Jousianne Propp wins Mulberry Design CompetitionApril 18, 2012 (UK)
Mulberry and the BFC Colleges Council are pleased to announce the winner of this year’s Design Competition. The competition received an unprecedented number of entries from colleges all over the UK and the winner has been named as Jousianne Propp from the Manchester School of Art.

Entrants were encouraged to submit at least five looks solely designed with the autumn/winter 2013 season in mind. Entrants also had to submit all research and inspiration material including mood boards, fabric selections and matter that inspired their creations.

The selection process of choosing the overall winner and two runners-up was a lengthy decision due to the calibre of work submitted, that took Mulberry’s Creative Director, Emma Hill and Head of Ready to Wear, Frances Stringer many weeks to complete and after much deliberation, Jousianne was selected as the winner and will be awarded a £2,000 prize.

Highly commended were runners-up Catherine Bell from University of Westminster who also showed great skill in design and Harry William Butterfield from Ravensboune who submitted a fun presentation with enlightening inspiration.

“Jousianne understood the brief completely; her overall vision of the collection was exactly what we were looking for. The quality of sketches, research undertaken and the presentation in general was professional and sleek,” said Emma Hill.

“We are very pleased to working with Mulberry on this fantastic competition, such a great opportunity to celebrate Britishness in this very exciting year. Both the BFC and Mulberry would like to thank everyone who took part in the competition and for making it such a success.” commented Caroline Rush, CEO BFC.

FAT is perfect stage for next Gen of Canadian designersApril 18, 2012 (Canada)
Fashion Art Toronto (FAT) Arts & Fashion Week launches its 7th year from April 24th to April 28th in Toronto. Vancouver, Calgary and talent from Quebec are part of the |FAT| Arts & Fashion Week line-up in Toronto this April 24-28. Ontario has a massive contingency of talent from across the province: Windsor, Guelph, Ottawa, Hamilton, London and Oshawa. However, the G.T.A of Toronto dominates the schedule at this year’s Arts & Fashion Week festival.

“We want the world to know Canada has incredible homegrown fashion and arts talent. |FAT| was created to provide Canadian designers and artists with a unique platform to showcase their work to the world, on their own terms,” says Vanja Vasic, Executive Director of |FAT|. “The festival’s distinctive vision in presenting diverse perspectives in an inclusive environment, make this event a perfect backdrop for celebrating the immense talent from Canada.”

Introducing the legendary PAT MCDONAGH! This year she’s at |FAT| to present her latest project: PAT Mcdonagh Couture & The Consortium. Spring 2010 marked Pat McDonagh’s 40th year in the fashion business, and she continues to produce two full collections each year. Pat McDonagh was born in Manchester, England of Irish heritage; she studied at Manchester University and the Sorbonne in the 1960s. Pat started her career designing costumes for The Beatles & Diana Rigg of the Avengers. Did you know: Pat McDonagh is also one of the co-founders of what is currently known as the Fashion Design Council of Canada — the FDCC. Pat is showing her collection on Day 1 — April 24.

Showing his collection on April 27th, Day 4 of |FAT| Pedram Karimi was born in Iran and spent his adolescent years in Austria. Pedram started his path to becoming a designer at the London College of Fashion. Halfway through his degree, struggling to make ends meet, he returned to Canada, where he continued at the International LaSalle College in Montreal.

Design talent from outside Canadian borders includes artists and designers from: New York City; Mexico City; Berlin; Lviv, Ukraine; Maastrich, The Netherlands; and the Philippines.

The |FAT| attitude comes to life again this year at our new festival location – a former industrial warehouse located at 213 Sterling Road – Toronto’s new up-and-coming arts & design district. Models will stomp their heels on an 80 foot-long runway featuring 52 innovative fashion collections from top designers within Canada and abroad.

|FAT| has an international reputation for presenting and discovering cool new talent, for instance: Wesley Badanjak, Heidi Ackerman, Martin Lim and Jasper Garvida. Now in its 7th year, |FAT| has presented over 1,000 designers and artists since it first launched in 2005.

|FAT| is the first festival of its kind to present fashion through a broad range of disciplines including – design, film, photography, arts and performance – all under one roof! The festival puts Canada on the fashion world stage as an innovative force to be reckoned with.