Daily Front Row

2009 April 29

Mango’s Man

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El Botón-Mango Fashion Award winner Jin Youn Lee
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(NEW YORK) Although the current economic climate is wreaking havoc on retailers worldwide, one Spanish fast-fashion institution seems to be not only untouchable, but hotter than ever. Today at a press conference in Barcelona, the jury of the el Botón-Mango Fashion Awards, which included the likes of Nina Garcia, Mango chairman Isak Andic, Jerry Hall, and jury chairman Oscar de la Renta, named Jin Youn Lee the winner of its second design competition.

Applicants for the contest were narrowed down to 10 finalists: South Korea native Lee, Australia’s Josh Goot, UK’s Jean Pierre Braganza and duos Peter Pilotto & Christopher de Vos and Aleksander Stanic & Fiona Sinha, Spain’s Silvia Garcia Presas, New Zealan’s Jaeha Alex Kim, Germany’s duo Miriam Lehle & Sabina Egler, Czech Republic’s Jakub Polanka, and Belgium’s Christian Wiinants. The finalists had five months to create a collection of 10 looks for a runway presentation, which served as the pre-show to de la Renta’s reception of the Botón de Oro lifetime achievement award. Winner Lee will receive €300,000 in prize money, the largest sum ever offered in a competition of this kind. All the finalists’ collections will be on display until May 2 at Barcelona’s Paseo de Gracia.