TEXPRINT 2016 Winners announced at Premiere Vision Designs in Paris

The British fashion industry is a force to be reckoned with, because it contributes £28 billion to the UK economy and provides employment for some 880,000 people.  The recently concluded London Fashion Week also highlighted that the UK is where design talents are trained and nurtured, and the UK design graduates' skills are among the most sought-after in the global fashion industry.

The 24 finalists of the Texprint awards 2016 with Martin Leuthold in the centre.
© Lucia Carpio 2016

Thus every year when the London-based 30-year-old charity TEXPRINT take their annual brood of design finalists to Paris to take part in the September edition of the Premiere Vision Designs show (formerly Indigo, and an integral part of Premiere Vision Paris), the global fashion, textile and interiors industries not only take notice but flock to their exhibition booths to "shop" for new designs and possibly look for potential new talent to recruit.

This year, as in previous Septembers, much excitement of the three-day show in Paris (September 13–15) was centred on the second day of the fair when the 2016 award prize winners from the 24 finalists were announced, and honoured in a presentation ceremony.

Guest of  Honour Martin Leuthold of Jakob Schlaepfer (centre) with the 2016 Texprint winners (l to r) Megan Clarke, Grace Lomas, Chloe Frost, Jacob Monk and Isla Middleton. 
© Lucia Carpio 2016

      

This time the prizes were presented by  Martin Leuthold, Artistic Director of Swiss company Jakob Schlaepfer, renowned for its innovative textiles for both the fashion and interiors worlds, and the name behind many of the sumptuous textiles that grace glamorous showcases ranging from the couture catwalks of Paris to the red carpets of the Oscars. In her introduction at the ceremony, Joanna Bowring Sponsorship Diretor of Texprint said fashion houses love working with the Swiss company because of its ultra-creative ‘blue sky’ approach – everything is possible in the world of Jakob Schlaepfer.  Leuthold also added later that this was his 80th PV that he had attended, since 1976.  He had previous won the PV Imagination Prize in 2009, and also the Grand Prix Design at the Swiss Federal Design Awards in 2013.

Commenting on the 24 finalists in th 2016 competition, Texprint Creative Director Peter Ring-Lefevre said the designers are individually very different, and he loved that there are very traditional hand-drawn skills applied to fashion and interior.  "It’s very heartening to see because these are skills we don’t want to lose,”

Texprint's Sponshorship Director Joanna Bowring and Texprint's Creative Director Peter Ring-Lefevre.
© Lucia Carpio 2016

So here are the 2016 TEXPRINT winners :-

Texprint Fashion Award:-  Grace Lomas

Texprint Pattern Award:-  Megan Clarke 

Texprint Colour Award:- Chloe Frost

Texprint Interiors Award:- Isla Middleton 

The Woolmark Company Award:-  Jacob Monk

Texprint Pattern Award winner Megan Clarke (above)'s digital and screen printed designs are vibrant patterns with inspiration from hidden courtyards of traditional Moroccan riads, as seen also below
 with emphasis on an abstract hand drawn aesthetic.
© Lucia Carpio 2016

© Lucia Carpio 2016

Texprint Fashion Award winner Grace Lomas at her stand wihere her winning work are showcased (above and below) featuring tactile knitted and woven designs using unusual materials in tonal monochrome colourways to create highly wearable kinetic and sculptural knitwear. 
Photos@ © Lucia Carpio 2016

Texpriunt Interior Awards winner
Isla Middleton's print designs explore and celebrate
the beauty of plant forms through the use
of a variety of  image patterning.
© Lucia Carpio 2016

The judges this year who made their choices back in July at Texprint London  were Nadia Albertini, a couture embroiderer; Fi Douglas, founder of Glasgow’s bluebellgray; Pip Jenkins, head of design at British knitwear brand John Smedley; and Andrew Croll, senior design recruiter for sportswear giant Nike.


The Woolmark Company Award was judged at the PV Designs Texprint pavilion, participated by Aline Galimberti, chief designer of established fabric brand Dormeuil, and menswear desiger Jonathan Christopher.

Woven designs inspired by protective wear and the protection fround in nature (above and below) won Jacob Monk the Woolmark Company Award.
© Lucia Carpio 2016

Creative work incorporating
merinoo wool by  Jacob Monk won him the
Woolmark Prize winner.
© Lucia Carpio 2016

With support from Texprint’s experienced team and industry patrons and matrons on how to market and sell their work, the 24 designers reported commercial success during the Premiere Vision Designs fair in Paris held 13 - 15 September, with many of them selling their designs and even original work to industry leaders and international fashion brands.  Mixed media design winner Grace Lomas, who won the Texprint Fashion Award, told organisers that she was thrilled by the quality of the companies she was meeting. “One moment it’s Marc Jacobs, the next it’s Nike. People are so curious to see our work. They say this is the best area of PV. Maybe it’s because we are working without the constraints of the more established companies.”

