Menswear often leans towards heritage and a designated color palette (black, gray, blue, brown or red in various levels of intensity), so it’s interesting to hear about the thought process that goes into a collection with the goal of pushing boundaries while maintaining wearability.

The list of 2011 CFDA Awards nominees were just announced, and there are plenty of familiar names. In brief, Lady Gaga is officially an American fashion icon, Marc Jacobs is nominated for womenswear but will be a winner even if he doesn’t take that category, and Alexander Wang and Proenza Schouler have quite a few chances at going home with a trophy. The full list of nominees are…