CFDA Best New Menswear Designers in America

[timpoblete]

http://www.fashionweekdaily.com/news...inewsid=522523

GQ Advances CFDA Ties

Best New Menswear Designers in America project launches this season

Friday, January 11, 2008

(NEW YORK) The Council of Fashion Designers of America already has a successful partnership with Vogue with its Fashion Fund recognizing emerging women's wear talent. Now, under the auspices of organization president Diane von Furstenberg, menswear is getting its long overdue recognition thanks to GQ.

The Condé Nast men's title is launching the Best New Menswear Designers in America project, an annual initiative carried out in collaboration with the CFDA. According to a statement released by GQ, "the competitive effort will recognize the rising stars of American men's fashion design."

The magazine has selected six designers as finalists in the inaugural competition, and each will be featured in a lead fashion portfolio in its February 2008 issue. Those finalists include: Rag & Bone's David Neville and Marcus Wainwright; Daiki Suzuki and Angelo Urrutia of Engineered Garments; Gilded Age's Stefan Miljanic; Swaim Hutson and Christina Hutson of Obedient Sons; Spurr's Simon Spurr; and Steven Alan.

Of the nominees, only two--Obedient Sons and Rag & Bone--also design women's wear. Rag & Bone's Neville and Wainwright, who joined the CFDA in June, were also selected as finalists for the 2006 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. Rag & Bone also won the 2007 Swarovski Award for Menswear.

Levi's and Bloomingdale's are the lead participating partners.

The winning designer will receive a $50,000 cash prize and the opportunity to create a capsule collection for Levi's that will enjoy an exclusive month-long debut at several Bloomingdale's locations at the start of New York's Fashion Week in September. The winner will also participate in a mentoring initiative led by GQ, Levi's, and Bloomingdale's. The winner's collection will be available on Levi.com and a select item or outfit will be featured in GQ's September issue.

A panel of industry experts has been assembled to choose the winner. Chaired by GQ editor-in-chief Jim Nelson and GQ creative director Jim Moore, it includes Caroline Calvin, Levi's senior vice president of global creative design; Kevin Harter, Bloomingdale's vice president of fashion direction; Steven Kolb, CFDA executive director; and John Varvatos.

"If you look at the track record of new designers over the years, their lines have become prominent," said Moore, who noted that the chief criteria for consideration was that the designer had to have a complete collection. "It's time menswear came out of the shadows. It was our feeling that we wanted to go beyond the editorial component and it's always been our dream to devise a mentoring program where the winner would get to work with a great American company like Levi's."

While Moore admitted this project is something that could've been initiated 10 years ago, "there's more interest in menswear now," he said. "Retailers have all the established brands, but now they want something to pepper their floors with; something to add youth."

The final selection will be made by consensus among the panel members and will take place in February 2008.

On January 30, the nominees will each present 10 looks from their Fall 2008 collections at a special presentation and celebration in New York City.

"This is an exciting time for American men's fashion, with both originality and creativity redefining the way men dress today," Kolb said in a statement. "GQ continues to champion the most talented American menswear designers, and the 2008 finalists represent the best American menswear designers working today."

This new partnership isn't the first time GQ and the CFDA have worked together. For the past three years, the two organizations have hosted annual cocktail parties recognizing the menswear nominees for the coveted American fashion award. GQ has also sponsored a table hosting the menswear nominees at the annual CFDA Awards ceremony in June.

JIM SHI

[onemancult]

slim pickings in my opinion. feigned sense of urgency.

gilded age? really?

[josephr]

the selection of designers is a joke and none of them really need the "prizes", but who wouldn't like an extra 50k for the hell of it (or 250k i'm looking at you rogan gregory)

[polishmike]

I really wouldn't mind Rag & Bone or Engineered Garments winning this. They both are going in their own direction and are pretty consistent. At the end you have to remember that P.Diddy won that back in the day.

[doctorgnar]

Also surprised to see Gilded Age in here, but I've been hearing a lot of hype around that brand from editors and such lately.

Also, Steven Alan? I love me some Steven Alan, but really, the dude makes washed cotton shirts and that's pretty much it.

Rag & Bone and EG are both good picks, IMO. Would love to see EG take it home, but I think that R&B is probably the strongest.

[mouko]

Also surprised to see Gilded Age in here, but I've been hearing a lot of hype around that brand from editors and such lately.

Also, Steven Alan? I love me some Steven Alan, but really, the dude makes washed cotton shirts and that's pretty much it.

Rag & Bone and EG are both good picks, IMO. Would love to see EG take it home, but I think that R&B is probably the strongest.

Oh man. I never even heard of Gilded Age, checked out their website. They look like a watered down R&B, or even a luxe-Jcrew. So bad.

Steven Alan is equally as lame. If I were to pick from this group I'd go with R&B, at least there's some slight edge, but even then they all pretty much look like slight variations of each other. There's obviously a bias in terms of taste and the 'american' aesthetic in the nominations. so boring.

[Liberation1945]

the co-op-ization of american menswear...

[headcoat]

No Eric Glennie?

[timpoblete]

the co-op-ization of american menswear...

What does that mean exactly, "co-op-ization"?

[swooc]

eric glennie is so beyond next level hes won this in the year 2050.

[herpsky]

glennie ain't from new york

[timpoblete]

[SoulRebel]

that steven alan and Engineered Garments is very nice

[MikeN]

What a boring group of designers.

[bakla]

I was at this evet, which was pretty fun. They had the top male models in the US on that tableau, the crowd was fun (all the industry bigwigs and whatnot) and the space was better than the last one that I attended - having the fashion presentation felt a little strange for the models but otherwise, it was a nice informal kickoff to fashion week.

However, they're all pretty much the same thing, design-wise: I get confused with them all because you can buy one item from one designer and wear it with another and you won't know who is who. All this "authentic New Americana" is fine but when seen at such concentration, it's overwhelming sameness can be numbing. It's all very much Co-op/Odin brands, as someone said earlier in this thread. That said, the styling at the event was at least more forward than just piecing things together - lots of tucking in boots and socks and whatnot. I liked some of Engineered Garments pieces too, and met Daiki Suzuki, Engineered Garments' director/designer. He's my fave of the bunch, although Rag & Bone do have some nice details on their pieces up close.

Robert Geller is one American designer who was missing from this group, and his aesthetic is at least radically unique when compared to all of this, which is why I like him. He's not quite as goth as Cloak used to be, but certainly more on his own path than this bunch. I'll post some pics here and elsewhere later after is show this evening.

[timpoblete]

Individual fits: http://models.com/oftheminute/?p=2538

[timpoblete]

And the GQ/CFDA award for best new menswear designer goes to...

…Engineered Garments. Designer Daiki Suzuki beat out stiff competition from Steven Alan, Gilded Age, Obedient Sons, Rag & Bone, and Spurr to take home the first-ever prize. Up next: creating a mini-collection to be sold this fall at levi.com and select Bloomingdale's locations for one month (and other retailers thereafter), not to mention finding a way to spend the $50,000 award.

http://men.style.com/news/blog/2008/03/and-the-gqcfda.html

[Charlie Delta]

Haha, you've invested in the right horse then I guess....

[herpsky]

creating a mini-collection to be sold this fall at levi.com and select Bloomingdale's locations for one month (and other retailers thereafter), not to mention finding a way to spend the $50,000 award.

really?

i don't know what to say...