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Melitta Baumeister is the 2023 winner of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund (CVFF). Announced by designer Tommy Hilfiger and selection committee member and former winner Aurora James, as well as model Linda Evangelista, at the end of today’s Vogue Forces of Fashion, Baumeister will receive $300,000 and business mentorship.
Rachel Scott of Diotima and Henry Zankov of Zankov were the runners up. Each will receive $100,000 in addition to business mentorship. The other eight finalists were Angelo Fabricio Urrutia of 4SDesigns; Colin LoCascio; Kim Shui; Kozaburo Akasaka of Kozaburo; Sami Miro of Sami Miro Vintage; Fletcher Kasell and Tanner Richie of Tanner Fletcher; and Everard Best and Téla D’Amore of Who Decides War.
“It’s very humbling,” Baumeister says of the win. “I’m very grateful to have a team that supports the vision and for Vogue to recognise my work.” Next, she says she hopes to have a bigger presence in New York, with pop-ups and events.
“Our CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund class of 2023 are wonderfully talented. They all have something to say about what fashion can be — and where it needs to go,” Anna Wintour, chief content officer of Condé Nast and global editorial director of Vogue, said in a statement. “As we prepare to celebrate the fund’s 20th anniversary in 2024, this year’s finalists have been a wonderful reminder of why we set up the fund in the first place: To enable a new generation of designers to be seen and heard.”
Baumeister is a German designer based in New York, who launched her eponymous brand after graduating from Parsons in 2013. Her collections have become known for her draping and tent-shaped, voluminous skirts.
The announcement followed a conversation between Hilfiger and James, the founder of Brother Vellies and the Fifteen Percent Pledge, which took place at the Vogue offices at One World Trade. The Forces of Fashion event featured other speakers including Marc Jacobs, Linda Evangelista and Bottega Veneta’s Matthieu Blazy.
Now in its 19th edition, CVFF is an initiative of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Vogue that was established after the September 11 terrorist attacks to uplift emerging designers in the United States through both monetary support and business advisory. Past winners include Christopher John Rogers (2019), Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss (2018), Joseph Altuzarra (2011) and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler (2004). Almost 20 years on, the need for such initiatives — which remain few and far between in American fashion — is clearer than ever.
Thom Browne, chairman of the CFDA who was a CVFF runner-up in 2005, congratulated the three winners. “The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund has always supported truly creative talent…it has been a way for the world to see new and unique stories…from my story in 2005 to the new stories we’re celebrating today.”
Correction: Tommy Hilfiger is not on the CVFF selection committee as a previous version of this article stated.
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