EUROPE: International Fashion Award Heralds New Dawn of Design

Six young up-and-coming design students and graduates received the European Fashion Award FASH 2015 during the kick-off for the Berlin Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2016 in the presence of 250 distinguished guests on Monday evening, the 6th of July. The awards, valued at €80,000, were presented by the non-profit Stiftung der Deutschen Bekleidungsindustrie (German Fashion Industry Foundation, aka SDBI) at the impressive Neues Museum (New Museum) in Berlin, one of UNESCO’s world heritage sites.

Organized by SDBI the European Fashion Award FASH is considered one of the most important international endorsement awards for fashion students, and has been active as a platform for the new generation of designers for ten years now. The SDBI was founded by Klaus Steilmann GmbH & Co.KG  in 1978, at the time Europe’s largest manufacturer of women’s fashion. Due to its elaborate selection process and, more important, the careers that its awardees are able to pursue as a result, FASH has established itself as one of the most important international endorsement awards for fashion students.

Through FASH, the SDBI plays a groundbreaking role for students, design and industry.

Heralds of a New Era

The six winning students and graduates used inspirations like archives, dreams or wanderlust to approach “Freedom”, the theme of FASH 2015. Freedom is defined by SDBI (http://www.sdbi.de/) as “the foundation of humanity and the heart of citizenship, whether you consider the French Revolution or East Germany’s Monday demonstrations under the motto ‘We are the People’. And yet, freedom is subject to the changing values and standards.” Accordingly, the collections of the winners of FASH 2015 move away from the classic, Euro-centric male image, and plumb new depths of fashion. The winning collections herald a new era as they go into the heart of the citizens’ desires.

Winners &Prizes

FASH 2015, the high-level, global competition, targets students from all sectors of design who are at least in their fourth semester. A second category was open to graduate projects completed in 2014. The prizes, valued at €80,000, include cash as well as support for the winners’ activities and future careers.

The winners were selected by a high-caliber jury (among them Margareta van den Bosch, Creative Advisor at H&M; Torsten Hochstetter, Global Creative Designer for the Adidas Group; Dr. Adelheid Rasche, Art and Fashion Historian at the National Museums in Berlin; Michael Sontag, one of Germany’s most renowned fashion designers, presenting his collections at the Berlin Fashion Week since 2009; and Franco P. Tettamanti, award-winning haute couture Swiss photographer living in Paris, well known for his work for customers like Dior, Louis Vuitton and Vivienne Westwood ), based on the projects submitted by 141 participants from 27 countries. In addition to the final product, the selection focused on the research, concept, design process, finish and tailoring as well as presentation.

The award-winning projects consist of concepts exploring the potentials of fashion. They do not represent everyday apparel.

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THE WINNERS

Student category

First Prize: Julia Kleeblatt , Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle. Her collection: “Kittel 2.0” (Work Coat 2.0).”
Prize: Photoshoot with Franco P. Tettamanti, catalogue, exhibition, media relations, six-month funded internship at the Puma headquarters, mentoring program. Mentor: Joel Horwitz .
2,500 Euro prize money.

Second: Lilly Bosse, University of the Arts Bremen. Her project: the poetic men’s wear “Wie fühlt sich die Spinne auf dem Herrenklo (How does a spider feel in a man’s toilet)?”
Prize: Photoshoot with Franco P. Tettamanti, catalogue, exhibition, media relations, mentoring program.Mentor: Mads Dinesen
1,500 Euro prize money

Third: Kai Gerhardt, University of the Arts Berlin. Collection: “The Black Rectangle.”
Prize: Photoshoot with Franco P. Tettamanti, catalogue, exhibition, media relations, mentoring program. Mentor: Helge-Christian Schmidt
1,000 Euro prize money

Graduate Projects category

First Prize: Ulf Michael Brauner, University of the Arts Berlin.His collection: “Auf und davon nach (Get up and go).”
Prize: Photoshoot with Franco P. Tettamanti, catalogue, exhibition, media relations, mentoring program. Mentor: Arnold Gevers
2,500 Euro prize money

Second: Tomasz Szadel, Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin. His experimental project was “PXL.”
Prize: Photoshoot with Franco P. Tettamanti, catalogue, exhibition, media relations, mentoring program. Mentor: Kim Pöhland-Block
1,500 Euro prize money

Third: Lukas Fischer, University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld. Collection: “Eine Sequenz (One Sequence).”
Prize: Photoshoot with Franco P. Tettamanti, catalogue, exhibition, media relations, mentoring program. Mentor: Mikyong Yeom
1,000 Euro prize money

For the list of all winners and awards and a detailed description of the winning projects as well as the jury statements check out www.sdbi.de

EUROPEAN FASHION AWARD FASH 2016

The European Fashion Award FASH 2016, themed “Change,” will be searching for visions for a new era. Wars, conflicts and catastrophes change the world and so do globalization and digitalization which have a fundamental impact on the world, resulting in completely new economic models.
How can fashion react to this change? What are the visions? Who will ride the wave of change and claim the future?

Registration deadline is August 31st, 2015. Submission deadline: September 25th, 2015.

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