It is great that there are competitions which allow young, and maybe not so young but talented, designers to show what they are capable of, to express themselves.
The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund is one of such. It is now six years old and offers emerging talents to get noticed and appreciated.
What is less encouraging is that no other country except the US holds this competition.
But as it is getting more and more popular I think we can hope that soon the situaion will change to the better. The U.K. has just launched its own new-designer competition and Italy has similar plans.
Vogue’s editor Anna Wintour is interested in the subject a lot. She said she’d recently had a meeting with the French minister of culture about starting a similar contest in France.
And Brazil, India, Russia, and China aren’t far behind,” Wintour added. But still, she argued, “New York is the place to come for young designers to show what they’re capable of.”
The winners of this year come from different backgrounds. Womenswear designer Sophie Théallet is French. She was awarded the grand prize of $200,000 and a year-long mentorship.
Sophie commented:
I’m French, so I’m going to try to do my best. Thank you for making my American dreams come true.”
Among the runners-up were mentioned jewelry designer Monique Pean and menswear designer Patrik Ervell who received $50,000 each to pursue their designer plans. The former promised, “I won’t disappoint you,” while the latter told the judges, “Thank you for thinking of this award. We all appreciate it.”
You might not know these names yet but it is sure that soon you will. Sophie Théallet, for instance, has already got some recognition for dressing the First Lady for Senator Ted Kennedy’s funeral in August.
And the award she received can become a good start in her career of a world designer.
Remember Alexander Wang?
He was last year’s winner and now he is known all over the globe. Among other winner we can name: Rogan (2007), Doo-Ri Chung (2006), Trovata (2005) and Proenza Schouler (2004).
