Todd Snyder, CFDA, Thom Browne Host Party to Kick Off NY Fashion Week

Todd Snyder may not be showing in New York this season — he was a featured designer at the Pitti Uomo men’s show in Florence last month — but he still wanted to be involved. So he brainstormed with the CFDA about how best to participate and those conversations culminated in a packed event at Le Frenchette in TriBeCa Thursday night that drew dozens of designers and retailers to celebrate the kickoff of New York Fashion Week.

“I’ve been in business 13 years and looking back on my career, the CFDA really stepped up to help me when I started,” Snyder said. He added that working with the organization “really helps your business build awareness, connects you with mentors — Reed Krakoff was very important to me — and I wanted to give back. And this opportunity came up to cohost the kickoff event for NYFW.”

Steven Kolb, CFDA’s chief executive officer, said the group holds its kickoff event in September at City Hall with the mayor of New York, but the February round is generally less formal.

“Todd was planning to do a dinner and we wanted to do something and was looking for a cohost, so he suggested turning his dinner into a party,” Kolb said. “He really values how CFDA helped him when he started, so we invited all the designers on the calendar. There are a lot of parties around New York Fashion Week, but we’re happy Todd is here and doing this with us.”

He had plenty of company. The event drew everyone from Thom Browne, CFDA’s current chairman, to emerging designers Bach Mai, Tanner Richie and Fletcher Kasey of Tanner Fletcher, Alejandra Alonso Rojas, Henry Zankov, Kobi Halperin, Aurora James and others — all hoping to follow in Snyder’s footsteps.