Ashlynn Park, the creative force behind the label Ashlyn, has been announced as the winner of the 2025 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, capping off a remarkable year for the South Korean-born designer who only last week received the CFDA Emerging Designer of the Year award.

The result was unveiled at an intimate dinner in New York, hosted by Isha Ambani and Zac Posen alongside Vogue’s Anna Wintour and Chloe Malle. Model Alex Consani announced the winner. Park will receive a $300,000 grant and a mentorship from an industry leader to support the continued growth of her label, founded in 2020.

“This brand was discovered quite early,” Park reflected earlier this year. “I was doubting myself — I thought I wasn’t young enough, not emerging enough. My background is pattern-making, and that’s where I started to rediscover my purpose.”

The 2025 runners-up were Stephanie Suberville, the Mexican-born designer behind Heirlome, and Julian Louie, the Brooklyn-based creative behind Aubero. Each will receive $100,000 in funding for their respective projects.

Suberville, who launched Heirloom with her husband Jeffrey Axford, previously worked at Rag & Bone and Elizabeth & James. Her label aims to highlight the work of Latin American artisans, bridging craft and contemporary design. Louie, a California native whose grandparents immigrated from China, focuses his menswear label on materiality and construction, values he traces to his family’s history of craftsmanship.

“The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund is about giving emerging designers the support they need to build lasting businesses,” said Steven Kolb, CEO of the CFDA. “This year’s winners reflect that purpose, to ensure American fashion continues to grow, evolve, and lead with creativity.”

Anna Wintour added, “We just saw Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, winners of our first Fashion Fund in 2004, triumph with their debut at Loewe. There is world-class talent in America, and this new generation is proof of that optimism.”

The diversity of the finalists underscores how global perspectives continue to shape American fashion. Park was born in South Korea, Suberville in Mexico, and Louie represents a third-generation American story. Their work, though shaped by heritage, refuses to be confined by it.

Park’s designs are distinguished by precise tailoring and quiet sophistication — qualities honed during her early years as a pattern maker for Yohji Yamamoto and later roles with Alexander Wang and Raf Simons’s Calvin Klein.

Ambani, who co-hosted the event, said: “I am deeply inspired by this generation of designers and excited to continue opening dialogue between creative voices, where collaboration and craftsmanship lead to meaningful innovation.”

This year’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund also recognized a vibrant cohort of finalists, including Bach Mai, Bernard James, Don’t Let Disco by Ashley Moubayed, Gabe Gordon and Timothy Gibbons of Gabe Gordon, Jamie Okuma, Meruert Tolegen, and Peter Do.

The selection panel — including Thom Browne, Eva Chen, Aurora James, Paloma Elsesser, and Zac Posen — emphasized that the fund remains not only a celebration of individual creativity but a commitment to sustaining American fashion as a global force.

For Park, the moment marks both a culmination and a beginning — one that reaffirms her quiet, meticulous approach to design. “It’s about resilience and the love of craft,” she has said. “That’s what keeps me going.”