Thirty-nine finalists have been named for iD International Emerging Designer Awards 2016 to be held at the Dunedin Town Hall on Thursday March 17. The finalists, selected from a pool of more than 150 entries from 15 countries will vie for top prizes in the 12th annual Awards, supported by the Otago Polytechnic, which represent Australasia’s only international emerging fashion competition.
This year’s selection committee, made up of Kiwi fashion designers Denise L’estrange-Corbet (WORLD), Adrian Hailwood, Tanya Carlson and Company of Strangers’ Sara Munro, says the overall standard of entries is the highest yet and choosing a limited pool of finalists was extremely difficult.
“Every entry gave us something new and unique,” says Tanya Carlson.
“But the finalists we chose really stood out for their creativity, technique and individualism. Many are exploring the often-complex relationships between the past and today’s modern society, where excess, fleeting trends and an insatiable hunger for the new and now is an all too common experience.
“As a reaction to this many of our finalists have a renewed interest in technique inspired by crafts, exploring culturally diverse methods of creating collections based on the ideals of slow fashion, opposed to the speed of global clothing manufacture.
“Visually, the collections will amaze crowds with bold colours, innovative techniques, detailing, hand-made lace and fabrics, and inspiring creativity.”
iD Committee Chair Cherry Lucas says finalists can look forward to fantastic networking opportunities alongside a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be critiqued by some of the world’s most influential fashion leaders. This year’s judging panel includes iD international guest designer Emilia Wickstead.
“The Awards are about showcasing the very future of fashion as we help launch the careers of our finalists in an international context – and this year will be no exception,” says Ms Lucas.
This year’s finalists are:
· From New Zealand:
· Auckland University of Technology: Tia Feng, Nicola Luey
· Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design, Auckland: Benjamin Farry, Kingkang Chen
· Massey University, Wellington: Sarah Parker, Sophie Collier
· Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin: Andrea Short, Brittany Pooley, Shelby Tuinman-Bell, Sophie Ball.
· From Australia:
· Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology: Alice Kennedy
· The Fashion Design Studio, Ultimo TAFE, Sydney: Demetra Kakopieros, Mat Lee, Yousef Akbar.
· University of Technology, Sydney: Alix Higgins, Alexandra Lane, Cherry Luk, Hannah Kim, Ilham Ismail, Lucy Virgona, Madeleine Hogan, Panayota Theodore, Stephanie Frig, Yan Zhou
· Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane: Alice Waterhouse, Jordan Anderson
· Curtin University, Bentley: Rose Church, Jessica Nella
· From China:
· Shanghai University of Engineering Science/Sino-French Institute of Fashion Design: Chen Yi
· From Italy:
· NABA (Nuova Academia di Belle Arti), Milano: Başak Cansin Ersöz
· From Singapore:
· Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts: Darlene Law.
· Temasek Polytechnic: Xie QianQian
· From Argentina:
· UBA University of Buenos Aires: Catalina Villarraza
· From Spain:
· LCI Barcelona: Beatriz Del Olmo Marrero
· From UK:
· Winchester School of Art: Sun Lam.
· London College of Fashion: Gerda Satunas
· From Japan:
· Bunkagakuen University, Tokyo: Yuta Hikino
· From Hong Kong:
· Raffles International College: Vivian Wong.
· From India:
· Pearl Academy: Shaivyya Gupta.
Prizes include NZ$6,000 for the first place winner, second place $4,000, $2000 for third place, with other special prizes including The Fabric Store Prize worth $3000 (includes $2000 worth of fabric), the Dunedin’s Golden Centre Mall Prize for the most commercial collection and the Susie Staley Special Achievement Award ($1000) to honour former iD Chair Susie Staley’s immense contribution to the event.
Winners from the 2016 iD International Emerging Designer Awards will show their collections at the iD Dunedin Fashion Show held at Dunedin’s Railway Station on Friday March 18 and Saturday March 19. iD Dunedin Fashion Week is supported by the Dunedin City Council. For more info and to buy tickets see http://www.idfashion.co.nz/
Amie Richardson
29th January 2016
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