2012 Projects!
January 23, 2012
We'll give you a nice overview of the 4 competition areas for 2012 here, so that you can have the full picture of what will be required from contestants and what's new for the eleventh edition of ITS.
To begin with, let's talk about ITS FASHION, the area that started it all, organised with our partner DIESEL, with us since the very beginning. Without them, probably ITS would not even exist as it is. Open to all young fashion designers in their last year of college, to recently graduated designers and to young designers who are already working in the business though struggling to emerge, the fashion competition is at the core of ITS and celebrates its 11th anniversary this year. It has featured designers of the like of Peter Pilotto, Aitor Throup, Michael Van der Ham, Aminaka Wilmont and many more, and can certainly be considered as one of the best opportunities to get visibility in the ever-competitive fashion world. Without going into details, which you can find (and MUST read if you are enrolling...) in the entry requirements, we'd like to remind you here about the Diesel Award Special Project. This will involve only the selected finalists, who will be challenged by Diesel with a brief, soon to be unveiled, for the development of an outfit, which will have to be produced and presented during the ITS 2012 fashion show. Diesel will take into consideration both the collection enrolled for ITS and the special project when selecting the winner. The award, as most of you already know, is spectacular, to say the least: a cash prize of €25,000 and the unique opportunity of getting an internship with the Diesel design team, in the headquarters in Breganze (Molvena), Italy. Just to give you a hint of what this internship could bring to, bear in mind that Heikki Salonen, the winner of the award in 2008, has developed his career at Diesel and became the responsible of the womenswear line...
Moving to ITS ACCESSORIES, we are now in the seventh edition of what is still the only international competition entirely dedicated to all sorts of accessories, from hardwear to softwear and footwear. We've been able to launch this very much-awaited competition area thanks to our partner YKK, an international group of companies with a leading position in the fastenings industry that strongly believes in supporting creativity. Every year YKK challenges all contestants enrolling in the accessories competition with a special project intended to explore new and undiscovered ways of using fastenings. We've seen amazing projects in these years, from Anna Sheldon's zipped boots to Tomasz Donocik's customized puller and Yuima Nakazato's flat boots. This year the YKK Award special project will be different. Each portfolio submitted for the accessories competition must also include, so as to be eligible for the YKK award, an accessory design made by the applicant which makes use of a fastening product supplied by any member of the YKK Group of Companies (you can find a complete sample book online at ykkfastening.com). YKK, by the way, encourages the use of its Excella® Curve and Excella® Size 12 products. The selected finalists will be then required to produce their proposal to be showcased during the accessories Vernissage on Friday 13 July. This project will be mandatory for ALL contestants enrolling, with no exception! So go to the entry requirements and read very carefully what you have to do! There's €10,000 waiting for the winner, together with the opportunity to get promotional advertising by YKK EUROPE LIMITED!
ITS JEWELRY is now in its second edition after the very successful experience of last year. Our partner for this area, SWAROVSKI® ELEMENTS - the premium brand for the finest crystal elements manufactured by Swarovski - is back and thrilled exactly as we are to see what the best young jewellers out there will come out with for the SWAROVSKI® ELEMENTS Jewelry Award. Again, just as with the accessories area, the special project devised by SWAROVSKI® ELEMENTS will challenge ALL contestants and will be mandatory in order to enrol in the jewelry competition, without exception.Therefore all projects that will not include a proposal for the special project will not be accepted, as explained also for ITS ACCESSORIES. Participants shall provide an artistic and a technical sketch for each of their 3 proposals for jewels containing SWAROVSKI® ELEMENTS. Said 3 proposals will have to develop a specific brief created by SWAROVSKI® ELEMENTS. Selected finalists shall create at least one prototype from the 3 jewelry proposals submitted, which will be showcased in the jewelry exhibition during the finals in July. What's in store for the winner? There's €10,000 waiting for him/her plus a 6-month internship at the SWAROVSKI® ELEMENTS headquarters in Wattens, Austria. Everything, by the way, is explained very clearly in the competition entry requirements, much more clearly than here...
And what about ITS PHOTO? The seventh edition of our photography competition will again see some of the best photography schools as well as up-and-coming photography talents from all around the world. In these years we've seen our finalists win prizes at the World Press Photo, like Mashid Mohadjerin for example, work together with icons such as Sarah Moon and Ari Marcopoulos, or broaden their professional horizon through challenging Masters courses offered by the prestigious SVA - School of Visual Arts in New York. We'll very soon have the whole entry requirements online with all details to enrol. If you go to the home page of the photo section, you can insert your email address and we will get in touch with you to inform you when enrolment procedures are open and ready!
In short, you've got two months to give it your best shot, be it in fashion, accessories, jewelry or photography. Challenge yourself, show us what you're capable of, don't tell yourself "I'm not good enough, it's too hard for me, I won't be selected". That's not the right attitude. Just do it, and do it as best as you can! Regardless of the final result, this is going to be a valuable training, plus you can be sure that your work will be seen by professionals and will remain in our archives as long as ITS exists!
