Inside the most underrated awards show of the season. New York Fashion Week trends toward the familiar. A new fashion exhibition about ’90s nostalgia opens in downtown L.A., and Nahmias reigns supreme at Maxfield.
Where the A-List Happily Shares the Spotlight
The Costume Designers Guild Awards may be the most underrated of all of Hollywood’s annual awards shows.
It’s not easy to humble A-listers, but at the CDGA awards last week, the deep love and devotion they expressed for their costume designers was something to behold.
The event celebrated excellence in costume design, with Kate Hawley (Frankenstein), Paul Tazewell (Wicked: For Good), Colleen Atwood (One Battle After Another) and Kameron Lennox (The Studio) taking top honors, alongside stars recognized for their contributions to the field.
Naturally, everyone looked fabulous, whether they were wearing the latest couture, or their grandmother’s vintage pillbox hat. And the Wilshire Ebell Theatre was full of creatives who have influenced style on screen and off in massive ways, from the midcentury menswear of Mad Men (Janie Bryant) to Cher Horowitz’s canary yellow plaid Clueless suit (Mona Mae).
Smartly, Bulgari has supported the guild and the awards from the beginning, 28 years ago, handcrafting The Adrian award statuette –and re-minting it this year – as well as bejeweling honorees and celebrity presenters. Rather than going down the paid placement road, the jeweler believes in relationship building this way, and has other events planned during the year to continue supporting an art and craft that’s not so different from its own.
The dialogue between fashion and costume design was a recurring theme at Thursday’s event, suggesting more fashion brands could and probably should get involved, especially considering how fashion and entertainment have grown ever closer, with Jonathan Anderson now designing for film, and Tiffany & Co. integrating into Frankenstein, as examples. (Bloomingdale’s was also a sponsor of the evening.)
During her introductory remarks, CDGA President Terry Gordon called out Vogue and Anna Wintour for their “surprising generosity” last year, bringing financial relief to guild members affected by the wildfires. Ticket sales to the Vogue World: Hollywood event, which showed fashion alongside costume design on the runway at Paramount Studios, raised an astounding $4.5 million for the community.
Sharing the stage – both literally and creatively – was a through line in acceptance speeches, which were heartfelt and insightful, perhaps because unlike at televised awards shows, they could be longer than 45 seconds.
While accepting the Vanguard Spotlight Award from Jodie Smith, One Battle After Another Oscar nominee Teyana Taylor praised the artists who help shape how stories are seen before they’re even heard.
The red carpet star of awards show season, stunning in a red Tamara Ralph Couture corset gown, Taylor also spoke to fashion, and how much she enjoys building looks from the ground up. She shouted out many of her collaborators, including Ruth E. Carter. They worked together on Coming 2 America.
Carter also designed Taylor’s red pinstripe Zoot Suit for the 2025 Met Gala, paying homage to the event’s Superfine: Tailoring Black Style theme and Harlem culture.
“When I got the call about what the theme of the Met Gala was going to be, usually that’s where you go with a fashion designer. But for this one, I said, ‘I need a costume designer. I need a storyteller,’” Taylor said.
Kate Hudson, who received the Spotlight Award from her friend Janelle Monáe, traced her appreciation for costume design all the way back to time spent as a young girl with mom, Goldie Hawn, sitting on the floor “surrounded by every sequin imaginable” in Bob Mackie’s studio.
She remembered that the legendary costume designer made her several sequin hair bows which she treasures to this day. Hudson touched on the enduring appeal of her iconic Penny Lane coat from Almost Famous, and the yellow Carolina Herrera gown from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days that still influences bridal parties and prom goers 20-plus years later.
Dressed for the event in a beautifully draped purple silk Valentino gown, she also praised Song Sung Blue costume designer Ernesto Martinez for helping her find her character in the film for which she’s Oscar nominated.
“We all know that costume is a collaboration, and finding character happens in these rooms through color palettes and texture. Imagination and what characters look like on set is profoundly important to every story ever told,” Hudson said.
Michelle Cole, creator of the fashion-influential In Living Color Fly Girls looks, as well as costumes for Black-ish, Grown-ish and many more, received the Career Achievement Award, presented by Tracee Ellis Ross, wearing a fabulous peach satin Mugler suit. She credited Cole with creating “the mix of upscale style and streetwear that became the urban aesthetic of the 1990s,” calling her a “giant who has had massive impact for more than three decades of crafting culture-driven style.”
