2009 Southern Trust Emerging Designers Awards

For immediate Release: Friday, 13 March 2009
 

Jonathan Stern wins 2009 Southern Trust Emerging Designers Awards

Nadeesha Godamunne takes home Mittelmoda prize

Jonathan Stern from the Shenkar Engineering and Design College, Israel, with his collection, Variations of Masculinity, captivated the audience at tonight’s 2009 iD Dunedin Fashion Week Emerging Designer Awards and was awarded this year’s Life Pharmacy top prize. As this year’s winner, Jonathan takes away $5000 in prize money.

Nadeesha Godamunne, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, also received top honours as recipient of the highly sought-after Mittelmoda prize, which allows direct entry to show the Mittelmoda Fashion Competition in Italy this September.

The 900-strong, capacity crowd was wowed and delighted by the standard of this year’s international line up.
 
Key Points

·         The Dunedin City Council second place prize and $3000 was awarded to Cem Cako, Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerpen, Belgium, while Hani Sagiv, Shenkar Engineering and Design College, Israel, won the SeJuice third prize and $1000. The judges describe both collections as outstanding, showing remarkable creativity and skill.

·         The Pacific Blue Emerging Designer Travel Prize (including two return flights for two to Rarotonga) was awarded to Liz Ting, Massey University, New Zealand, and the Pacific Blue Lucky Boarding Pass prize was won by Aucklander, Jane Kennelly.

·         The 2009 event attracted the most entries ever seen in the event’s five-year history. More than 100 applications were received from 11 countries, with the 28 finalists representing: New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, India, Israel, Italy, Sweden and Taiwan.

·         Judges for the Emerging Designer Awards 2009 included special guest designer Francis Hooper, co-founder and chief designer of WORLD; Margi Robertson, Fashion Designer and Director of Nom*D; Stefano Sopelza, Mittelmoda Fashion Award Project Supervisor, Italy; Ross Gamble, Fashion Consultant; and, Katie Newton, fashion and beauty editor for the weekly Sunday Star-Times Magazine.

·         This event is designed to foster the growth and development of new design talent and the intention is that all designers wherever they may come from can be supported.  The hope is that with the support of a key funding partner in 2010, special new categories can be introduced that will help inspire new and established designers to focus on areas of design that further the future of the industry.
 
Quotes
 Jonathan Stern, Southern Trust 2009 iD Fashion Week Emerging Designer Awards Winner

“In my collection, I tried to examine the context of masculinity as I see it. Men free from all definition of any boundaries, disconnected from any existing distinction. My collection expresses a variety of different looks, between day and evening wear, between meticulous and casual look, and between high street fashion and tailored garments.”

Margo Barton, Academic Leader and Principal Lecturer (Fashion), School of Design, Otago Polytechnic

“We’ve seen a quantum leap in terms of quality since we launched the Awards, and even a big jump in calibre since last year. This is absolutely an international competition with incredibly high calibre of entrants and finalists. It’s very encouraging to see these young designers working and playing together, building on their life experiences.”

Stefano Sopelza – Mittelmoda Fashion Award Project Supervisor, www.mittelmoda.com  

“Jonathan is a talented designer and has been able to develop his concept in a very elegant and mature manner. He knows where he wants to be in the future and is destined for a promising future in fashion design.”

Francis Hooper – Chief Designer, WORLD, www.worldbrand.co.nz

"This is the year of the man; the menswear collections are very strong and this is a delight to see! That said, a couple of the dresses were just breathtaking; I haven’t seen anything like it in 20 years of fashion direction. These designers are creative, inspirational, uplifting and sexy. It’s been a most wonderful and uplifting event.”

 
ENDS
 

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