Photo Flash: Amanda Seyfried, et al. at CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards

Last night, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and Vogue announced the recipients of the eighth annual awards from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund (CVFF). Check out photos from the event below!

Winner:
Joseph Altuzarra of Altuzarra
Runners-Up:
Shane Gabier & Chris Peters of Creatures of the Wind
Pamela Love of Pamela Love Jewelry

The winner and runners-up will each meet regularly with an assigned business mentor, based on their specific needs for business expertise and resources; meetings will take place on a monthly or as-needed basis.

Additionally, the winner and runners-up will receive cash prizes-$300,000 for the winner and $100,000 for each of the runners-up. The cash awards are designed to encourage and enable these emerging designers to pursue their design plans. The program has now granted $2.3 million in total to twenty-one design companies, including 3.1 Phillip Lim, Albertus Swanepoel, Alexander Wang, Billy Reid, Derek Lam, Doo.Ri, Eddie Borgo, Monique Péan, Patrik Ervell, Philip Crangi, Prabal Gurung, Proenza Schouler, Rodarte, Rogan, Sophie Theallet, Thakoon, Thom Browne, and Vena Cava.

The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund is in partnership with J.CREW, and is generously underwritten by American Express, Appleman Foundation, Barneys New York, Carolina Herrera, Coach, HP (the computer division of Hewlett-Packard), Liz Claiborne Inc, Lord & Taylor, L'Oréal Paris, Nordstrom, Starbucks, thecorner.com-YOOX Group, Theory, Tiffany & Co., Tommy Hilfiger, and Vogue.

On hand at Skylight Soho to celebrate the achievement of this year's winners and honorees were an array of iconic American designers, including CFDA President Diane Von Furstenberg, Vera Wang, Tory Burch, Tommy Hilfiger, Giles Mendel, Bibhu Mohapatra, Zac Posen, Rachel Roy, Francisco Costa, Nicholas Kirkwood, Nicole Miller, Narciso Rodriguez, Olivier Theyskens, and Alice Temperley; as well as Rooney Mara, who presented the Awards to the winners; Calvin Klein, who spoke movingly of his experience in the industry; and former CVFF winners and runners-up Alexander Wang, Billy Reid, David Neville, Eddie Borgo, Georgina Chapman, Jason Wu, Kate & Laura Mulleavy, Keren Craig, Patrik Ervell, Peter Som, Phillip Lim, Prabal Gurung, Thakoon Panichgul, Thom Browne and Waris Ahluwalia. Other notables included Mia Wasikowska, Joe Jonas, Allison Williams, Brooklyn Decker, Coco Rocha, Gaia Repossi, Doutzen Kroes, Ivanka Trump, Jennifer Carpenter, Olivia Wilde, Liya Kebede, Amanda Brooks, Jack Huston, Chloe Moretz, Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann, Elisa Sednaoui, Joan Smalls, Lily Kwong, Marina Rust, Zoe Kravitz, Harley Viera-Newton, Stephanie Wolkoff, Lauren Santo Domingo, Lauren Remington Platt, Michelle Harper, Steven Kolb, and Anna Wintour.

The winner and runners-up were presented with specially commissioned bronze awards created by sculptor Rachel Feinstein. The winner received a swan with its neck tucked delicately under its wing, a design inspired by a Cesar de Santo reproduction of the lost Leonardo Da Vinci painting Leda and the Swan. The two runners-up each received a bronze egg, also crafted by the artist, as part of their award.

On January 26, "The Fashion Fund" will premiere exclusively on Hulu and Hulu Plus. The six-part original series, produced by Break Thru Films and directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the Fund and the lives of the ten finalists as they make their way through the competition.

The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund was established to help emerging American design talent find continued success in the business of fashion. It is expected that the awards (in 2010, raised to $300,000 for the winner and $100,000 each to two runners-up) will be used to further develop each designer's business in such areas as marketing, public relations, production and sales. In addition to the cash prizes, the award also includes mentorship from an esteemed group of industry professionals whose expertise is tailored to the designers' needs and future goals. Past mentors include Howard Socol, Rose Marie Bravo, Millard "Mickey" Drexler, Mark Lee and Domenico de Sole.

Since its inception in 2003, the program has granted $2.3 million to twenty-one design companies, including winners Billy Reid, Alexander Wang, Doo-Ri, Proenza Schouler, Rogan, Sophie Theallet, Trovata, and runners-up Eddie Borgo, Prabal Gurung, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Albertus Swanepoel, Derek Lam, Monique Péan, Patrik Ervell, Philip Crangi, Rodarte, Thakoon, Thom Browne, and Vena Cava.

In 2007, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund created a separate Business Advisory Committee to review the applications of the ten CVFF Finalists (independently of the Selection Committee) with the intent of providing a more focused business perspective and targeted feedback on the designers' future potential in the business. The Business Advisory Committee will also be available to the seven finalists (who are not chosen as a winner / runner-up) as an on-going resource for mentoring, questions & answers and guidance.

Photo Credit: Gregory Pace / BEImages