The ten finalists for the 2015 CFDA / Vogue Fashion Fund were announced last night at a cocktail reception at The Jane Hotel in New York, attended by Anna Wintour, Carolina Herrera and Diane Von Furstenberg.
Amongst the finalists are latex and patent leather cage purveyor Becca McCharen of Chromat, afrofuturist Rio Uribe of Gypsy Sport — who won the Emerging Designer Menswear prize at the CFDA awards — and the surf stylings of Thaddeus O’Neil. Here’s the full list:
Baja East — Scott Studenberg and John Targon
Baldwin — Matt Baldwin
Brother Vellies — Aurora James
Cadet — Brad Schmidt and Raul Arevalo
CG — Chris Gelinas
Chromat — Becca McCharen
David Hart
Gypsy Sport — Rio Uribe
Jonathan Simkhai
Thaddeus O’Neil
During the next four months, the designers will face a number of design, advertising and runway challenges before a final showdown at the Chateau Marmont on November 2, when one winner and two runners up will be announced. The winner will take home $400,000 (up by $100k since last year) and the runners up will each receive $150,000. Previous winners of the prestigious and lucrative award include Proenza Schouler (2004), Alexander Wang (2008), and Joseph Altuzarra (2011).