Reflecting on her 43-year career, Cole spoke of wanting to be a costume designer since she was a little girl and first saw the film My Fair Lady. “I just want to thank everyone here for supporting me, loving me and for being able to call on you when there’s a problem,” she said of her colleagues.
Speaking of giants, in a poignant moment, Lennox and co-designer Tyler Kinney paid homage to the late Catherine O’Hara, calling her “a dream to work with” and someone “who understood the power of storytelling in each piece of clothing.” The duo wore some of O’Hara’s jewelry from The Studio while accepting their award for Excellence in Contemporary Television.
At the end of the night, costume designer Deborah L. Scott took to the stage to give her 30-year partner-in-crime, director James Cameron, the Distinguished Collaborator Award, describing him as a world-builder with a remarkable attention to detail.
But he spent his entire acceptance speech heaping praise on her, refusing to let her leave his side. He reminisced about the hours and hours they have spent talking and brainstorming over the years, and how Scott rose to the challenge of creating distinct Indigenous cultures for three Avatar films, and designing reusable costumes for Titanic, because the boat itself sank over and over during the production.
Of Kate Winslet’s incredible looks in the film, Cameron mused, “When she steps out of that car and her character is revealed for the first time by that hat … That is a piece of cinema that still takes peoples’ breath away after 30 years.”
He wrapped by emphasizing the importance of the handmade, leaving the crowd with one of the most memorable lines of the night: “Honor the artist and human creativity, because you know what, AI don’t sew.”
New York Runways Trend Toward The Familiar
On the other coast, in another sphere of style influence, New York Fashion Week unspooled last week, kicking off the fall 2026 runway season.
There were a couple of newsy shows. Much-lauded Jamaican-American designer Rachel Scott had a strong first runway outing in her role as creative director for consummate New York brand Proenza Schouler. And Italian designer Nicola Brognano brought back Aughts-era low-slung jeans, biker jackets and platform pumps at his first show for 7 for All Mankind, the latest L.A. denim giant with eyes on becoming a lifestyle brand.
But overall, the calendar was a bit thin – and so were the ideas. Still, there were some trends that emerged, er, re-emerged.
The Must-Have Belted Midi
To-the-knee midi skirts took center stage in a markedly pared-back Marc Jacobs collection. I actually liked the blocky silhouettes, pastel satins, sheer layers and nostalgia for the days before runway theatrics took over fashion, in no small part due to Jacobs’ own meteoric rise.
I also appreciated his transparency into what is a universal truth; every designer looks back. In the show notes, Jacobs cited the Yves Saint Laurent 1965 couture collection and a handful of others as inspiration, including some of his own from the ’90s and early 2000s.
Tory Burch began showing similar midi-length skirts last season, and the fall versions in slick leather were even more luscious. She accessorized them with an encore of her spring ’26 braided belts that are already It items on Fashion Substack.
Black and White and Red All Over
Awards season red carpets have already been dominated by black and white, and New York designers hit the classic combo, too, from the sleek white tailoring and black-and-white houndstooth outerwear at Proenza Schouler, to Sergio Hudson’s sexy skirted take on a tuxedo, to Khaite’s ivory ruffle-trimmed black velvet dress and romantic riffs on tuxedo suiting.
Meanwhile, Michael Kors revived the ’90s, sexy classic white tank top for evening over a long black sequin skirt, and painted his runway red, from a pop of red via a crewneck sweater which has been a street style trick for a while now, to a ravishing rose gala gown.
Bringing Back the Brooch
They started appearing last season and boy have they multiplied. In an economy primed for little luxuries, the designer brooch might just be the hottest accessory out there, seen decorating jacket lapels, scarves, sweaters and more on the New York runways.
Gilded Age
For those feeling more flush, gold is a rich new statement hue, as seen on a gorgeous Kallmeyer Chinoiserie jacket, densely embroidered Ralph Lauren dress, glittery Libertine pants, tunic and evening gloves look, and a very Bronte-core Fforme corset gown.
Calvin, why?
Ryan Murphy’s Love Story dropped right in the middle of New York Fashion Week, but Calvin Klein did nothing to seize the moment, despite the extensive screen time the brand has in the limited FX/Hulu series, and the ’90s fashion nostalgia that could have been mined from the inspiring costumes.
