The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund is responsible for bringing some of America’s finest fashion talent to the forefront and this year’s crop of top young designers has been chosen. Ten finalists have been named to compete against each other for a chance to win the top prize – $400,000 ($100,000 more than last year) and a yearlong mentorship.
Jonathan Simkhai, Baja East‘s Scott Studenberg and John Targon, Thaddeus O’Neil, Brother Vellies, Chris Gelinas, David Hart, Cadet, Chromat, Gypsy Sport and Baldwin will all duke it out in hopes of nabbing that number one spot. Of course, being a runner-up in the competition is never a terrible thing – two of the other winning labels will get a $150,000 prize (up from $100,000 last year) and a mentorship. It is unclear if the competition will be televised as it has been in the past.
A panel of industry bigwigs will judge all the collections to decide the top three. Diane Von Furstenberg, Jenna Lyons, Anna Wintour, Andrew Rosen, Ken Downing, Reed Krakoff, Mark Holgate, Jeffrey Kalinsky, Steven Kolb, and Neville and Marcus Wainwright are tasked with choosing the best collections out of this group of esteemed talent. Last year, Paul Andrew took home the top prize, joined by runners-up Ryan Roche and Eva Fehren’s Eva Zuckerman.
The winners will be celebrated and announced November 2.
[via WWD]
