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CFDA chairman Tom Ford nominated for two CFDA Awards
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Tom Ford is being slammed by fashion insiders and fans alike after ruffling fashionable feathers yet again as the chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. This year’s CFDA Awards — considered the fashion world’s Oscars — was postponed, but the nominations came out this week to a flurry of criticism, including allegations …
Tom Ford is being slammed by fashion insiders and fans alike after ruffling fashionable feathers yet again as the chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
This year’s CFDA Awards — considered the fashion world’s Oscars — was postponed, but the nominations came out this week to a flurry of criticism, including allegations the awards aren’t diverse enough and honor the same designers every year, including Ford himself.
Noted designer Naeem Khan posted, “It’s the same nominees every year… Perhaps it’s time to change. I guess u have to be white or the chairman of the CFDA to get nominated. Conflict of interest and very incestuous.”
Eyebrows were raised since chairman Ford is nominated in two top categories — American Menswear, and Womenswear, Designer of the Year — even though he’s previously won a CFDA lifetime achievement award, plus six more awards since then.
(New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman suggested a lifetime achievement win should disqualify a designer from future nominations.) Another past lifetime achievement winner, Marc Jacobs, was nominated this year, along with familiar faces such as Thom Browne, and Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen.
Ford — who was named chairman in March of last year — already rubbed some CFDA members the wrong way earlier this year, when he held his own fashion show in LA during New York Fashion Week, drawing potential attention and models away from other designers.
An insider told us that after the nominations this week: “The less famous designers are wondering what they are paying for. Tom doesn’t need this job. What has he accomplished in the past year?”
Meantime the nominations reportedly received comments from fans online, such as, “There are sooo many good BIPOC and POC designers… This is lazy and boring. As a fashion enthusiast — this is BORING.” Black nominees this year include Virgil Abloh, Pyer Moss designer Kerby Jean-Raymond, and accessories designer Telfar Clemens.
The CFDA did not immediately get back to us.
