Council of Fashion Designers of America presented the following 2008 fashion awards.

Womenswear Designer of the Year: Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein Collection. See the Resort 09 collection.

Menswear Designer of the Year: Tom Ford

Accessories Designer of the Year: Tory Burch. See the Fall 08 fashion show.

Swarovski Womenswear: Kate and Laura Mulleavy for Rodarte. See the Fall 08 collection.

Swarovski Menswear: Scott Sternberg for Band of Outsiders

Swarovski Accessories: Philip Crangi

Lifetime Achievement Award: Carolina Herrera. See the Fall 08 fashion show.

Leave it to Rodarte to show us the side of ballerina so often neglected in favor of jewelry-box iconography. This A/W 08 season, Rodarte referenced this popular aesthetic from the back-door, thankfully leaving out all pink bows and leg warmers. Texture was the central force at work and each piece looked discombobulated, as if the product of a dream or drawing. The tights, for example, like cobwebs, drew upon a dark and distorted version of the classic fishnet. In the end, the collection was characteristically feminine with a complexity that took on a eerie and subconscious mood.