While typically held in midtown Manhattan, this year’s CFDA Awards took up residence in a refreshing new spot—the Brooklyn Museum. From Oprah to Busy Philipps, the most influential figures of popular culture took over the stage of the star studded event hosted by television auteur Issa Rae, to present awards to icons Naomi Campbell, Kim Kardashian, and Donatella Versace. But before Hollywood’s A-list could have their fashion moment behind the brick entryway of Brooklyn’s premiere destination for art, many of them rushed their way onto the carpet and into the ceremony.
As celebrities, models, and fashion icons traipsed the sustainable black-and-white (but not actually red!) carpet on their way into the museum, photographers and journalists anxiously awaited the arrivals of the biggest names attending what is arguably fashion’s biggest awards ceremony of the year, and W captured every moment—from the sincere to the wacky. Here, a minute-by-minute breakdown of everything that happened at the 2018 CFDA Awards.
6:20 p.m. It’s already 20 minutes past the scheduled start time, and the carpet is sparse. Chalk it up to the ceremony’s new Brooklyn location, but everyone appears to be running late.
6:33 p.m. One of the night’s presenters, Busy Philipps, arrives in a glimmery green Christian Siriano suit and rushes past the carpet into the museum to post some Instagram Stories before the show gets started.
6:46 p.m. The excitement of the evening becomes more palpable as the photographers begin to shout. Tracee Ellis Ross comes through, looking radiant in Carolina Herrera.
6:49 p.m. The inimitable Diane Lane arrives—also in a suit—and quips that this summer, she’ll be reading nothing but scripts.
6:51 p.m. Victoria’s Secret Angel Martha Hunt walks the carpet in a striking Thom Browne dress, but all eyes are on her, well, eyes, which are dazzlingly bejeweled with Swarovski crystals. “They’re one of the few brands that can lend you raw materials to play with your look. I decided to try something more editorial with my makeup because the dress could handle it, and I felt like going couture for the eye,” Hunt said, before citing her own fashion icon Kate Moss as a general inspiration. “I remember the first time I met her, she was one of the few people I’ve been starstruck by,” she admitted. “I didn’t know what to say!”