Five innovative young designers
have been shortlisted for the 2013 Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize, the
annual award created three years ago by the eponymous luxury hotel company to discover
emerging fashion talent.
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| Designing duo Fyodor Golan |
The five, including a duo working
under one name, come from various backgrounds and will compete for a prize of £25,000
which will help them to establish their brand, according to the Dorchester
group.
The organizers said that the judging
criterion is based on finding the designer “who best demonstrates original
aesthetic flair, combined with capability for future critical distinction and
commercial success”. The winner’s work must also “evoke the spirit of
Dorchester Collection’s iconic hotels and, therefore, project a sense of
individuality, luxury, style and craftsmanship”.
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| Designer Barbara Casasola |
The final stage of this year’s
competition will take place on 29 October at The Dorchester hotel in London,
where the five shortlisted designers will stage a catwalk presentation. Last year’s finale was held at the landmark
Plaza Athénée hotel in Paris and attracted a large fashion crowd, with judges
including the France-based Japanese designer Kenzo Takada.
The Dorchester group has hotels
in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles and other cities, and designers who enter
the competition have to be based in countries where there are Dorchester
Collection hotels: the UK, France, Italy, Switzerland and the United States.
“We’re thrilled to continue to
support upcoming designers and launch the 2013 Dorchester Collection Fashion
Prize with a new international format,” said Christopher Cowdray, chief
executive officer of Dorchester Collection. “Our aim is to continue to attract
a high standard of talent; it’s been rewarding to follow the success of
previous winners and finalists, knowing that the prize has helped them to make
that next step to global success and recognition.”
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| Huishan Zhang |
The 2013 finalists are Barbara
Casasola, a Brazilian-born, Paris-based designer who studied at Central Saint
Martins in London and later at Istituto Marangoni in Milan and has worked with
Roberto Cavalli and others; the duo Fyodor Podgorny and Golan Frydman, whose
brand is Fyodor Golan and whose ready-to-wear garments are inspired by artwork,
with striking shapes and colours; Emilia
Wickstead, the New Zealand-born designer
who studied in both Milan and London, launching her own label in 2008; and Huishan
Zhang, a Chinese-born designer and recent graduate of Central Saint Martins who
was reportedly chosen by a leading fashion businesswoman to work at Christian
Dior while he was still a student.
The
five will have their work cut out for them in the run-up to the grand finale in
London. As the organizers state, the winner’s work must “evoke the spirit of
Dorchester Collection’s iconic hotels and, therefore, project a sense of
individuality, luxury, style and craftsmanship”.
 |
| Designer Emilia Wickstead |