Following PV Paris, two of the Texprint designers – Amy Smith and Jacob Monk – will be joining the major Asian show, Intertextile Shanghai (October 11–13).
Seven of the designers are also preparing for extended internships in Como this autumn, where Texprint has long-running connections with the finest Italian mills.
To read about some of the success of previous winners, click here.

Shipshape hair trend sets sail on First Day of London Fashion Week

NAUTICAL BUT NICE

SHIPSHAPE HAIR TREND SETS SAIL ON FIRST DAY OF LONDON FASHION WEEK AND LEAVES FASHIONISTAS ALL AT SEA

Models sporting nautical-inspired hairstyles walk through commuters this morning on the Bakerloo Line, heading to London Fashion Week SS17 for the unveiling of the ‘Captain’s Collection’, which has been created by spirit brand Captain Morgan.   PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo: David Parry/PA Wire

Four models with outrageous nautical-inspired hairstyles caused a fashion frenzy when they made an impromptu appearance outside the Brewer Street Car Park venue of the city’s festival of haute couture.

London Soho had never seen anything like the ‘Captain’s Collection’ unveiled this morning, including a giant beehive octopus, a shipwrecked galleon, a nautical ships wheel and a pirates’ plank - a gravity-defying combover.

The nautical-inspired theme continued across the capital as a crew of models sporting the unique fashion trend, including jewelled eye patches, golden medallions, naval stripes and shimmering fish scale couture, caused a stir among commuters on the London Underground, shoppers on Oxford Street and on the streets of Soho.

Spirit brand Captain Morgan behind new collection bringing nautical fun to high-end fashion.
PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo: David Parry/PA Wire

Each unique hairstyle took a team of stylists four weeks to prepare just in time for London Fashion Week and have been created using a mixture of the models’ real hair, props and extensions.

Rhys Love, Senior Brand Manager of Captain Morgan said: “We all know the world of fashion has a habit of taking itself far too seriously, so after years of parading down the catwalk we believe it’s time for them to walk the plank.  

“We’ve pushed the boat out in the hope of injecting some light-hearted fun back into what people wear with our ‘Captain’s Collection’ of nautical inspired hairstyles.  

“It’s a shot across the bows but we’re not about to declare a mutiny. Our message to London Fashion Week is - don’t batten down the hatches, try loosening the cannons and shaking a leg instead!”

British tailoring brand partners with Prince of Wale's Charity to help disadvantaged young people

Hawes & Curtis, a quintessentially British brand specialising in fine tailoring and accessories for men and women, has created an exclusive collection in collaboration with HRH The Prince of Wales's charity The Prince's Trust that helps disadvantaged young people to get their lives on track.

The collection consists of limited edition shirts for men and women, as well as cufflinks, silk ties and pocket squares, all featuring the special Hawes & Curtis/ Prince's Trust label.

The youth charity will benefit from the sales of these products and the proceeds will help disadvantaged young people move into work, education or training.

The collection was launched in stores and online on 13 September 2016 and will be available for three months.









Hawes & Curtis CEO, Touker Suleyman said: "We are very proud to support The Prince's Trust in its continuous efforts to give more of Britain's young people the chance to fulfil their potential." Jermyn Street shirtmaker Hawes & Curtis was founded in 1913 by Ralph Hawes and George Frederick Curtis,

The Prince's Trust supports 13 to 30 year-olds who are unemployed and those struggling at school and at risk of exclusion.

Tara Leathers, Director of Fundraising at The Prince's Trust said: "This year we are celebrating 40 years of helping young people move into work, education or training. "

He added that some 825,000 young people have been supported by The Prince's Trust since 1976, founded by HRH The Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) to give alms to 13 to 30 year-olds who are unemployed and those struggling at school and at risk of exclusion.

"But our job is far from over; there are still many young people who need support to turn their lives around. Our collaboration with Hawes & Curtis will raise vital funds for The Trust as we support 100 more young people each day. We are hugely grateful to Hawes & Curtis for creating this very stylish collection and for their enthusiasm and commitment to our work," said Leathers.

International textile and leather producers win Premiere Vision Paris 2016 Awards

In order to have desirable fashion that entices consumers, first of all we need to have innovative fabrics and aspirational materials for fashion designers and product developers to stimulate their creativity and produce wonderful clothing and accessories that attracts us to buy them.

Premiere Vision Paris September 13 - 15, Parc des Exposition, Villepinte, Paris,
is a valuable meeting place for all sectors of the fashion, accessories, leather and design industries.

The autumn winter 2017-18 fabrics collections of the exhibitors 
on display at the Premiere Vision Paris show forums.

Such is the importance of the close association among the different sectors of the industry that everyone who is involved in working in fashion, textiles, accessories, leather goods and design, has the need to attend major professional textile and material international trade fairs each season not only to exhibit their own wares and developments, but also to acknowledge and admire new ideas and innovations and to exchange new ideas and directions of the industry.

