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Showing posts with label Merit Award Winner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Merit Award Winner. Show all posts

Friday, 20 February 2015

Monday, 8 December 2014

EXCLUSIVE | James Kelly Fashion Scout Merit Award Winner AW15



We are delighted to announce that the popular, talented new Royal College of Art graduate James Kelly will be the latest recipient of Fashion Scout's prestigious Merit Award.

James, who graduated from the RCA in June 2014, has already made waves throughout the Fashion Industry, being featured on i-D, Dazed Digital, Vogue Online and in the Fashion Scout Graduate Showcase at LFW September 2014.

Chosen from over 200 applicants by a selection panel of industry heavyweights including Vogue Italia's Sara Maino, Fashion Scout founder and director Martyn Roberts and Hilary Alexander OBE, James Kelly will be sponsored by Fashion Scout for three seasons with a prize worth over £20,000.
The prize offers an unrivalled opportunity for sponsorship and has become known as a talent launch pad. Previous winners of the Merit Award have included, Eudon Choi, David Koma, Hermione De Paula, Georgia Hardinge and more recently Phoebe English and Xiao Li.

On the winner Hilary Alexander commented; "I was totally blown away by James Kelly's collection at the Royal College of Art gala earlier this year. Marvellous marriage of function, fashion and form; beautiful colours of midnight navy, deep forest green, pewter, with hand-dyed ostrich feathers. The models looked like birds of paradise flying through a storm."

James describes his womenswear as a myriad of elements combined together to created something new. Inspired by the strange, dreamy and ambiguous, James pioneers an exploration into outerwear and sportswear by deconstructing and distorting sports jackets and trench coats. The collection seeps texture, in the form of Stieff Alpaca Mohair and Ostrich feathers, which billow away from the models on the runway.

On winning the award, James celebrated; "I am completely blown away with the fact that I was chosen for the Merit Award. I'm so excited to be working on my new collection to be shown at Fashion Scout this February and am so thankful for the opportunity!"

Fashion Scout will take place during London Fashion Week from Friday 20th till Tuesday 24th February 2015, at the Freemasons' Hall in Covent Garden. Alongside presenting the Merit Award Catwalk show and exhibition, Fashion Scout will hold over 30 catwalk shows and presentations in and an emerging designer exhibition.

A prominent fixture among the Paris Showrooms, Fashion Scout Paris will return featuring James Kelly and 21 of the brightest new fashion talents in March 2015. Fashion Scout Paris will be held at 23, Rue Du Roi De Sicile, Paris, 75004, from the 5th - 10th March 2015.

For industry ticket requests email press@fashionscoutevents.com.

Saturday, 13 September 2014

COLLECTION| Merit Award Winner Gyo Yuni KimChoe SS15











A classic white catwalk provided a blank canvas for Gyo Yuni KimChoe’s SS15 show - a tough utilitarian collection with blooms of khaki and iris-indigo florals. With a front row of press and buyers, not to mention bespoke Colin Leslie sunglasses in the goodie bags, this season’s Merit Award winner, Gyo Yuni KimChoe, opted for a gardening-inspired urban uniform, including epaulette, button and fabric strip detailing.

Born in Korea, meeting in New York and eventually moving to London, the design duo, who are also in a relationship, showed a series of terracotta, khaki, coal and sky blue military inspired culottes, wide leg trousers and hooded parkas, complete with multiple pockets, cross-over back straps and apron ties. Buttoned neck collars were paired with simple white shirts, re-imagined macs and shirt dresses. Ruffled sprigs of khaki material, when seen a little closer, are actually floral, and add shape to shoulders and hips. These puckered floral strips provide an explosion of delicacy to an otherwise sturdy collection.

Towards the end of the show, models emerged enveloped in hooded parka-esque cocoon coats, loaded with drawstring toggles and trailing floral fabric strips. A touch of army camouflage, Gyo Yuni KimChoe built on their philosophy of ‘respect life and nature’, drawing inspiration from both military armies and the metaphorical war a gardener wages on backyard weeds. Models carried guns entwined with greenery, while foliage sprung from practical wellington boots and Crocs. The KimChoe woman is clearly strong, and doesn’t stop her ethical conscience shining through the functional, fashion forward pieces.

The Merit Award, judged by the prestigious panel of Hilary Alexander, Rebekah Roy and Phoebe English, a previous Merit Award winner herself, attracts scores of fashion buyers and press. With this collection, Gyo Yuni KimChoe have more than proved themselves deserving of this influential title.

By Isabella Silvers, Contributor, (@izzymks).
Photos by Florian Schadauer.

BACKSTAGE| Merit Award Winner Gyo Yuni Kimchoe SS15








Photographs by Celine Castillon