BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund 2021
Image: Bethany Williams designs for British Vogue. Styling by Poppy Kain. © Charlotte Wales
FASHION
Bethany Williams
BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund
Bethany Williams has reconfigured what fashion’s relationship with philanthropy and sustainability could look like by structuring the foundations of her business as a social enterprise. Building long-term partnerships with grassroots organisations, spotlighting issues ranging from homelessness to the prison system while raising much-needed funds for charities working in these areas, or training marginalised communities in new skills, she is modelling a new vision of environmental responsibility and community engagement.
About the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund
ANDAM Fashion Award 2021
Image: Bianca Saunders, Fall 2021 Menswear. © Silvia Draz
FASHION
Bianca Saunders
ANDAM Grand Prize
British men's wear designer, Bianca Saunders won the ANDAM Grand Prize 2021. While drawing on her British and West Indian background, Saunders also questions existing notions of masculinity in her designs. "My main aim for the brand was to create that balance. You get the really over-masculine guy and effeminate guy existing in the same world. Even the pieces can be seen as slightly more feminine. I think this is how I create the energy that brings something different, and more things to the men’s wear conversation." said Bianca Saunders to WWD.
Image: EgonLab, Spring 2022.
FASHION
EgonLab
Pierre Bergé Prize
EgonLab, a brand introduced in 2019 by Florentin Glémarec and Kévin Nompeix won the Pierre Bergé Prize, which focuses on young French companies. The brand is named after Austrian painter Egon Scheile and its "tailored urban-punk DNA aims to dress all body shapes, all genders of all ages without ever distorting them." "We think a brand should cater to and defend all genders. Inclusivity is not just about targeting a minority. Real inclusivity is when you talk to everyone and we want to go the whole way with that approach". In their presentation to the jury, the duo enlisted Glémarec’s grandparents, René and Marie-Louise to model some looks.
Image: Aswad, interlude. © Alexandre Gurkinger. Furniture courtesy Marion Mailaender.
FASHION ACCESSORIES
Aswad
Fashion Accessories Prize
Leather goods specialist Aswad won the Fashion Accessories Prize. Sonia Ahmimou founded the Aswad leather goods workshop in Paris in 2015 after spending more than a decade learning the métier at Louis Vuitton, Moynat and Hermès. Her brand name derives from the literary Arabic phrase "hajar el aswad" meaning the black stone. According to her brand’s website, its aesthetic is located "at the crossroads of Moroccan and French craftsmanship and in our attachment to the preservation of traditional skills."
35e festival international de mode, de photographie et d’accessoires de mode - Hyères
Image: Tom Van der Borght collection for the Grand Prix du jury Première Vision and the Prix du Public, ville d'Hyères.
FASHION
Tom Van der Borght
Grand Prix du jury Première Vision
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Prix du Public, ville d'Hyères
Tom Van der Borght graduated in 2012 from Stedelijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten Sint Niklaas in Belgium and launched his eponymous label shortly afterwards. His work is a material and conceptual exploration of the discipline’s uncharted territories. His designs are unapologetic and boldly boundary-breaking while maintaining an artisanal heritage. As much as his work revolves around the process of searching, Tom Van der Borght is not interested in finding anything. Neither does he care about achieving traditional, idealistic, outdated standards of beauty.
Image: Ddiddue & Juana Etcheberry, OWANTSHOOZI, Réincarnation collection for the Grand Prix du jury Accessoires de Mode and the Prix Hermès des accessoires de mode.
FASHION ACCESSORIES
Ddiddue & Juana Etcheberry
Grand Prix du jury Accessoires de Mode
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Prix Hermès des accessoires de mode
Ddiddue & Juana Etcheberry project OWANTSHOOZI focuses on the manufacture of hats made from used objects. All the pieces are unique, which allows them to continuously experiment with the materials, shapes and aesthetics. According to them the designer has a responsibility when he creates a product. They decided to take the side of transforming materials or products that are no longer in use into new objects by bringing together the raw and the sophisticated, the natural and the artificial.
About the 35e festival international de mode, de photographie et d’accessoires de mode - Hyères
International Woolmark Prize 2021
Image: Matty Bovan's Woolmark Prize Collection "Ode to the Sea". © Ibrahem Hasan
FASHION
Matty Bovan
International Woolmark Prize
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Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation
Matty Bovan has won the International Woolmark Prize 2021 with his collection "Ode to the sea". He has been awarded the main prize as well as the Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation. "He is pure fashion, he makes me dream and he reminds me of a young Vivienne Westwood or a John Galliano and we desperately need that sort of designer in the fashion world of today." said Carine Roitfeld. Praised for his technically advanced stunning jacquard weave designs, unique style, intricate designs which tell a story, advanced understanding of both knit and weave techniques, strong colour combinations and sustainable approach to local sourcing and production, Bovan’s sensibility and conceptual approach to fashion impressed the judges.
About the International Woolmark Prize
BFC/British GQ Designer Menswear Fund 2021
Image: Ahluwalia, Fall 2021 Menswear. © Ahluwalia
FASHION
Ahluwalia
BFC/British GQ Designer Menswear Fund
British fashion designer Ahluwalia won the 2021 BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund. She is celebrated for her multiculturally infused collections, which touch on both tailoring and streetwear and have a strong focus on sustainability, with many pieces created from found garments and dead stock fabrics. Caroline Rush, CEO of the BFC, said "Priya proved to be the strongest candidate showing incredible creativity along with a business strategy that embodies the future of British fashion, with environmental and socially positive practices at the core of the brand." Ahluwalia also received the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design earlier this year.
