Anna Wintour, Prizes and Potpie at CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Dinner

Fashion events come in as many styles as fashion, but you can always count on Champagne and, at one of New York’s most touted annual parties, on chicken potpie. At the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, 12 years strong, potpie — a favorite of Anna Wintour, the editor in chief of Vogue and one of the forces behind the young designer prize — remains immobile on the menu.

"It’s my once-a-year potpie," said Erin Beatty of Suno, a finalist in 2011 and 2012, as waiters circulated, ramekins in hand. "When else would I eat a potpie?" (Several at her table pursed their lips and requested steamed vegetable plates.)

The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund has been serving windfalls (currently, a prize of $300,000 in cash and a year of mentorship from executives in the industry) and flaky crusts since 2004, during which time it has, in one way or another, touched a wide swath of the industry.

"It provides a platform for young designers to launch their brands," said Monique Péan (runner-up, 2009). "I don’t know if it would be possible without that."

Spring Studios, where its dinner was held, was filled with topiary, celebrities (Demi Moore, Victor Cruz and Zendaya circulated) and all of its many alumni, winners, runners-up and finalists alike. "It’s like a school reunion every year," Diane von Furstenberg, chairwoman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, said from the stage.

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Many past participants agreed that winning, while nice, was less important than inclusion at all, and many, years later, found it difficult to recall who had actually won and who merely placed. "Andrew Rosen said to me, ‘You won!’ " Ms. Beatty recalled of the Theory chief executive and judging panel member. " ‘Didn’t you?’ "

That was a sentiment seemingly echoed by the evening’s contenders. "We are feeling great," said Scott Studenberg, one of the designers of Baja East, a finalist. Was it the night for his label? "It’s a night," he replied.

Vogue and the CFDA have worked hard to ensure that it is. Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci — "the groundbreaking Riccardo Tisci," as the actress Amanda Seyfried introduced him — appeared for a staged conversation with Vogue’s Hamish Bowles about life in fashion and to announce the winners.

"We are thrilled to have Riccardo Tisci with us," Ms. Wintour said, "because we know from your Instagram, Riccardo, that you’re never in one place very long."

A visibly nervous Mr. Tisci ("He has never given a speech before," said the LVMH Fashion Group chairman, Pierre-Yves Roussel, who was sitting at Mr. Tisci’s table. "This is his first time.") had some feel-good platitudes to share with young designers.

"In the beginning, people didn’t get it," he said of his early years at Givenchy, pointing out that his early reviews were scathing, surely comforting to anyone who has ever steered his or her own unswerving course, given his success now. But the news of the night was the winners — and this year’s twist that there would be three equal recipients. Previously there were different levels of prize for the one winner and two runners-up.

They were three of the lesser-knowns: Aurora James of the made-in-Africa accessories label Brother Vellies; Rio Uribe of the gender-flouting punk/street line Gypsy Sport; and the most traditional of the three, the women’s wear designer Jonathan Simkhai.

"Have you seen the other designers? They’re amazing," said Ms. James, the first winner, welling up as she took the podium. But she quickly shifted gears from gratitude to action, encouraging the room to "involve Africa in the conversation instead of just taking inspiration from it."

Mr. Uribe also struck an activist note, pledging to work to continue "opening doors" to outsiders like himself. (He initially declared, "I’m not a fashion person," before thinking better of it.)

Compared to theirs, Mr. Simkhai’s prepared remarks about falling in love with fashion during an adolescence folding jeans at a Westchester mall were a bit less rousing.

Still, the Fund embraces all its children, who now represent an increasingly varied family, one that only grows. Add a few more potpies to next year’s order.

"We have been here every year," said Creatures of the Wind’s Shane Gabier (runner-up, 2011). "I’m pretty nostalgic. It changed everything."

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