Inviting star Sarah Pidgeon, who plays Carolyn Bessette, to the Calvin Klein runway show would have been an easy nod to the moment, but she was front row at Khaite instead, which may be for the best as Klein’s fall collection was pretty much universally panned, putting the brand’s current runway revival in question.
Meanwhile, what did come out? A forgettable capsule collection of washable silk slips, camis and shorts that’s a collaboration between Love Story and “restwear” brand Lunya. Missed opportunities all around.
’90s Nostalgia Examined
Right on time, a new fashion exhibition at ASU/FIDM in downtown L.A. is looking at 1990s nostalgia, and the varied designer visions of style over the decade that is now all the rage with Gen Z and celebrities looking for archival fashion grails.
Taking over the fashion school’s museum space, Obsessed: Fashion and Nostalgia in the ’90s opens by displaying a ’90s John Galliano fitted suit similar to a the rare vintage one worn by Lauren Sanchez at Paris Fashion Week, alongside a Christian Dior haute couture suit from the 1950s that was worn by Marlene Dietrich, suggesting that the allure of nostalgia is a constant, equally dominant in the ’90s as it is today.
Grunge looks by Anna Sui, Christian Francis Roth and Marc Jacobs share space with differing approaches to tailoring from Jean-Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood and Yohji Yamamoto, conceptual Japanese fashion by Issey Miyake and Comme des Garcons, and Carolyn Bessette-style American minimalism from Calvin Klein.
“That’s one of the points of exhibition, you get all of these different aesthetics,” curator Christina Frank told me. “It was really about individualism more than any one trend or style.”
Clothing and accessories are contextualized with ’90s printed matter, which is finding its own nostalgic audience in the digital age, including a full run of Visionaire magazines.
Nostalgia is often heightened in periods of change and uncertainty as people look to the comfort of a real or imagined past. “A lot feels charged right now so it’s nice to look back and imagine it was a simpler time. But our research found that contemporary fashion press in the 1990s didn’t seem that relaxed either,” Frank explained.
“They were contending with the changes of fashion being covered by TV and becoming part of mass culture. And there are some great quotes from designers who were feeling like it was going to change fashion.” Oh how it did.
Obsessed: Fashion and Nostalgia in the ’90s, Feb. 19 to June 27, ASU FIDM Museum, 919 S. Grand St, Los Angeles. Opening reception, Feb. 19, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m..
Nahmias Reigns Supreme
Worn by Kylie Jenner, Tom Brady and of course, Timothée Chalamet, the Marty Supreme jacket was the Internet-breaking fashion item of 2025 and a game-changer for Doni Nahmias, the L.A. designer who made the windbreaker as cult movie merch in collaboration with the Oscar nominee, stylist Taylor McNeil and A24.
Now, Nahmias is center stage at L.A.’s Maxfield, with a takeover of the boutique’s Jean Prouvé space. The pop-up (titled Daydreaming) is perfectly on-theme for the sunny, sporty California brand. (Nahmias grew up in the Summerland area south of Santa Barbara and interned with Mike Amiri before launching his own luxury men’s collection in 2018, including the Summerland T-shirts that were his first bestsellers.)
Oversized knit flowers hang from the ceiling with their shoelace pistils dangling while white supersized beads dot the floor referencing the friendship bracelet beads in the brand’s new Puma collaborative sneaker.
The pop-up, which is open through Saturday, has a handful of pieces – color blocked suede jackets, trucker hats, Aloha shirts, crochet dog keychains and the new Puma X Nahmias suede kicks.
But there’s more inside the Maxfield store proper, which has been a big Nahmias supporter from the beginning and even has its own Nahmias x Maxfield merch. There are also pieces from the recently shown Nahmias fall 2026 runway collection.
You’ll want see the vending machine that only operates by way of a special limited-edition Nahmias x Maxfield coin that customers earn by spending at least $1,000 on Nahmias or buy for $100. Dropping the coin in the machine and turning the knob vends a Nahmias collectible – most likely a keychain or bracelet. But also perhaps something a little more … memorable.
“There’s one of those Marty Supreme windbreakers in the mix,” an employee pointed out during a Wednesday morning visit, “and to the best of my knowledge no one has gotten it yet.”
Maxfield x Nahmias Daydreaming Pop-Up, 8825 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood.
The post Hollywood’s Most Underrated Awards Show; NYFW Takeaways; DTLA’s New ’90s Nostalgic Fashion Exhibition appeared first on TheWrap.
