The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Design Challenge Auction on eBay

By Amy Flurry
February 1, 2011

The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Design Challenge Looks

Billy Reid
Christian Cota
Eddie Borgo
Gregory Parkinson
Joseph Altuzarra
Loden Dager
Moss Lipow
Pamela Love
Prabal Gurung
Robert Geller

You won’t find this fashion design competition on television being taken down by Tim Gunn, but you can bid on—and if you’re lucky, to win—a one-of-a-kind collectible from the Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund’s 2010 Design Challenge. Beginning yesterday, January 31, through February 10, 2011 ten looks created specifically for iconic American brand Ann Taylor by the CVFF (Council/Vogue Fashion Fund) finalists of the 2010 fashion design competition are on auction through eBay.

“The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund was established to support emerging American design talent and help them find continued success in the fashion industry,” says Meredith Melling Burke, Vogue’s Fashion Market Director of the endowment created to support the next generation of American fashion designers by offering them business mentoring and financial awards. “Each year, our ten Finalists are put through a series of 'challenges' and are evaluated on their overall performance throughout the (approximately) five-month process.”

For the “Design Challenge, our 2010 finalists—Joseph Altuzarra, Billy Reid, Christian Cota, Eddie Borgo, Gregory Parkinson, Moss Lipow, Pamela Love, Paul Marrow, Oliver Helden of Loden Dager, Prabal Gurung and Robert Geller—were asked by Ann Taylor to create a look for the modern professional woman."

Lisa Axelson, Ann Taylor’s Senior Vice President of Design, asked the ten CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Design Challenge finalists to set the next major fashion trend in career wear, relevant for today’s modern woman.  They were tasked to make uniquely modern interpretations of Ann Taylor’s classic trench coat, shirt dress, leopard print styles and Ann Taylor accessories.

“Ann Taylor is an iconic American brand with a rich history, but the forward-thinking team there keeps a watchful eye on the future,” says Melling Burke. “We thought the partnership made perfect sense, as our CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists represent the future of American fashion and may one day themselves be described as 'iconic' American brands.”

All money raised by the eBay online auction will go to the CVFF for further Fashion Fund initiatives.

Meredith Melling Burke, Steven Kolb

Meredith Melling Burke (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Getty Images); Steven Kolb (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

Vogue’s Meredith Melling Burke and CFDA Executive Director, Steven Kolb, answer our questions.

The Inside Source: Why did Vogue and the CFDA want to work with Ann Taylor as the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Design 2010 Design Challenge sponsor? What are you looking for in a fashion line when brokering a Design Challenge initiative?

Steven Kolb: Christine Beauchamp, president of Ann Taylor Stores, had a meeting with Anna Wintour. In the meeting they talked about the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and our efforts to support emerging talent. Afterward I went to see Christine who was so enthusiastic and ready to help in anyway. We wanted a design challenge that pushed the designers and had relevance to the marketplace. Ann Taylor was the right fit.

The Inside Source: What sets the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Design Challenge finalists apart from all other applicants and how are the finalists chosen?

Steven Kolb: Any designer working in business for at least two years can apply. There is a selection committee of ten people. Each of the committee members evaluates the applications and portfolios of the applying designers. The ten that get selected are the most creative but also demonstrate a vision for growing and sustaining their businesses.

The Inside Source: Did you come up with idea of the eBay online auction (we know you're an eBay fan!)? Why is eBay a good fit for this project over another means of selling the dresses like an event with a silent auction?

Steven Kolb: Ann Taylor came up with eBay. CFDA has done other eBay sales and auctions before. It has such great reach and shoppers who know fashion, so it was a match.

The Inside Source:  What do you love about the one-of-a-kind pieces from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Design Challenge?

Meredith Melling Burke:  What I love about these pieces is that they illustrate the many options women have for dressing for work, taking into consideration today’s diverse professional landscape. Not everyone has to report to a large corporation Monday through Friday. Professional women may work in art galleries, on movie sets, or at Internet start-ups. There is no one fixed standard for the way a woman is expected to dress for work, and through their one-of-a-kind designs, our CVFF finalists demonstrated that they are attuned to this.

The Inside Source: Women are more stylish than ever when it comes to dressing for work. Why do you think that is?

Meredith Melling Burke: Women are increasingly confident in the influential role they play in today’s workforce. This comes across in the way they dress. Women no longer feel like they have to dress like men in order to earn their respect as professionals. Michelle Obama is the perfect example of this—her personal style is equal parts powerful, sophisticated, and feminine.

The Inside Source: Do you have a favorite online eBay auction purchase?

Steven Kolb: I got an original Larry Fink photograph many years ago. I think it was part of a corporate collection from a company that shut down. It was taken near Larry’s studio in Pennsylvania.