Cathy, Marcus and Mikio are Finalists! But not at ITS...
June 15, 2007
| All right, mom always told us that one of the most important values in life is being humble and she was certainly right, but allow us to feel proud and feel good at what we do when we receive this kind of news! Sometimes a bit of self-esteem is also important, it makes life easier... We have already reported on the accomplishments of some of the former finalists of ITS ("ITS Finalists at Showrooms and at Fashion Weeks" - you can look it up in the "news" section of the website, in "featured"), and here is yet more proof of the worth of the members of the ITS family which gets bigger year after year: Cathy Pill (ITS#TWO) and Mikio Sakabe (ITS#FIVE) have been selected as finalists for the new Mango Fashion Awards, while Marcus Wilmont (ITS#FOUR - together with Maki Aminaka they form the brand AminakaWilmont) is among the 4 finalists of Fashion Fringe! |
 Now you reasonably might want to know something more about these two events. Let's start with Fashion Fringe, which is based in London. It was created by Colin McDowell, fashion historian and senior fashion writer for the Sunday Times Style Magazine (he will be in the fashion jury at ITS#SIX). Its purpose is to help Britain regain its place as a powerhouse of original and creative fashion by searching for the British fashion designers of the future. The competition is now in its fourth year and is certainly a great opportunity for any British fashion designer who wants to make it in the UK. Only 4 finalists (which makes Marcus's achievement even more important) are selected every year at the beginning of June and for the following three weeks they are asked to work on a collection of 10 outfits (with full support for the development of the collection provided by the organisation). The winner gets lots of help to launch their own business in the United Kingdom as well as visibility (the finalists show their collections during London Fashion Week). It certainly is different from what we do, and it is undoubtedly a great chance for the lucky winner! The Mango Fashion Awards is a new competition created by the famous Spanish (now multinational) womenswear company with shops all around the globe. It selects 10 finalists worldwide with the support of five important fashion design schools: IFM - Institut Français de la Mode in Paris, Central Saint Martins in London, Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Istituto Marangoni Milan and ESDI - Escola Superior de Disseny, Barcelona. To be chosen as a finalist you must prove that you have already been selling your collection(s) commercially and possibly be under 35 years of age. The selected finalists are supported in the development of the collection for the competition with pocket money. The winner receives a cash prize of 300.000 Euros...And that's quite an amount! |
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| We called Marcus on the phone a few weeks ago because we wanted to know if he could help us out and get a ticket for the Graduate Fashion Week show of the school he teaches in (an ITS envoy has flown to London to see as many school shows as possible and take note of all interesting talents...), and while we were chatting he hinted at some very special news that he couldn't tell us about yet, promising to inform us as soon as he could. A few days after we heard him again and he told us the good news about him and Maki being among the finalists of Fashion Fringe. It is a very important opportunity for them: Aminaka is doing well, in spite of the fact that a new born brand (as we have said a thousand times) always struggles for establishment in a market saturated with all kinds of fashion proposals. Marcus and Maki are working night and day and spending all of their resources to keep their dream alive. Fashion Fringe could be an excellent opportunity for them to receive that financial support/advice and that visibility which could help them struggle a little bit less for survival. At present they are working very hard on this project, they have all it takes to succeed and we really wish them all the best. Mikio Sakabe is working a lot on his own brand (named after him), which he opened shortly after his participation at ITS#FIVE (you can have a look at his website, www.mikiosakabe.com). Because he is younger than 35 and is already selling his own creations, he met the requirements for the Mango competition. Nevertheless, he was obviously very surprised when his mobile rang while on the Yamanote train line in Tokyo, and a voice from the other end of the phone said "You have been selected as a finalist for the Mango International Fashion Awards!" Mikio told us that for this competition he is working on something totally new, a totally different approach to creation that we are eager to see, unlike what we have seen from him in the past. About the prize for the winner, he simply told us: "If I win, I will keep the money in the bank and think about the future very seriously..." That definitely makes sense...Such a sum deserves some thinking! Like Mikio, Cathy Pill fits the Mango requirements and with her own brand she has been receiving a lot of attention over the last three years. She shows in Paris (and was even invited to show at Paris Haute Couture) and is getting much attention from the press. We did not have a chance to talk to her about being selected for Mango, but we can imagine she is working hard to prepare a collection that can give her the chance to win. This September we will therefore wave our ITS flags and blow our ITS trumpets to support Marcus, Mikio and Cathy. On our heads we will wear a bandana that says: "we discovered them first!!" |
