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 with the last presentation of the awards in September 1984; the CFDA Awards fulfill a similar role. It was casually referred to as "fashion's Oscars" because it once held great importance within the fashion industry and the award ceremonies were glitzy galas.
History
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. 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 MarcusFashion 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. The popularity of this award began to decline in the late 1970s due to perceived commercial interests by the parent company. In 1979, designers Calvin Klein and Halston announced they would no longer accept the Winnie award. The same year, in 1979, Coty released the Coty Awards make up kit in order to profit off of the awards ceremony, which was perceived by the fashion designers to have cheapened the event. The newly founded Council of Fashion Designers of America appeared more democratic in ideology and began to compete with the Coty Award by 1980 with the CFDA Awards. In June 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.
