Toned Down

While the high-priced frocks on guests at the Council of Fashion Designers of America's annual fashion awards provided plenty of eye candy, the decorations for the event Monday night surprisingly showed considerable restraint—especially in comparison to years past. This minimalism aside, the 25th anniversary of the awards still had people buzzing, mostly about Oscar de la Renta and Proenza Schouler's Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough sharing the award for womenswear designer of the year in a surprise tie. (It even surprised presenter and host Ellen Barkin.)

Raul Avila (who designed last year's event and worked on May's Costume Institute benefit) was responsible for the decor at the New York Public Library, working with producers KCD. CFDA executive director Steven Kolb and director of special events and public relations Karen Peterson directed the event on behalf of the council.

Inside Astor Hall and the Celeste Bartos Forum, bright colors—red, turquoise, and orange—stood out against pretty black-and-white patterned fabric; underwriter Swarvoski supplied other items such as curtain ties, torchere shades, and table lamps (commissioned from Dutch design house Studio Job). And like so many events before it, the CFDA awards made a bid to be greener, teaming up with Wonderbrand and the CarbonNeutral Company to offset carbon emissions created by the event itself as well as those related to the transportation of guests.