Moore and Rene Russo, star of the upcoming movie ‘The Thomas Crown Affair,” sat at Michael Kors’ table. (Kors designed Russo’s wardrobe for her latest star turn.) Betsey Johnson hosted Sarah McLachlan.
But the real reason to accept an invitation to this year’s gala was to get into the after party, held at the hip Club Ohm on West 22nd Street. Hosted by newly sober model Kate Moss, former Perry Ellis winners Narciso Rodriguez and Sandy Dalal, and a list of fabulous fashion editors, superstars and models, the party kept revelers dancing into the wee hours of the night.