CFDA Awards crown Mary-Kate and Ashley, but where’s Johnny Depp?

The CFDA awards smiled on American designing sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen on Monday night in New York.

The Olsen twins were named 2012 womenswear designers of the year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America for their label the Row, notching a serious validation for two Hollywood expats striving for legitimacy in the fiercely competitive fashion world.

Rocking a new brunet ‘do, Mary-Kate cut a gothic figure with sunny sister Ashley at New York’s Lincoln Center, alongside attendees including Jessica Chastain, Anna Wintour, Zosia Mamet, Diane Von Furstenberg and host Seth Meyers.

Johnny Depp, recently crowned with the MTV Movie Awards Generation honor, was named fashion icon of the year — though the accessory-laden star accepted his prize prize via satellite.

Meyers didn’t disappoint as host, taking a big risk in making a crack at disgraced designer John Galliano, who headed the house of Christian Dior before an anti-Semitic rant cost him his throne.

In one of his many jabs — which included an epic visual homage to Marc Jacobs’ floor-length button-down lace shirt for the Met Gala — Meyers said that his hosting was ideal because comedy and fashion are so similar.

“You could even say that fashion and comedy go together like bar mitzvahs and Galliano,” he said, followed what New York magazine described as a long, awkward silence.

“No one in this room got where they were without taking a risk. I just took one, and I think we can all agree I shouldn’t have,” he rebounded.

“That joke went so badly I’m going to get fired from Dior.”

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Follow Matt Donnelly on Twitter @mattdonnelly.