The Dubai Design and Fashion Council (DDFC) is bringing one of the world’s most coveted fashion awards to the Middle East. The council has announced it will host the regional awards of the International Woolmark Prize, for India and the Middle East, with winners revealed at a ceremony to be held for the first time in the UAE on July 22.
Regional awards are held in Shanghai, Sydney, Antwerp, New York and London annually. Dubai is the newest city to host the regional award.
“We are here to seize global opportunities to position Dubai as an international hub for design. There is a tremendous amount of creativity and positive energy in the region’s industry and partnering with the International Woolmark prize is a great opportunity for us to further support and mentor these upcoming designers to realise their potential and achieve their dreams,” said Nez Gebreel, CEO of the DDFC. “We are committed to developing the design community in the region and supporting emerging designers, and we continue to look at ways we can promote new initiatives and events in order to encourage creativity.”
Stuart McCullough, the managing director at The Woolmark Company (TWC), said: “It is an honour to be undertaking the first International Woolmark Prize event in the UAE. This would not have been possible without the huge amount of support and advice provided by Dubai Design and Fashion Council to initiate this exciting event.
“We look forward to working together to highlight the wonderful talents in this region and putting them alongside the best from around the world at the finals to be held in 2016.”
A total of eight womenswear labels and three menswear labels have been named from India and the Middle East. One from each category will then be selected to represent the region at the international awards.
There will then be twelve finalists for the international awards, six for womenswear and six for menswear. Each finalist will receive support and mentorship from the IWP Prize along with a Dh150,000 financial contribution towards their next collection. Nominees will present sketches of a Merino wool capsule collection comprising of six outfits. The collections will be judged by a panel of soon to be announced local and international experts.
The menswear winner will be announced during Pitti Uomo in Florence in January 2016 and the womenswear in New York in February 2016. The winners of both categories will receive a further Dh300,000 to assist with fabric sourcing and marketing of their collection. In addition, both international winners will have their collection commercialised through key international retail partners including Harvey Nichols in the UK, Joyce, China, Saks Fifth Avenue in the US, 10 Corso Como Italy and Shanghai, Mytheresa.com, Matchesfashion.com and David Jones in Australia.
The India and Middle East nominees for the 2015/16 International Woolmark Prize are:
For womenswear:
• Akaaro, India
• Nachiket Barve, India
• Sania Maskatiya, Pakistan
• TallerMarmo, UAE
• Bleach, UAE
• Misha Lakhani, Pakistan
• Bashar Assaf, Lebanon
• Mira Hayek, Lebanon
For menswear:
• Republic, Pakistan
• Suket Dhir, India
• Thamanyah, UAE
