Singer Rihanna shocks in a bare-all dress as she is crowned Fashion Icon at fashion's Oscars

Model Karlie Kloss attends the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 2, 2014 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
Model Karlie Kloss attends the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 2, 2014 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
Solange attends the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 2, 2014 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
Geoffrey Beene lifetime achievement award recipient Tom Ford attends the winners walk during the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 2, 2014 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
Olivia Palermo and Lisa Axelson attend the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 2, 2014 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
Di Mondo attends the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 2, 2014 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
Actress Blake Lively arrives for the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Lincoln Center in New York on June 2, 2014. -- PHOTO: AFP
Model Heidi Klum arrives for the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Lincoln Center in New York on June 2, 2014. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Musician Jennifer Hudson attends the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 2, 2014 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
Actress Lupita Nyong'o attends the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 2, 2014 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
Actress Marion Cotillard attends the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 2, 2014 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
Rihanna attends the 2014 CFDA fashion awards at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 2, 2014 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP
Rihanna speaks onstage at the 2014 Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards (CFDA) at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on June 2, 2014 in New York City. -- PHOTO: AFP

NEW YORK - All eyes were on Rihanna at the annual Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards in New York on Monday - and it was not just because she was honoured with a Fashion Icon Of The Year award.

The singer was mainly skin under a see-through dress made of 216,000 Swarovski crystals.

It was yet another of her raunchy outfits created by Adam Selman, who works with her stylist Mel Ottenberg.

The 26-year-old pop star was saved from complete nudity by a pair of nude G-string underwear she wore under the fishnet slip dress and a pink stole on her shoulders.

She teamed the completely backless gown with gloves and a sparkly head scarf, creating a look that channelled famed jazz-age dancer Josephine Baker.

That certainly got people noticing.

Before the ceremony, designer Zac Posen described Rihanna as a fashion risk-taker.

"She takes risks and she marches to her own drum and she knows what she likes," he told The Associated Press in an interview. "It's been an incredible journey."

Rihanna's use of shock value, he said, "has kept her current and balanced how classically beautiful she is".

Accepting her award from Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, the Barbados-born Rihanna told the crowd: "I grew up on a really small island and I didn't have a lot of access to fashion. But as far as I can remember, fashion has always been a defence mechanism. I remember thinking 'she can beat me but not my outfit'."

"I can compensate for all of my weaknesses with fashion," she said, adding, "There are rules, but rules are meant to be broken."

The Fashion Icon award is "given to an individual whose style has made a significant impact on popular culture on an international stage".

Previous award recipients have included Lady Gaga, Kate Moss, Nicole Kidman and Johnny Depp.

Other standouts at the event, dubbed fashion's Oscars, included actresses Lupita Nyong'o and Blake Lively.

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