Last night, ten designers competed to win the 2017 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, and the winner of the coveted top prize was Teflar designer Telfar Clemens. In addition to the honor, Clemens took home $400,000 and will receive mentoring from an industry figure of his choice.
The two runner-ups were Becca McCharen-Tran of inclusive fashion brand Chromat and Ahlem Manai-Platt of eyewear brand Ahlem. Other Black designers who were finalists included Christopher Bevans of DYNE, Matthew Harris of Mateo New York and Victor Glemaud.
Teflar, which was founded by Queens native Clemens in 2005, is a unisex fashion line which Clemens has described as “horizontal, democratic, universal.” At last month’s CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund fashion show, Telfar created quite the excitement when male models vogued down the runway.
Since the CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund was launched in 2003 to cultivate the next generation of emerging American design talent, numerous fashion designers have catapulted their labels after winning the honor. A few notable designers who have previously won the top prize include Alexander Wang, Derek Lam and Public School.
After over a decade of hard work and dedication, Clemens deserves every bit of success headed his way. We’re very excited for Telfar’s fashionable rise to the top!