The 10 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists were trying to relax at a cocktail party at the Ludlow Hotel on Tuesday night. Each of them had just presented a brand-new design to the Fashion Fund judges, the latest step in this monthslong competition. This was supposed to be the let-your-hair-down portion of the evening, but it wasn’t exactly that.
“So, did you enjoy your challenge?” Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor, asked, springing up to Eva Zuckerman, a jeweler.
“I did, yeah!” Ms. Zuckerman replied quickly. “I mean, it was definitely a challenge.” Each finalist was given $20,000 for the challenge. They were assigned to incorporate a city — New York’s bright lights or Portland’s crunchiness or New Orleans’s diversity — into a piece. They could use their money on materials. They could use it for airfare. They could pocket it.
Ms. Zuckerman designed a mask and some colorful rings and earrings. She talked about how she was taken by the “black magic, the voodoo culture” of New Orleans, her assigned city.
“It’s extraordinary,” Ms. Wintour said, speaking of New Orleans. “Such a mixture.”
Next week, the finalists will showcase their designs at a runway show in Los Angeles. In three weeks, a winner and two runners-up will be announced. (The winner gets $300,000, and the runners-up will receive $100,000 each.)
Ms. Wintour took a look around the room. “Usually they’re all given the same project to do and interpret it in their own way,” she said. “This is, I thought, a much more varied response.”
The challenge cocktail party has usually been held at Ms. Wintour’s apartment. But as the awards have grown — cameramen from the Ovation network were patrolling the room — a new space was needed.
“The hat lady,” Ms. Wintour said, referring to Gigi Burris. “She was given Austin. She’s never been there. She got a plane ticket and off she went.”
She looked around some more. “We were very careful about how each city was handed out,” she said. “The Orley kids are from Detroit. So that’s a really good fit. Tanya with all her prints made sense with Honolulu.”
A model in a white dress stood directly in front of her. “He had Miami,” she said, smiling brightly and pointing to Wes Gordon. “I love his ‘Scarface’ dress. Michelle Pfeiffer, right?” He made an impression with the judges, this one.
“White Art Deco shapes, curving seams with the pleats,” Mr. Gordon said, caressing his model, Lily Donaldson. (Each design team was accompanied by a model.) “That’s the look.”
Mr. Gordon was the veteran in this room, having been a finalist in 2012. “It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” he said. “On the one hand, you know what’s coming so you don’t have that same anxiety of ‘Oh my God, am I going to faint?’ On the flip side, it’s a lot more pressure to explain how you’ve grown and evolved.”
A first-time contestant, Paul Andrew, was assigned New York and designed boots with sparkly heels inspired by the Chrysler Building. He says he blew through his $20,000 budget and “spent at least double that.” But it might be paying off.
“I’ve already sold two pairs,” he said. “They’re not even for sale, but two women asked me tonight. Isn’t that wild? They’re $6,000, or that’s what we’re estimating. We don’t have the final cost from the manufacturer.”
And it wasn’t just the designers who were trying to make a good first impression. The young model Hailey Baldwin, daughter of the actor Stephen Baldwin and a friend of Kendall Jenner’s, was posing in the back terrace.
“We’re best friends,” Ms. Baldwin said, pointing to the Simon Miller design team of Daniel Corrigan and Jake Sargent. This was a shotgun marriage.
“Vogue chose Hailey,” Mr. Corrigan said, as Ms. Baldwin started picking hors d’oeuvres off passing trays. “This is her first runway season. She’s 17.”
Ms. Baldwin said she walked in the Sonia Rykiel and Topshop shows. “Modeling is a gateway to open doors for other things,” she said. “Turn you into a businesswoman. I’m just going to take it as far as I can and veer it into something else.”
And how was it being pawed at by a team of judges this evening?
“At first I was like, it’s going to be fine, I won’t be nervous,” she said. “And then I was like, ‘Oh, that’s Anna Wintour right there.’ Like rubbing up and down my leg. What a way to spend a Tuesday. Anna rubbing on your pants. This is the fashion dream.”