Street Chic (and Red Carpet): 2009 CFDA Awards

When the fashion world brings a Hollywood date to an awards ceremony, the glamour quotient is extreme. This was black tie dressing at its best and most tricky, since the skies alternately threatened rain or just plain mugginess. But both the male and female guests pulled it off with aplomb, playing with hemlines (of both trousers and dresses) and reinterpreting what “black tie” means for 2009.

The “muse” theme of this year’s CFDA Awards (Council of Fashion Designers of America) encouraged designers to bring someone who inspires them as a date. You could almost imagine them designing clothes with a specific beautiful woman in mind.

It also meant that the women were accompanied by designers for this fashion event, not their husbands/significant others, who stayed at home. Everybody wins!

Betsey Johnson, America’s favorite punk princess. Though known for her dresses, underneath the tulle, she is wearing rubber leggings as formal wear, and it actually looks good. Incredible.

Joe Zee, effortlessly stylish as usual. Note the lateral slit of a pocket square – this is how they are worn now.

On the right is Blake Mykoskie, founder of TOMS shoes (love them), of which he is wearing a paint-splattered pair (want them). His date was one of the most gorgeous at the event, Maggie Grace.

Dress by Christian Siriano? Up close, the workmanship is insane – couture quality.

Padma Lakshmi arrives. The dress is J. Mendel, and the jewelry is her own line, Padma by Padma Lakshmi.

There were lots of air kisses in the receiving line.

This being New York – and fashion – there were lots of little black dresses. This one was elegant but still very summery. The tulip skirt has been a key element of summer fashion so far.

Love this outfit for summer formal. It’s a beautiful suit, not a tux, which he has paired with a pale floppy bow tie. The clincher? Gucci tassel loafers worn without socks.

Rachel Zoe in Louis Vuitton. Love the subtle peach color, the 20s-style dropped waist, and the beautiful draping. No wonder Marc Jacobs took home the International Award.

A brown silk ’40s style dress. Even though the dress has a little flare, note that it is not a mermaid shape. The focus is decidedly on the waist this year.

Marc Jacobs‘ dictum to “wear short” seems to have carried over to the CFDA Awards from the Met Costume ball. There were lots of short hemlines, this one with an ’80s spin to it. Note the insanely high platform heels.

Bruce Weber in his signature bandana and sneakers.

Anja Rubik poses for the photographers in a daring backless white dress by Kaufman Franco. Regular humans weighing more than 100 pounds: do not try this at home.

Doutzen Kroes in full Zac Posen red carpet glamour. (Notably, the carpet itself at this event was a pale, neutral color. Leave it to the fashion world to understand that clashing is bad, especially on film!)

Fashion vs. Hollywood – they overlap more now, but you definitely got the sense that night that they were different worlds.

Molly Sims in Dolce & Gabbana. The paparazzi and other non-fashion folk did not know what to make of this dress. I say, bring it.

I will always be a sucker for a white dinner jacket. It looks so George Peppard of Breakfast at Tiffany’s – and the guy behind him is the modern version of one of the kooky party guests.

Anna Wintour arrived on foot! No black SUV for her. As usual, she looked effortlessly glamorous, this time in Carolina Herrera.

Anna Wintour and coterie. The challenge of dressing for that evening: it was a little cold for bare arms at 60-something degrees. The choice of a white fur jacket in the summertime was quite daring (even more so given her history with paint). Even for non-fur lovers, the best options for keeping warm were little jackets – not anything remotely resembling a pashmina.

Red lipstick, a black dress, and a silk jacket.

More red lipstick and a black dress, this time paired with a badass spiky necklace. The tulip cut of this dress is quite flattering.

Virginia Smith of Vogue in a sequined sheath.

Mickey Boardman, carrying a bag silkscreened with Karl Lagerfeld’s face and wearing glitter flats. But of course!

Ashely Olsen. The dress looks like vintage Hollywood. It’s rather unusual, but I think it works.

Neutral colored dress glammed up with sequins.

Unlike at the David Byrne concert, his guy was the sole attendee, as far as I could tell, to arrive by bike.