A collection inspired by English writer Gertrude Bell’s travels across the Middle East, has won its Dubai-based designers the regional leg of the coveted International Woolmark Prize (IWP) for fashion. Taller Marmo, founded by Yago Goicoechea and Riccardo Audisio, will represent the Middle East, India and Pakistan in the womenswear category at the annual international award, considered one of the most prestigious in the world. Indian designer Suket Dhir and his eponymous label will represent for menswear.
The winners were announced at an event in Dubai on Wednesday night, attended by the 11 shortlisted designers and labels, which included two Emiratis: Designer Budreya Faisal and her abaya label called Bleach in womenswear, and Ahmad Abdul Rahman and his menswear label Thamanyah.
“You should be extremely proud of yourself reaching this far for such a prestigious award,” Nez Gebreel, the CEO of the Dubai Design and Fashion Council (DDFC), the host of the regional leg, told the designers before she announced the winners.
“And having looked through all your submissions, I don’t think you need any luck.”
Gebreel, along with designer Osman Yousefzada, Melissa Grace, the general manager, marketing and communications of The Woolmark Company, and a number of fashion editors, picked the two winners after a full-day of presentations. Shortlisted designers were required to present six sketches and one sample dress made out of merino wool.
“There was a bit of a fight among some of the judges in in terms of who should be the finalist,” she said. “It was amazing how [the designers] took a simple fabric and created a story. There were some beautiful and contemporary unique pieces.”
Goicoechea and Audisio, both 23, came to Dubai in 2013 to start their ready-to-wear brand that bridges Europe and Arabia.
“We were not expecting it. It could have been any of the designers up there,” said Goicoechea, an Argentinian. “It’s amazing to reach this point with our label.”
Inspired by the modern woman who travels a lot, Goicoechea said their capsule collection is for a woman who travels through multiple cities with different kinds of weather in one single day.
Menswear winner Dhir, who is based in Delhi, said it was the first time he’s ever won any award.
“All the wishes and dreams people have had of me, this just puts it all in place,” he said.
“I think we were inspired by the story and the way you represented merino wool and the way you took it further and beyond,” DDFC’s Gebreel told the designer as he accepted his award.
As finalists, the two labels will each receive a Dh136,112 cash prize and will be required to create a six-piece collection made out of merino wool. The collections will be presented to an international panel of judges where they will compete with winners from five other regions: Asia, Australia, British Isles, Europe and USA.
Past jury members at the international competition have included Victoria Beckham, Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani, Style.com editor-at-large Tim Blanks and former Gucci creative director Frida Giannini.
The menswear winner will be announced during Pitti Uomo in Florence in January 2016 and the womenswear in New York in February 2016. The global winners in both categories will then receive a further Dh272,224 and have their collections sold with international retailers the UK, the US, China and Italy and Australia.
Established in 1953, past winners of the IWP include icons such as Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. New York designer Marcia Patmos won the prize for womenswear with her label M.Patmos this year, while designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne of Public School, also based in New York, won the inaugural menswear prize.
Bong Guerrero, the founder and CEO of Fashion Forward (FFWD), where Taller Marmo first made its debut, said the label’s win is a pat on the back for his fashion week-style Dubai event.
“It's a big win for Fashion Forward. Taller Marmo first came to us because they believed that Dubai was the next big market and we’ve worked with them all along and we are so glad to see them go places,” he said. “With the efforts of the DDFC, I think we are going to churn out more and more amazing talents in the coming years.”
The Woolmark Company’s Grace said there were heated discussions towards the end of the judging process.
“There was so much talent across the board. The prize being such a global one in scope, we were looking for brands that proved they had that global appeal,” she said.
This was the first time Dubai hosted a regional round. Grace said she’d love to bring it again next year.
“This region is becoming more and more interesting in the global sense. And the skills and craftsmanship coming from here is so interesting,” she said. “So we’ve love to bring the event back here. We’d be very happy to come back.”
