The Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards, or CFDAs, are to fashion what the Oscars are to film. The greats are celebrated, new stars emerge, and everyone in attendance shows up looking fabulous. Since 1981, Awards have been decided by the CFDA Fashion Awards Guild, an exclusive network of fashion retailers, stylists, journalists, influencers and the 450+ designer members of the CFDA.

While the CFDAs are usually less centered on formal glamour, and more focused on showing off style, one star combined these two ideas and took them to a whole new level. We are of course talking about Rihanna, the winner of this year’s Fashion Icon Award.

Known for her unique twist on urban style, Rihanna has proven to be quite a fashion chameleon, looking as natural in a Chanel suit as she does in a Jeremy Scott vinyl cone-bra. She has been dressed by every big name in the business, but instead of choosing someone like Prada, Givenchy, or Lanvin, whom she regularly wears, she wore a see-through, crystal-covered gown and headscarf (230,000 Swarovski crystals, to be exact) by her costume designer and fashion line collaborator, Adam Selman.

 

For some, the dress would have been unthinkable, but on Rihanna it totally made sense. The result of her small-name decision was huge style an unforgettable look, and a statement about the singer’s character. After all, what could be more stylish than sharing the spotlight with a friend who has contributed to her success?

And speaking of success, Joseph Altuzarra has a lot to be happy about after beating out ten-time winner Marc Jacobs and 3-time winner Alexander Wang for the CFDAs most celebrated category, Womenswear Designer of the Year. Claiming the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award was 5-time CFDA winner Tom Ford, and you can certainly see why, Ford is in the small group of designers to have ever won a CFDA in what are now six categories, including menswear, womenswear, and accessories to name a few.For some, the dress would have been unthinkable, but on Rihanna it totally made sense. The result of her small-name decision was huge style an unforgettable look, and a statement about the singer’s character. After all, what could be more stylish than sharing the spotlight with a friend who has contributed to her success?

Also earning top honors were Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne of Public School who beat out Thom Browne and Marcus Wainwright & David Neville of Rag & Bone for Menswear Designer of the Year. This wasn’t really surprising, considering that the New York duo were also winners of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion fund prize of $300,000 and a year of mentorship in November 2013.

Another winning team was Ashley Olsen & Mary-Kate Olsen of The Row who beat out Alexander Wang and Proenza Schouler’s Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough for Accessories Designers of the Year.

As for new talent, the CFDAs also give out Swarovski Awards for emerging designers. This year, Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters of Creatures of the Wind won the Swarovski Award for Womenswear, and Tim Coppens took home the Swarovski Award for Menswear, with Irene Neuwirth claiming the Swarovski Award for Accessories.

As for accessories, Jennifer Fisher jewels were all over the red carpet, but this years hottest accessory of all may have been to have a fashion designer on your arm. At least, that’s the impression that we got from stars like Greta Gerwig whose date and dress were Zac Posen, and Blake Lively whose date and dress were Michael Kors. Because the CFDAs honor American designers, American designs usually dominate the red carpet, and Kors was no exception, dressing not only Lively, but also the beautiful Karen Elson, and the unofficial queen of American fashion herself, Anna Wintour.

For certain designers, winning a CFDA is like stepping into a beautiful pair of Prada shoes, as soon as you’ve done it once, you can’t wait to do it again, and that is definitely the case for designers like ten-time winner Marc Jacobs, 3-time winner Alexander Wang, and 5-time winners Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCoullough of Proenza Schouler, and they are just a few of the many repeat-winners who were nominated this year. So why all of the fuss over the CFDAs who seem to celebrate the same people every year? Because the CFDAs are extremely important in forcing designers to keep their edge, as well as helping to support emerging talent. After all, no one wants to stop giving Meryl Streep Oscars just because she has won too many times, each win at the CFDAs is well-deserved.

This year’s group of winners show the direction that the CFDA guild thinks fashion is going, and based on their body of work, wearability and the street will be as important as the runway when it comes to influencing the next generation of style.