Lady Gaga

Last night the Lincoln Centre in New York played home to the 2011 CFDA Awards. As we knew, Marc Jacobs picked up the Lifetime Achievement Award, Phoebe Philo was presented with the International Award and Lady Gaga collected the big 'Fashion Icon' gong at last night's ceremony.

Other big winners of the night include the Proenza Schouler duo who picked up the award for womenswear designer of the year. Accessories designer of the year went to Alexander Wang, Menswear Designer of the Year went to Michael Bastian and Eddie Borgo recieved the Swarovski Award for Accessory Design.

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Sessilee Lopez should be thankful for some filming work she recently did - specifically, shooting a documentary for French Vogue. "It’s like a lifestyle type of thing during fashion week in Paris," she told The Cut at last night's launch of Jonathan Adler's 7 for All Mankind collection. "It opened up doors for me and I got a Numéro cover, which is really hard to get as a woman of color. I’m the third woman of color to grace the cover of Numéro, so I pat myself on the back."

Lopez, however, was less sure of whether the documentary had landed her more runway work. "Well, that varies; whether you’re on the cover of Vogue today or yesterday, if designers want you, then they’ll cast you," she answered. "But if you don’t fit the collection, no matter if you’re a supermodel or a new face, you won’t walk. It’s just politics."

Yesterday Nathan Jenden left Diane von Furstenberg with a bang, delivering one of my favourite DVF collections.

This season he really played with juxtaposing hard and soft elements. Stemmed from von Furtsenberg's love of menswear, a structured masculine double-breasted jacket was softened by a bolero layered over it with grey chiffon rosettes. Ditsy summer dresses were layered under what looked like a metallic gold jacket and black knit cardigan, and girlie peach in a sweet blouse was given a hard edge, teamed with a metallic skirt and black knits.

Like many designers, Jenden continued the theme of sheer detailing. Towards the end of the collection he went dark and sexy, with sheer blouses and a beautiful LBD with dramatic ruffles on the shoulder which oozed power, partly I suppose by the fact it went down the runway on Sessilee Lopez.

The stand out piece for me was a nude chiffon dress with ruffle detail on the hemline, which we will undoubtebly see on the red carpet soon.

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There's nothing quite like looking through all the backstage shots from the fashion weeks - getting to see models in a different light, and appreciating the massive amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to contribute to some of the best catwalk shows. So at first glance, Steven Meisel's latest shoot for Italian Vogue looks like his archive of backstage photography from over the years. The twist, however, is that the 80-page editorial - which features the likes of Lara Stone, Agyness Deyn, Freja Beha Erichsen, Karlie Kloss and Karen Elson to name a few - was actually a set up shoot.

Judging by the credits and photographs of the long cast list for the shoot, it was no doubt a mammoth task to go ahead with, however the end result has proven well worth it. The photos are not the average backstage shot, there's tantrums (remember that rumour of Sessilee Lopez throwing a chair?) falls and giggles, all making up the longest shoot that Meisel has ever produced for Italian Vogue, or any other magazine for that matter, all of which proves the legendary photographer's commitment to Vogue Italia.

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New York's Time Square came to a stand still yesterday as the Victoria Secrets 'angels' made an appearance ahead of tonight's taping. Onlookers must have thought they had died and gone to heaven as the likes of Miranda Kerr, Alessandra Ambrosio, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Chanel Iman and Heidi Klum posed, pouted and blew kisses to by-standers. Other new angels, spotted in the VS throng included Elyse Taylor, Sessilee Lopez, Tatiana Kovylina ( a VS 2005 alumni), although it would seem that there are lots more surprises, in the form of new angels, to come (including confirmation that Anja Rubik and Abbey Lee Kershaw will also be making an appearance on the runway).

Fashionologie has reported that photos of the likes of Anna Maria Jagodzinska and Edita Vilkeviciute have been spotted on the casting board, but Emanuela de Paula will be taken off the line-up due to conflicting work schedules. Either way, it would seem that heaven will be missing many of its angels tonight as they strut down the VS runway. We are so excited it hurts!

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In August we reported that the tide was slowly turning as the use of black and ethnic minority models had increased in advertising campaigns and on the runway. The meteoric rise of Jourdan Dunn was hailed as the beginning of a future in which, there would be an equal presence of black and white models in the industry.

Some would argue that progress was made by Italian Vogue with its all black issue last July and i-D Magazine's September Issue which featured Jourdan Dunn, Sessilee Lopez, Chanel Iman and Arlenis Sosa on the cover as well as in a multi page editorial.  Nathan Jenden, the brains behind the label by the same name and creative director of Diane Von Furstenberg has also sought to tackle this issue by sending only models of colour down his runway during LFW last week. PPQ also followed suit. One can only hope that such a positive stand will be an inspiration to others or at least result in more media attention to the debate.

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Dree Hemingway of Elite Models surprised London Fashion Week attendees this week as she made an appearance on the catwalk. She had been rumoured to walk for Calvin Klein at New York Fashion Week but this fell through, so it must have been a coup for her to be asked to open the star-studded Topshop show which saw a host of celebrities lining the front row, and closed the House of Holland show.

As one of a few well known models such as Sessilee Lopez, Anna de Rijk and supermodel Naomi Campbell, who strutted down the PPQ, Burberry and Issa runways, respectively, Hemingway can surely pat herself on the back for her LFW achievement. With more ad campaigns, acting roles and movie releases in the pipelines, it looks like 2009 / 2010 is set to be a busy year for her.