Yes! We are very proud of Ruchika Sachdeva, mastermind behind Bodice. She won the finals of the prestigious International Woolmark Prize in the Womenswear section. We met her and interviewed her in a podcast when she won the regionals back in August.
The other winners were Matthew Miller -from the British Isles- in the menswear category. USA’s DYNE is the winner of the inaugural Innovation Award, a new category within the awards.
The winners were presented at an event during Pitti Uomo at Stazione Leopolda in Florence. This competition is not easy, and it gathers la crème de la crème of fashion designers and innovators. To win this award is a major push for fashion designers not only economically. Also when it comes to reputation and new opportunities to market their products.
A panel of experts judged the work of the fashion designers that won the regionals. The panel included names such as Amber Valletta, Elizabeth Von Guttman, Liya Kebede, Emanuele Farneti, Nonita Kalra, Julie Davies, Livia Firth, Miroslava Duma, Phillip Lim, Riccardo Vannetti, Sarah Mower and Stuart McCullough along with representatives from the International Woolmark Prize retail partner network.
THE COMPETITORS
More than 65 designers from over 60 countries took part for this year’s award. The finalists representing the six different regions around the world were SixLee and KYE (Asia), Blair Archibald and Harman Grubiša (Australia & New Zealand), Matthew Miller and Le Kilt (British Isles), L’Homme Rouge and David Laport (Europe), Antar-Agni and Bodice (Indian Subcontinent and Middle East) and DYNE and Zaid Affas (USA).
Stuart McCullough, Woolmark Company Managing Director, said during the event. “Today we saw the world’s best emerging designers present a true celebration of fashion design and innovation, as they shone the spotlight on Australian Merino wool”. Woolmark is the global authority on wool. And wool is at the end of the day the ultimate natural fiber and premier ingredient in luxury apparel. It warms you if the weather is cold and it is fresh when the heat is on. To be able to work with such a versatile material is a blessing for many fashion designers.
Innovation in fashion comes not only from the design side but also from the materials side. We have seen lately a big development on synthetic fabrics, but we always turn back to our natural fibers.
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Then for sure you will like to know more about how the winner Ruchika Sachdeva prepared herself for the regionals. The winner of the regionals in menswear, the kind Ujjawal Dubey was also in our podcast explaining Dubai Fashion News how was his experience in the contest.
DFN PODCAST: HOW FASHION AWARDS WORK- PART 1 WITH UJJAWAL DUBEY
DFN PODCAST: HOW FASHION AWARDS WORK- PART 2 WITH RUCHIKA SACHDEVA FROM BODICE
MEET THE NOMINEES FOR THE NEXT WOOLMARK PRIZE REGIONALS
And if you want to know more about Bodice, check their website, Instagram, and Facebook here.
