WWD Honors Brunello Cucinelli With Ryan Seacrest, Chloe Fineman & More

In an evening marked by heartfelt emotion, a degree of humor and some celebrity star power, the best in fashion and retail in 2024 were recognized with WWD Honors at Cipriani South Street in lower Manhattan on Tuesday evening.

The Honors Awards dinner is always a high point of the annual WWD Apparel and Retail CEO Summit, where the industry sees a more personal side of the award recipients as they talk briefly about fulfilling their dreams, their families, and thank those who supported them on their career journeys. Among those in the crowd of more than 300 were brand leaders, store executives, designers, consultants and suppliers, as well as Martha Stewart, Ryan Seacrest, Jay Schottenstein, Mickey Drexler, “Saturday Night Live’s” Chloe Fineman, Christian Siriano, Coco Rocha, Helena Christensen, and Tommy Hilfiger.

For the first time since the WWD Honors Awards were launched in 2016, one company received two awards. The Edward Nardoza CEO Creative Leadership honor went to Fran Horowitz, chief executive officer of Abercrombie & Fitch Co., which also received the public company of the year Honor.

“There is no denying that over the last few years, Abercrombie & Fitch has been one of the best-performing companies in fashion and retail with seven straight quarters of growth and 2024 projected growth of 12 to 13 percent at a time when there has been a slowdown throughout the industry,” said James Fallon, chief content officer of WWD, who presented the two awards. All this occurred under the leadership of Horowitz, who took over as the group CEO in 2017, Fallon added. “Since then she’s seen a dramatic remaking of the firm, its culture and its products,” he said.

In accepting her award, Horowitz said, “It truly is an honor to be here this evening accepting two awards on behalf of our global Abercrombie & Fitch team. To be recognized alongside these inspirational leaders, designers and brands is incredible.”

Horowitz recently celebrated her 10-year anniversary at the company. “With the Abercrombie and Hollister brands, it’s been a remarkable journey, one filled with challenges, but more notably, a journey with more accomplishments than anyone thought possible,” she said. She said turning the two brands around “has certainly been the greatest highlight of my career.”

“The transformation we’ve undergone and success we’ve achieved in recent years would not have been possible without my resilient team. Resilence was a theme of the conference today,” said Horowitz.

Accepting the Company of the Year Honor for best private company was Dôen, cofounded by sisters Margaret and Katherine Kleveland. The brand has seen 40 percent growth year over year and is on track to do $100 million in sales in 2025.

“It’s really so exciting for us to be here in New York. As a West Coast brand, you don’t have tons of opportunity to be in the conversation,” said Margaret Kleveland, CEO. “Thank you for recognizing us. We’ve been in the industry since the mid-2000s and have been doing this since 2016 and it’s so meaningful for us.”

E.l.f. Beauty received the Beauty Company of the Year, public. Kory Marchisotto, chief marketing officer, said, “Most of you are wondering what the ‘E.l.f’ are we doing here? Here’s the reality. We actually get that all the time. We’re used to that question, whether it’s at the Super Bowl, whether it’s at the Indy 500, the National Association of Corporate Directors or this WWD Apparel and Retail Summit. People often wonder why E.l.f. is here, until they hear our story,” she said. “We show up where no one expects us, doing things no one would ever imagine that we would do. And it’s not the things we do, it’s who we are that drives the things that we do.” Marchisotto then went on to share E.l.f.’s “magic” formula.

Accepting the Honor for beauty company of the year, private, was Shai Eisenman, CEO and founder of Bubble Skincare. The four-year-old brand has grown to an estimated $170 million in sales, up 100 percent year over year and distributes to over 10,000 doors.

“It’s such a [pinch-me] moment to be here in this room. I came to this city six years ago knowing nobody and knocking on every door, connecting with focus groups and anybody who would agree to a meeting…We set to create a different kind of brand. We set to bring clinical products to affordable price points, to bring the emotional connection to the mass aisles that truly never really had emotional connection,” said Eisenman.

Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin accepted the inaugural Watch Brand of the Year Honor for creating the world’s thinnest watch, the Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC, launched at this year’s Watches and Wonders in Geneva.

He spoke about how Bulgari creates “an emotional experience” through its network of luxury hotels that supports the sale of the watches. He said the most accessible watch is around $20,000 and it goes up to $700,000 for the Ultra. He said creating an emotional connection with the client is difficult because there are thousands of brands striving to do the same thing in the same stores, so the hotels create a luxury and immersive experience.

Accepting the new Jewelry Brand of the Year Honor for Boucheron was Philippe Galtié, president of Boucheron Americas. Owned by Kering, Boucheron has been pushing new boundaries and recently opened a new flagship on Madison Avenue and has plans for new stores in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Miami.

“I’m deeply honored to receive this award on behalf of Hélène Poulit-Duquesne, the CEO of Boucheron, especially as it recognizes the power of resilience and innovation in a very complex world today,” said Galtié. Doing things differently was the very quest of our founder, Frederic Boucheron. Today, Boucheron is led by two women who consider it vital to continue this quest to “push the boundaries of a traditional sector and redefining or reconsidering the concept of preciousness,” he said.

