Finalists Announced For Deutz Fashion Awards

30 August

Finalists Announced For Deutz Fashion Design Ambassador Awards

The judging panel of fashion experts has concluded their deliberations, and eight finalists have been picked from this year’s field of Deutz Fashion Design Ambassador entrants.

“The top eight all had collections that managed to marry catwalk impact with strong ideas and a degree of commercial wearability,” comments fashion journalist and judge Stacy Gregg. “I'm not saying that you need to be able to wear everything that is on the runway - but there must be a vision that relates to reality on some level.”

The Deutz Fashion Design Ambassador finalists for 2007 are:
- Elizabeth Wilson, Wellington
- Alex Kim, Auckland
- Yawen Chang, Auckland
- Chelsea Thorpe, Gisborne
- Andrew Smith, Auckland
- Tymone Winter, Wellington
- Jann Wong, Auckland
- Ya Kun Cai, Auckland

“The Deutz Fashion Design Ambassador Awards is a high level competition with an amazing prize package,” says fashion designer and judge Cybèle Wiren. “I was impressed with the level of entries. There is a real mix in terms of design, and some really fresh and interesting ideas. The finalists stood out for their innovation, clear sense of purpose, and high level of professionalism in their presentation.”

The finalists’ collections will be modelled in a glittering catwalk awards show at Auckland’s ASB Tennis Centre on Thursday 13 September, when the new Deutz Fashion Design Ambassador will be announced.

This year’s judging panel included, Stacy Gregg (Fashion Quarterly and Runway Reporter editor-at-large), Kate Sylvester (fashion designer), Petra Bagust (television personality), Cybèle Wiren (fashion designer) and Katie Newton (fashion and beauty editor, Sunday Star-Times).

The judging process involved intense examination of the garments, on and off models, as well as personal interviews with selected finalists. Judging criteria included, innovation and originality, cut and finish, suitability of fabric and design, appropriateness for the intended target market, as well as the entrant’s ability to be a strong Ambassador for emerging New Zealand fashion design.

Recognised as a key launch platform for aspiring fashion designers, the Awards are open to final year students, fresh graduates and designers new to the fashion market. The winner receives a return trip to London Fashion Week, with NZ$3000 spending money and the chance to meet with influential leaders from London’s vibrant fashion industry.

In addition to the awards show presentation, the finalists’ collections will be modelled in a special catwalk showcase at Air New Zealand Fashion Week on September 20. These same garments will also be on display at The New Dowse in Lower Hutt throughout October, as part of Flash! – The Deutz International Fashion Season.

THE 8 FINALIST COLLECTIONS

ELIZABETH WILSON, Wellington
Inspired by French director Luc Besson’s 1990 film, La Femme Nikita, Elizabeth Wilson’s collection, Les Yeux Sans Visage, literally made her fingers bleed. Combining femininity with a tough secretive edge, the collection injects a punk attitude into the powerful allure of the femme fatale. Utility strapping, harnesses and Kevlar vests are feminised and reinterpreted with a 90s look that is chic and sophisticated.

ALEX KIM, Auckland
Zip Me Up After You’re Finished is a youth-oriented range of streetwear, comprising over-sized t-shirts with leggings, layered with tailored waistcoats and scarves. The print is a conceptual representation of rejection and anger, formed by merging three elements – hands, zips and the X. It is this recurring X shape that represents rejection. Crossed and double-ended zips create a layered effect on t-shirts and connect scarves to waistcoats. The pulling of the zip becomes a final act of closure.

YAWEN CHANG, Auckland
Inspired by the Mayan people in the film Apocalypto, and their traditional, yarn-based clothing, Lost Maya modernises this civilisation’s bold colours and designs to create bright tribal prints, and hand-knitted and crocheted garments and accessories. The collection mixes animal fibres and handmade pieces with synthetics and machine-made items. By incorporating both primitive and contemporary aesthetic values, Yawen Chang reinterprets ancient Mayan clothing into cutting edge fashion.

CHELSEA THORPE, Gisborne
Chelsea Thorpe’s background in design and fine arts has honed her distinctively feminine, yet cleanly modern aesthetic. Blurring the line between classic and contemporary structures, The Wallflowers collection is both highly feminine and beautifully functional. Textured wools and light-as-a-feather chiffons create contrast between more structural elements and soft billowing silks. Depth and movement take hold and hues reminiscent of early winter evenings soften the edges of tunic shapes.

ANDREW SMITH, Auckland
This innovative menswear collection draws upon a National Geographic portrait of the Golog people of Tibet. The photograph shows a Golog family wearing communist-style clothing that has been adapted to fit alternative functions than those for which it was originally designed. Golog adapts traditional bespoke tailoring as if to mirror the needs of these people. Coats are melted over jacket shoulders to keep the arm free, over-sized shirts are folded around bodies, sleeves are permanently drawn up to aid movement, and trouser hems zip for a streamlined fit.

TYMONE WINTER, Wellington
Influenced by the elegance of floating hot air balloons, and taking style notes from a toy box full of 80s transforming robots, Hot Air is both cute and functional. Bold coloured panels in silk georgettes and satins are cleverly draped, gathered, twisted and ballooned. Reversible garments, adjustable cords, belts and button-on accessories, allow each outfit to transform across the trans-seasonal months. Robotic buttons and thin panels of metallic silver hint there’s more to this ensemble than meets the eye.

JANN WONG, Auckland
Fashion designer and stylist, Jann Wong’s Untitled, Winter 2008 collection is an experimental exploration of modern drape and silhouette. These beautifully made, stylishly comfortable and functional garments are designed to be worn every day. Highly versatile, most pieces are interchangeable and the outer layers are fully reversible. It’s all good in the lycra hood.

YA KUN CAI, Auckland
In Ya Kun Cai’s fashion manual, every garment is a V12 engine on a human body. His Ambitions and Confessions for V collection combines 1950s fashion with contemporary automobile design to create a shape that is perfectly elegant, yet unique and extreme. The unusual mix of fabrics and textures climaxes in an immediately covetable Mongolian lambs-wool frou-frou skirt.

ENDS

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