Daily Front Row

2012 January 13

H&M Design Award Debuts

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(NEW YORK) H&M has been making designer duds available to the masses through its many collaborations, pairing up with everyone from Versace to Lanvin in the past, and Marni in the future—but now, the Swedish fast fashion chain is angling to make a young designer's dreams come to fruition. The H&M Design Award, launching this winter, pits grads from fourteen colleges spanning half a dozen European countries against one another for a shot at showing during Stockholm's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on February 1 and a cash prize of 50,000 euros (approximately $63,500).

"It's been such an inspiring experience to meet these talented graduates, to hear the vision behind their collections and to see the final result," said Ann-Sofie Johansson, head designer at H&M, in a statement. 

The hopefuls come from colleges in Sweden, U.K., Germany, Belgium, Holland and Denmark, including Central Saint Martins in London, Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Belgium, La Cambre in Brussels, Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee in Berlin,  "I think this is the most important platform of their careers so far," former Telegraph UK fashionette Hilary Alexander told British Vogue of the design aspirants. 

There's no reality competition show as a forum for designers to duke it out, alas, but film clips showcasing the contestants on the competition's site, designaward2012.hm.com, bowed today and will continue through February 1.
ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV