Joseph Altuzarra Wins His Prize

Emily Berl for The New York TimesFrom left, Joseph Altuzarra, Pamela Love, Steven Kolb, Anna Wintour, Rooney Mara, Diane von Furstenberg, Calvin Klein, Christopher Peters and Shane Gabier after the awards dinner. Slide Show

During that tense moment Monday night between the now-traditional serving of chicken potpie and the announcement of the Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund winners for the year, while the designers of the 10 nominated labels sat anxiously, Diane von Furstenberg walked over to the table where Joseph Altuzarra was sitting and pinched the designer on his cheek. She held that pinch for a good 30 seconds and asked him a question in French.

“She asked me if I went to pee,” he said.

Mr. Altuzarra, the young designer who has been a favorite in the race for the last two years, did not appear to be nervous, though Alexander Wang, his friend and the 2008 fund winner, told him to “just zone out” while Calvin Klein was giving an amusing 20-minute speech about his own days as a young designer. If Mr. Altuzarra had to use the restroom, Ms. von Furstenberg seemed to be hinting, this was the moment to do it.

“I started out with less money than probably all of you nominees tonight,” Mr. Klein said. In the 1960s and ’70s, he said, “I dealt with truck men, unions and gangsters. I got a call from the Gambinos one day, telling me, ‘We are your truck men.’ ”

Emily Berl for The New York TimesHamish Bowles, left, with Joseph Altuzarra, the winner of the top prize.

Well, it’s a different business today. With prizes like the C.F.D.A./Vogue Fashion Fund, designers in New York have a lot more industry support than they did during Mr. Klein’s early days, and you could see the results in the makeup of the audience. It was filled with many designers and models too young to know what a Gambino was, including past fund winners, like Billy Reid cheap sports jerseys, Sophie Theallet, Rogan Gregory, Phillip Lim and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler, the latter of whom are now on the selection committee for the prize.

When Rooney Mara, the star of  “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” announced that Mr. Altuzarra was this year’s winner of the prize, which comes with an award of $300,000 and mentoring, it actually seemed as if he had become a made man. (As Ms. von Furstenberg said, a little ominously, “Once you are in the Fashion Fund, we will protect you and continue to provide you with opportunities.”) The runners-up were Pamela Love, a jewelry designer; and Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters of the Chicago label Creatures of the Wind.

After the award ceremony, Mr. Altuzarra said: “Really, you have this overwhelming sense of being grateful and so appreciative, and just so happy. I don’t know how else to put it. It’s just total bliss.”

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