Erykah Badu Celebrated as Fashion Icon at CFDA Awards after Years of Pushing Boundaries

 Erykah Badu attends the CFDA Fashion Awards at the American Museum of Natural History on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New York. (AP)
Erykah Badu attends the CFDA Fashion Awards at the American Museum of Natural History on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New York. (AP)
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Erykah Badu Celebrated as Fashion Icon at CFDA Awards after Years of Pushing Boundaries

 Erykah Badu attends the CFDA Fashion Awards at the American Museum of Natural History on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New York. (AP)
Erykah Badu attends the CFDA Fashion Awards at the American Museum of Natural History on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New York. (AP)

Erykah Badu was bestowed the fashion icon award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, playfully saying it was an honor she’d been hoping to get most of her life.

Wearing a headdress of jewels and a Thom Browne jacket, Badu accepted the award Monday night in Manhattan, and said she’s been trying to win the icon award since she was 6 years old. Badu described dressing up as a sport, therapy and her husband.

Andre 3000 brought out an orange caution cone to the stage as he introduced Badu, who is the mother of his son.

“The world is a private joke between me and my things,” she said. Andrew 3000 took the cone as he walked off with Badu.

The Grammy Award winner has become one of the great fashion disruptors of red carpets over the years, shaking up black tie conformity with her own Afro-centric style of tall hats and headwraps, oversized jewelry and talismans and layers of patchwork fabric adorned with accents that move and make music.

The CFDA Fashion Awards were held at the American Museum of Natural History at a ceremony that attracted celebrities like Katie Holmes and Kylie Jenner, designers and fashion industry giants to honor the best in design. Star of the movie “Wicked” Cynthia Erivo hosted the evening in a Zac Posen hooded gown.

The final award of the night went to Rachel Scott of Diotima for womenswear designer of the year. Scott was overwhelmed with emotion while accepting her award and thanked her mother and the women in Jamaica, where she is from, who crochet her designs.

“I’ve spent so much of my career on design teams so I’m really unaccustomed to this recognition,” she said.

Scott, known for her exquisite knit designs, was awarded the emerging designer of the year award in 2023.

Popstar Troye Sivan presented the menswear designer of the year award to Willy Chavarria, making this his second menswear win.

This year, Chavarria was up against Mike Amiri of Amiri, Emily Adams Bode Aujla of Bode, Thom Browne and Todd Snyder for the award.

Actor Molly Gordon and designer Brandon Maxwell presented the award for emerging designer of the year award to Russian-born designer Henry Zankov, who is known for his colorful knitwear. (Maxwell as a previous emerging designer winner.) Other contenders for the honor were Presley Oldham of Presley Oldham, Tanner Richie and Fletcher Kasell of Tanner Fletcher, Jackson Wiederhoeft of Wiederhoeft and Connor McKnight.

Celebrity duo Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie teamed up to present the award for accessory designer of the year to Raul Lopez of Laur. Lopez said the win is for everyone like him, who grew up the child of immigrants.

“I’m just a vessel in this industry to guide the kids that come after me to see they can do it to,” he said.

Lopez beat out nominees Ana Khouri, Stuart Vevers for Coach, Catherine Holstein for Khaite and Tory Burch.

Another icon shaking up the fashion industry, Daniel Roseberry of Schiaparelli was honored as the international designer of the year.

Roseberry’s designs have been dominating red carpets with Schiaparelli’s unconventional couture and surrealist pop of gold embellishments. Actor Nicole Kidman stunned at the Venice Film Festival when she walked the carpet in one of Schiaparelli’s couture corseted looks with beaded fringe and a deconstructed neckline.

Roseberry is the first American to lead a French couture company.

Other honors of the night included the Amazon Innovation Award which was awarded to Stuart Vevers with Coach, famed photographer Annie Leibovitz received the media award and the positive change award went to Michael Kors.

Designer Stephen Burrows was honored at the event with the lifetime achievement award. Burrows was one of the five US designers who competed in the 1973 “Battle of Versailles” fashion show.

With her latest award, Badu now joins the ranks of celebrities like Serena Williams, Kim Kardashian and Zendaya who previously took home the “fashion icon” title.



Hermes Q3 Sales Up 11.3%, Continues to Outshine Rivals

A logo of Hermes is seen on a store in Nantes, France, October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
A logo of Hermes is seen on a store in Nantes, France, October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
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Hermes Q3 Sales Up 11.3%, Continues to Outshine Rivals

A logo of Hermes is seen on a store in Nantes, France, October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
A logo of Hermes is seen on a store in Nantes, France, October 17, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

Birkin bag maker Hermes reported on Thursday an 11.3% rise in third-quarter sales, continuing to outshine rivals hit hard by a downturn in China as its luxury handbags lure wealthy shoppers.

The French luxury company generated 3.7 billion euros ($3.99 billion) in revenue for the three months ending in September, an 11.3% rise at constant exchange rates, Reuters reported.

The figure was in line with an analyst consensus estimate of 11% growth cited by Jefferies.
"In a more uncertain economic and geopolitical context, I want to thank all employees for the robust third-quarter performance, and our customers for their loyalty," said Axel Dumas, Executive Chairman of Hermes.
"Thanks to the singularity of its model, Hermes is continuing its recruitments and long-term investments," he said in a statement.
A sector-wide slowdown has affected labels across the high-end spectrum.
Luxury bellwether LVMH missed expectations last week and flagged a drop in Chinese consumer confidence to COVID-era lows, with a deterioration in demand for fashion over the quarter.
Late on Wednesday, Kering warned its 2024 operating income would almost halve to its lowest in years as weak demand in China deepened the struggles of the French luxury goods group's main label Gucci.
Hermes' famously classic designs and tight management of production and stock have helped reinforce the label's aura of exclusivity and made the company one of the most consistent performers in the industry.
Handbags like the coveted $10,000 plus Birkin model are affordable only for the wealthiest shoppers -- who are typically the more immune to choppy economic conditions.
But showing limits of its resilience, executives earlier this year said that Hermes was seeing slightly less traffic from aspirational clients, impacting higher volume products like fashion accessories such as silk scarves.
Hermes shares have risen nearly 9% since the start of the year, outpacing rivals, with LVMH down nearly 15%, Moncler down 3.3% and Kering, which is working to turn around Gucci, down 40%.