Lopez dedicated her Fashion Icon Award to Oribe and Kevyn Aucoin.
Jennifer Lopez was honored as a Fashion Icon at the 2019 CFDA Awards in New York on Monday, and she couldn't help but pay tribute to the people who got her there in her emotional acceptance speech.
Soon after taking the stage to accept her award, Lopez remembered iconic hairstylist Oribe and makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin, who worked with her early on in her career. "[They] worked with all those supermodels that I looked at in Vogue magazine as I rode the 6 train into the city," she said, tearing up. "So when I had the opportunity to choose my hair and makeup artists for my first cover shoot, magically there I was in the room with them."
Lopez went on, recalling how things started to change in her career, and "curves started to be embraced." She credited her team and Oribe (who died in December 2018) and Aucoin (who died in 2002) for helping her "blossom."
"We've lost two of those great artists, Kevin Aucoin and Oribe," she said, turning around to hide her tears from the audience, "who helped turn me from an around-the-way-girl to a girl who could grace a magazine cover."
"I said I wouldn't cry," she emotionally explained to the audience. "Together, we created so many iconic looks and I'm forever grateful. And tonight, I'm dedicating this award to them."
During her speech, Lopez also gave a heartfelt shout-out to her family. She told ET on the red carpet ahead of the event that her 11-year-old daughter, Emme, and Alex Rodriguez's 11-year-old daughter Ella, have called "dibs" on some of her most iconic looks.
"Ella told me, 'I want your white GRAMMY dress with the orchid,' and Emme is like, 'What about that [dress], Mommy? Are we gonna keep that? Don't throw that out,'" Lopez shared with a laugh. "They tell me all the time."
See more in the video below.
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