New York – November 03, 2026 -- Rachel Scott of Diotima was named American Womenswear Designer of the Year and Ralph Lauren American Menswear Designer of the Year at the 2026 CFDA Fashion Awards, presented by Amazon Fashion at the American Museum of Natural History.
Scott and Lauren beat nine named rivals in the two flagship design categories
Scott won against Catherine Holstein for Khaite, Michael Kors, Tory Burch and Wes Gordon for Carolina Herrera. Lauren's competitors were Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne for Public School New York, Thom Browne, Todd Snyder and Willy Chavarria. Lupita Nyong'o and Francisco Costa presented Scott's award, while Matt Damon and Tremaine Emory presented Lauren's.
Gap Inc. takes the Innovation Award, Vaccarello wins the international title
Demi Moore announced Gap Inc. as the recipient of the Innovation Award, which Amazon Fashion presented. Anthony Vaccarello received the International Designer of the Year Award from Hailey Bieber, ROSÃ and Zoë Kravitz.
Ana Khouri won American Accessory Designer of the Year over The Row, Luar, Sophie Buhai and Coach's Stuart Vevers. Colleen Allen took the Google Shopping American Emerging Designer of the Year award, with Google as supporter of that category.
CFDA honors Marino, Burch, Chen, Fargo and van Lamsweerde and Matadin
Peter Marino received the Fashion Icon Award, and Anna Wintour presented Tory Burch with the Positive Change Award. Eva Chen won the Media Award in honor of Eugenia Sheppard. Michael Kors gave Linda Fargo the Founder's Award in honor of Eleanor Lambert.
Susan Cianciolo received the Isabel Toledo Board of Directors' Tribute. Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin received the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. Keke Palmer hosted, and CFDA Chairman Thom Browne opened the ceremony.
New CFDA and WYouth scholarship will fund two students from 2027
Sara Moonves marked the 30th anniversary of the CFDA Scholarship Fund and announced that the CFDA and WYouth Scholarship presented by Nuuly launches in 2027. The program will fund the education of two students. WYouth and Nuuly also presented the Student Viewing Section at the 2026 ceremony.
Other supporters included M·A·C Cosmetics as Official Beauty Partner, Krug as Official Champagne Partner and Lincoln for transportation.