Inaugural Young Designer Award launched

Media Release

Newmarket Business Association

Sunday 8 June 2008

Inaugural Young Designer Award launched

Aspiring young fashion designers between the ages of 15 and 18 have the chance to win a trip to New York Fashion Week to work back stage for the Karen Walker show.

The Newmarket Business Association has launched its inaugural ‘Looking to the future - The Newmarket Young Fashion Designer Award’, with sponsors House of Travel Newmarket, Qantas, Karen Walker, Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design, and Taylor Boutique.

“There are many awards that recognise up and coming designers however there is very little on offer for young people interested in getting into fashion design. This award will provide the winning designer an opportunity of a lifetime,” says Newmarket Business Association marketing manager, Lea Worth.

The winner of the Newmarket Young Fashion Designer Award will fly Qantas for two to New York with four nights’ accommodation courtesy of House of Travel. He or she will get to work back stage at the Karen Walker Show at New York Fashion Week and will receive $1,000NZ spending money. 

The winning designer will also receive a 12-month scholarship at Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design, and a two-week design assistant internship working alongside Auckland designer Vicki Taylor in the Taylor Workroom.

Mrs Worth says it made sense for Newmarket to launch this inaugural award.

“Newmarket is synonymous with designer fashion and boasts over 40 local and international designers. Quite simply, Newmarket is the Fashion Capital of New Zealand.  Through this competition we might just discover our next top designer. Let’s not forget that two of our fashion stars attended local schools: Karen Walker went to Epsom Girls Grammar and Vicki Taylor is an old girl of Diocesan School For Girls.”

However entry is not limited to the secondary schools in close proximity to Newmarket. Any New Zealand resident, from anywhere in the country, male or female, aged between 15 and 18 years can enter.

The brief is to design and make an innovative and directional daywear outfit. The awards ceremony will be a gala event showcasing all of the entrants’ designs modelled by amateur models of the designers’ choice with friends and families of the young designers in the crowd. The judging panel will be made up of local Newmarket designers and stakeholders in the fashion industry.

A $25 registration fee applies. Official registration closes on 30 June with registration forms and further details found on www.newmarket.co.nz. Newmarket’s Lea Worth can also be contacted on 529-3047 for further information. 

Ends

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