Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards

The Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards were created in 1942 by the cosmetics and perfume company Coty, Inc. to promote and celebrate American fashion, and encourage design during the Second World War. In 1985, the Coty Awards were discontinued; the CFDA Awards fulfill a similar role.

The Coty Awards were conceived and created by Coty, Inc. Executive Vice President, Jean Despres, founder of The Fragrance Foundation and FiFi Awards, and Grover Whalen (a member of the New York City Mayor's Committee, and president of the 1939 New York World's Fair). The fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert was employed to promote and produce the awards. The awards were given solely to designers based in America, unlike the Neiman Marcus Fashion Awards. Until its discontinuation in 1985, the Coty Award was considered one of the most prestigious awards in the field of fashion. The awards were designed by Malvina Hoffman. The womenswear awards are popularly known as Winnies; the menswear award which began in 1968 has no name. Repeat awards were the Return Award and the Hall of Fame award. Special Awards were also awarded to designers in specialist fields.

In 1985, Donald Flannery, the senior vice-president of Pfizer, Inc., Coty's parent company, announced that since the awards had successfully brought America into the worldwide fashion scene, it was decided to discontinue them.

The awards of 1947 recognised the work of the four main branches of the fashion industry: bespoke high-end design, high end wholesale, mid-priced wholesale, and junior fashion.

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