Mumbai, Jul 16 (IANS): Bounipun and Nachiket Barve have been announced as the menswear and womenswear winners respectively of the 2016/17 International Woolmark Prize India, Pakistan & Middle East regional final.
Che Kurrien - Editor, GQ India; Alison Tay - Editor-in-Chief of Grazia Middle East, Grazia Arabia and Grazia Luxury; Mehernaaz Dhondy - Editor, Grazia India; fashion designer Rachel Roy; fashion designer Manish Malhotra; fashion designer Troy Costa and Priya Tanna - Editor, Vogue India, selected the winners at an awards event held here on Friday night.
Mumbai-based Barve used a mixture of felted applique, hand embroidery and digital print for his winning look. Designers Zubair and Renni Kirmani of brand Bounipun presented a three-piece look including 3D laser cutting and looping techniques.
“I can’t even begin to express how wonderfully, and excitingly remarkable this entire experience has been. The international Woolmark Prize will catapult me onto the international stage, and I am thrilled and extremely grateful for this opportunity," Kirmani of Bounipun said after their win.
Barve is also thrilled and said: “The International Woolmark Prize is one of the industry’s most prestigious fashion awards, having discovered talents such as Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent."
Chosen from amongst the most promising fashion design talents from India, Pakistan and the Middle East, both winners gain a financial contribution of Australian Dollar 50,000, plus the opportunity to represent their region and compete in the prestigious international final. In addition, each winner will receive mentoring support from a global panel of experts along with being granted a Woolmark licence.
For the next six months, the winning designers will be required to develop a capsule collection in Merino wool, to be showcased at one of two events that will highlight the six menswear finalists and six womenswear finalists selected from across the globe. The final for menswear will be held during London Collections Men and the womenswear final will be held in Paris, both in January 2017.
The winners of the menswear and womenswear global finals will receive a further Australian Dollar $100,000 to assist with fabric sourcing and marketing of their collection, as well as mentoring from industry experts.
In addition, both international winners will have the opportunity to have their collection distributed through the prize’s prestigious international retail partner network including Harvey Nichols in Britain, David Jones in Australia, Boutique 1 in the UAE, Verso in Belgium, LECLAIREUR in Paris, Boon the Shop in South Korea, The Papilion in Indonesia and online through mytheresa.com (womenswear) and MATCHESFASHION.COM (menswear).
Rahul Mishra emerged as the first Indian fashion designer to win the International Woolmark Prize (IWP), past recipients of which include icons like Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld.