Erykah Badu Named 2024 Fashion Icon by Council of Fashion Designers of America

From the earliest days of her career, Erykah Badu has always been as mindful of the visual presentation as she has the aural.

Consider the instantly iconic headwrap she wore in the late 1990s when dropping her debut, for instance, or any number of the densely layered, carefully considered fits she’s flaunted in concert or around the world since.

So it’s little surprise that the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) recently bestowed the Fashion Icon Award upon Badu. She turned up at the 2024 CFDA Fashion Awards ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan on Oct. 28, decked out in a black and white dress, complemented by a beaded headpiece and face jewelry.

“This honor is amazing, and I do not take it for granted,” Badu said at the ceremony. “I’ve always had a love for taking bits and pieces of the things I am attracted to and creating something far more grand than the sum of those parts. From the music I make, to the looks I put on, to the technology I’m developing, I’m always looking for innovative, exciting ways to be more expressive and connect with people, to be closer to nature.”

Prior recipients of the CFDA honor include pop mononyms Beyoncé, Rihanna and Zendaya. The 2024 award was presented to Badu by Andre 3000, the father of her son Seven Sirius (and, if we’re honest, no slouch in the fashion-forward department himself).

“Erykah Badu and fashion are synonymous in many ways,” said fashion designer and CFDA chairman Thom Browne in a statement. “Erykah effortlessly exudes herself and her unique point of view through the clothing she chooses to wear and each look she dreams up is so individual and true to herself.”

Browne has brought Badu as his muse to the annual fashion Olympics, the Met Gala.

Receiving plaudits for innovative fashion sense isn’t the only thing Badu is doing to earn headlines these days. During a stop on The Breakfast Club morning show while in New York for the CFDA Fashion Awards, Badu shared that she’s also readying new music, her first since the 2015 mixtape But You Cain’t Use My Phone.

Those anticipating a Badu solo joint, however, should reset expectations: “I’m writing right now; I got a project coming out soon,” Badu told the show’s hosts Charlemagne tha God and DJ Envy. When pressed, she would say only that “it’s an important one. It’s a collab album” with a male artist she declined to name.

Badu, who recently shared in a Grammy nomination for best melodic rap performance, offered the Breakfast Club crew no additional details, but as always, she remains on a timeline all her own.