Michael Kors won the CFDA Women’s Designer of the Year award in 1999. The honor came from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, one of the American fashion industry’s most prominent professional organizations.
The award recognized Kors’s womenswear work during a period when his label was becoming increasingly influential. He had launched his own women’s collection in 1981 and became known for polished American sportswear, combining practical silhouettes with the glamour associated with luxury fashion.
The 1999 result is sometimes confused with Kors’s later CFDA recognition. He won the organization’s Menswear Designer of the Year award in 2003, a separate honor in a different category. The award category in this question is specifically women’s wear, so 1999—not 1998, 2000, or 2001—is the relevant year.
That distinction also reflects the breadth of Kors’s career: he became prominent in both women’s and men’s fashion, rather than being recognized only for one side of his design business.