Prestige in Wool

In 1950, a young man barely 16 years old and still unknown at the time, won one of the most prestigious fashion competition in the world. His name would go down in fashion history and he would become a legend, that name was Yves Saint-Laurent. Read more here about Prestige in Wool

Judged in 1950 by a jury composed of famous named designers such as Christian Dior and Hubert de Givenchy, this competition, this competition is considered today as the springboard for the rising stars of fashion.,

But what’s the prize? A worldwide reputation for the winner in the world of fashion, as well as a prize of 200 000 Australian dollars.

This year, the competition is being judged by a jury of influential people from the world of fashion, design, art and editorial magazine world. 

This jury, composed of a selection of creatives including some of the following, Marc Newson CBE ( one of the most influential designers of his generation ), Carine Roitfeld (fashion icon ) or the famous supermodel Naomi Campbell, will have to choose the winner among the 7 finalists : Ahluwalia , Egonlab, Jordan Dalah, Mmusomaxwell, Peter Do, Rui and Saul Nash. The final will take place in London on 26 April 2022.

The competition, which was originally established in 1936 to encourage young designers around the world to use natural textiles, has included many famous fashion designers such as Valentino, Ralph Lauren and Karl Lagerfeld, with its main objective to connect young designers, usually, those just starting in their careers, with the adaptability and beauty of wool.

The International Woolmark Prize aims to create a platform for young designers from around the world, as well as promoting small-scale Australian wool producers and celebrating exceptional fashion talent utilising and showing the versatility of Australian merino wool as a textile.

Even now, this competition opens huge doors to whoever wins it and maybe one of these 7 finalists will reach the stars, like the famous winners of the past years? 

To celebrate the art of the word ‘play’, the theme for this season IWP, have a collaboration to present ‘ PLAYSCAPE’.

This short film directed by Zak group in collaboration with FKA twigs and The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in New York, with choreography by Juliano Nunes features looks from the final IWP 2022 collection by Ahluwalia , Egonlab, Jordan Dalah, Mmusomawxell, Peter Do, Rui and Saul Nas. It is inspired by the vision of Isamu Noguchi, who saw ‘play’ as a catalyst for creativity , and merges influences from fashion, art, dance and music.

This short film, created in honour of the finalists of the competition, puts Noguchi’s definition of the word ‘play’ on video. It aims to show each finalist’s collection while interpreting the word. It opens in one of Noguchi’s empty sculpture galleries, in which characters of all kinds appear to make the connection between play and fashion. The film also links the merino wool shown here with the designs worn by the characters, all of which are from the collections of these seven finalists.

There are a lot of competitions in the fashion and creative worlds. Some better known than others for example another one is the Global Design Graduate Show (GDGS) competition, which, for its third edition, will be in collaboration with a famous fashion house, whose name is known throughout the world: GUCCI.

This competition, open to all undergraduate and postgraduate art and design disciplines, is a chance for students to get noticed by leaders in their field. It is composed of several categories such as fashion, digital and visual comms, architecture and interiors as well as photography.  

Finally , we have one other competition to share with you. It is the Junk Kouture competition. This competition, welcomes students from more than 800 partner schools from all over the world, is back for a new 2022 edition. The final will be judged by influential people in the field, such as Laura Whitemore, an Irish TV & Radio presenter, model & actress, Fabio Piras the Course Director of Central St Martin’s MA Fashion, and Mehreen Baig, the Irish Broadcaster, Teacher and Author.

The competition, which will be held at The Hackney Empire, London on Thursday 19th May, allowing young students, aged 13 to 18, to give free rein to their creativity by making collections from recycled materials destined to be thrown away, thus raising awareness of sustainable fashion and climate change, while allowing them to be creative.

If you are interested in participating in this competition, please click here to find out more. 

If you would like to learn more about the International Woolmark prize 2022, please click here. 

You can also find and buy the collections of these seven finalists here. 

If you enjoyed reading IWP: Prestige in a competition, Maybe you would like to read Taipei Fashion Week AW’22

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