Black Excellence: Naomi Campbell, Edward Enninful Win Big At The 2018 CFDA Awards

The CFDA Fashion Awards brought all the glitz and style to the Brooklyn Museum on Monday. Actress Issa Rae hosted the evening, making her the first female to ever have hosting duties at the CFDA Awards. Before Rae took her place on stage, she hit the red carpet in a stunning blue Pyer Moss jumpsuit that was embellished with 180,000 Swarovski crystals and cinched with a black belt that read “Every n***a is a star” — instantly proved she did not come to play!

And if her dress wasn’t powerful enough, Rae also shaded Kanye West (while his wife Kim Kardashian was sitting in the audience) for his controversial slavery comment at TMZ during her opening monologue. She joked, “I’m about as fashionable as Kanye is Black – only when it’s convenient. That joke was my choice, just like slavery.”

As for the awards, Naomi Campbell took home the Fashion Icon Award and British Vogue’s editor-in-chief Edward Enninful took home the Media Award in honor of Eugenia Sheppard.

Oprah Winfrey presented Edward Enninful, who became the first Black editor to lead British Vogue, with the Media Award. Lee Daniels, who hired Naomi Campbell for her stints on Empire and Star, presented the supermodel with the Fashion Icon Award. Campbell looked stunning in a CALVIN KLEIN 205W39NYC fringe pompom dress that was designed by the label’s Chief Creative Officer Raf Simons, who also took home the award last night for Womenswear Designer of the Year.

Virgil Abloh, the founder of Off-White and the new Artistic Director for Louis Vuitton’s men’s wear, was nominated for Womenswear Designer of the Year as well as Menswear Designer of the Year but didn’t take home either prize.

Aurora James, founder of Brother Vellies, and Kerby Jean-Raymond, founder of Pyer Moss, were both nominated for the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent but unfortunately, neither one of them won. 

One of our favorite inclusive designers Christian Siriano dressed Whoopi Goldberg for the show, and apparently, his “dreams came true.”

Other stylish stars including Ciara, Lupita Nyong’o, Tracee Ellis Ross, Joan Smalls, Winnie Harlow and Chanel Iman were also at the CFDA Awards last night.