“I always wanted to see how I could take my love for weaving into the fashion world,” said seventh-generation Diné weaver and textile artist Naiomi Glasses, artist in residence at Ralph Lauren, who received the One to Watch Honor. “So I followed my heart,  wrote down a list of brands I wanted to work at to make a living from my craft. Ralph Lauren was at the top of that list. I never imagined that a few years later, I would become Ralph Lauren’s first ever Artist in Residence. Together we’ve shown the world that Indigenous people are not only still here, we are thriving.”

Glasses thanked the Ralph Lauren team, her family and friends, including her late grandmother, Nelly, who taught her and her brother “the magic of weaving. Every time I sit at the loom, I feel like she’s still here with us. I’m so grateful to her and all my ancestors before her, who kept this tradition alive.”

“I’m kvelling,” said the legendary Mickey Drexler, sprinkling in a bit of Yiddish to express joy in Todd Snyder‘s accomplishments upon presenting the designer with the Menswear Designer of the Year Honor. The two worked together at Gap and J. Crew.

“When I asked Mickey to give me the award, I was quite nervous, because I still remember the days working for Mickey, almost 15 years ago when I was at J. Crew,” said Snyder. Recalling Drexler’s public address system at J. Crew, Snyder said, “He called me up constantly. ‘Snyder, get up here. I have an idea.’ Mickey was an incredible inspiration for me, and I’ve learned so much from him… When he asked me to be the head of J. Crew men’s that was a dream come true.” 

Snyder started his company when he turned 40, right during the Great Recession in 2008 “and I remember Mickey telling me, are you sure you want to start your own company?  I was so scared, but I knew I had to do this, and I knew this was my moment. One thing I learned from him is to know great people,” Snyder said, citing several other retailers who influenced and encouraged him on his career journey, including Roger Markfield, former vice chairman of American Eagle Outfitters; Jen Foyle, president and executive creative director of American Eagle and Aerie, and Jay Schottenstein, CEO of  American Eagle Outfitters which owns the Todd Snyder business — all present for the event.

“Only Tory Burch can describe rap like it’s a wine tasting,” quipped Chloe Fineman, who presented Tory Burch with the Womenswear Designer of the Year Honor. “Tory is really funny. She truly is, and she doesn’t take herself seriously, which I appreciate, not to mention how surprisingly cool she is. It was nice to be part of Team Tory when I got to see her work up close on her collection. Tory is extremely kind, a little shy, very smart and open to ideas like me taking over her atelier a few days before her show…Everything is deeply comfortable. And you can’t say that about the corset I was wearing last night…What I noticed the most, though, is how much she thinks about other women,” Fineman said, on a more serious note. 

“There’s your support of women entrepreneurs through your foundation and the incredible people you surround yourself with. You approach your customer with the same thoughtfulness, craft and bold creativity as you do the countless celebrities you’ve dressed, including first ladies, Oscar and Grammy winners and a royal or two,” said Fineman.

“That was a bit of risk having Chloe introduce me,” Burch said. “This is an extraordinary award, and I am deeply, deeply honored.”

Burch cited WWD for supporting her ever since she founded her company 20 years ago. “I do not overlook that. It is a very special thing when you’re starting out. And many of these people in this room understand that feeling, to get that support is transformational, and I have never been more proud to be an American designer. I was asked today what resilience means, and I said, resilience is knowing that change is inevitable and evolution is essential. But the one thing that hasn’t changed is my purpose, and that is to celebrate and advance women. At the moment, my purpose feels more critical than ever. I think, and hope, we can all agree it has never been a more important time in history to really support women in leadership roles.  I’m proud to support the first woman who is a potential future president.”

Ryan Seacrest, in presenting Brunello Cucinelli with the John B. Fairchild Honor, said when he fell in love with Umbria in Italy, he made it his second home and soon learned that he lived just 30 minutes from Solomeo, where Cucinelli lives and where his business is headquartered.  “Over the last few years, we’ve discussed everything from philanthropy to how to make olive oil, how to make wine, and I think my olive oil passes his taste test.

“I was always a fan of his fashion brand, but once I personally got to know Brunello, we bonded over so much. Brunello is a self-made man who believes in the power of giving back to the community. Brunello is a philosopher. He shares profound wisdoms and quotes. He is an impressive leader, and he’s respected by heads of state all over the world. Every time with Brunello, I learn something. Everything he does, he does for his family, for his team members and his community. If you’re ever in Solomeo, he’s going to invite you to come. At 7:15 in the morning, you might find him walking around, checking the bulbs, trimming the olive trees, just making it perfect for everybody else.”

“I’m very deeply, profoundly honored,” Cucinelli said, upon receiving his Honor. Then he expressed his love and gratitude to America, saying, “My father, who went to the war, was rescued and saved by the Americans. Every time I came to America, he would say to me, ‘They really are good people,’ because he had been rescued.”

Later in the evening, he did indeed invite the audience to Solomeo.