As most of you likely realize, Fashion Week is a mere 45 days away. Which means it's close enough to start beefing up our fashion gossip coverage. And while the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund recipients don't directly correlate with Fashion Week, we at Jossip like to feign relevance to the best of our capability and use those "news peg" journalism skills we've done little with but waste since graduation.

So, yeah, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund: So, a bunch of companies like Barneys New York, Coach, Juicy Couture, Kellwood Company, Nordstrom, Theory, and Vogue, and Gucci each throw in a couple bucks to contribute to the award. This year the grant is expected to hit a whopping to $200,000 (about 1/3 of Anna Wintour's salary) to be used towards the further development of a designer's business.

Then they have a big, huge gala and all the winners are announced and Anna wears her new designer fling for the fall, which will obviously not be Rochas this time.

This year's finalists, chosen out of 101 applicants, are an eclectic crew, all with names that are close to impossible to pronounce or differentiate.

This year’s finalists include Phillip Lim for 3.1 Phillip Lim; Thakoon Panichgul for Thakoon; Doo-Ri Chung for Doo.Ri; Milla Jovovich and Carmen Hawk for Jovovich-Hawk; Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman and Kerin Craig; Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra for Costello Tagliapietra; Laura and Kate Mulleavy for Rodarte; David Neville and Marcus Wainwright for Rag & Bone; Devi Kroell; and Justin Giunta for Subversive Jewelry.

We're banking on Mila Jovovich. She has the best business proposition: no need to pay models.

CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Announces Finalists [Fashion Week Daily]