On Tuesday September 13th, on the opening day of the Autumn-Winter 2017-18 edition of the prestigious Premiere Vision Paris trade fair held at Parc des Expositions, Villepinte, north of the French capital, the fair organisers announced to the congregation of key players of the fashion, textile and leather industry (including weavers, tanners, designers, buyers, as well as international journalists),  the winners of the 8th PV Awards, which was established specifically to celebrate textile and leather excellence.

The prizes are awarded each year to makers of textiles and leather tanners who have produced the boldest, most original, most amazing fabric in terms of decoration, technique, finishing, innovation or technology.

The winning entries were selected among the fabrics submitted by exhibitors in the PV Fabrics as well as the PV Leathers segments of the fair, taken fom the exhibitors' autumn winter 2017-18 collections that were on display at the creatively pressented forums during the Premiere Vision Paris fair.

The winning qualities of the fabrics and leather materials may not be obvious to non-experts, and therefore the PV organisers invited a panel of industry lumineries to judge the entries.

The President of the jury was Olivier Gabet, Director of the Musées des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and together with the other jury members they made their choices from the selection.

In total six prizes were awarded: three for fabrics and three for leathers.

The Three Prizes for PREMIÈRE VISION FABRICS are:-
• The PV Fabrics Grand Jury Prize 2016
VENTURES (India)
For the most outstanding, symbolic and pertinent fabric of the season.

• The PV Fabrics Handle Prize 2016
LUXURY JERSEY (Italy)
For the fabric allying the most astonishing tactile and behavioural qualities, the fabric that touches the emotions.









• The PV Fabrics Imagination Prize 2016 
HENRI PORTIER/ BENNETT SILKS (UK)











The three Prizes got PREMIÈRE VISION LEATHER are:-

•  The PV Leather Grand Jury Prize 2016
DILEATHER (Italy)
For the most exceptional, symbolic and pertinent leather of the season.

• The PV Leather Handle Prize 2016
SAKAMOTO CORP (Japan)
For the leather combining the most amazing tactile and behavioural qualities, the leather that touches the emotions.











• The PV Leather Imagination Prize 2016
ANIL TANNERY (Turkey)
For the most daring, original and amazing leather in terms of decoration, technique, finishing, innovation or technology.

For full details of the 8th PV Awards 2016, click HERE.

All photos: Lucia Carpio (C) My Fashion Connect Global, at Premiere Vision Paris September 13-15 2016

Online brand protection specialist comments on the growing risk of fashion counterfeiting

LONDON FASHION WEEK
16 - 20 September 2016
Main Venue: Brewer Street Car Park London W1F 0LA

As London Fashion Week takes place this week, Stuart Fuller, Director of Commercial Operations at NetNames, – a CSC Company – and leading online brand protection specialist, comments on the growing risk of counterfeiting on fashion brands worldwide:
 “As London Fashion Week gets underway, and thousands flock to the city to get first sight of the world’s most coveted designers’ new lines, there will be fraudsters looking to captalise on the designs through the production of counterfeit versions.

“An issue that plagues the fashion world, counterfeit designer clothing and accessories are the most common articles detained at EU borders for infringing intellectual property rights, making up more than a tenth of all seizures and more than half the total value of goods captured. [1]

“As fashion brands look to online and social media channels to debut their new collections to entice new custom, they also increase the risk of fraudsters using the images to infringe on their intellectual property.

“To protect their reputations and revenues, fashion brands must proactively defend their designs online. Businesses should identify the greatest threats to their brand and seek to remove infringements from the Internet. By taking action now, they can continue to grow their brand and innovate online with the confidence that it is protected.”

[1]   EU Commission, 2013: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/customs/customs_controls/counterfeit_piracy/statistics

Photos: Lucia Carpio, LFW Feb. 2016

Wool lamp shades at Heal's this autumn. YARN the film to launch soon.

We usually associate wool with fashion and accessories, throws and blankets and even rugs.  But what about lamp shades.

Pendant lamp shade in dip-dyed wool made by Jane Withers for Heal's.

Just launched at UK's supremo home retailer Heal's this autumn is a new collection of woolly knitted lighting hand-made by Jane Withers.

Janie Knitted Textiles was established in 2005 by Janie Withers and her partner Michael Hanmer.

The brand ethos is centred around the use of natural fibres such as merino wool, linen and cotton sourced from UK suppliers.

Trained at Nottingham Trent University in knitwear design before working in design studios for knitted textile companies, Jane has concentrated on making and developing knitted fabrics and products since 2000.


Janie Knitted Lighting focuses on using natural British merino wool from the UK, which has been dip dyed.  Now available exclusive to Heal's are geometric lamp shades in Indigo or Cerulean Blue.

Documentary film YARN to launch soon.

While still on the subject, one should note that a new theatrical documentary film called YARN is launching across the UK in a few weeks' time, from October 7th ahead of UK Wool Week.

By Compass Films in co-production with 2M Film Studio, YARN was directed by Una Lorenzen (Iceland) and Co-Directed and Produced by Heather Millard (UK) and Thordur Jonsson (Iceland).  

The film described as a poetic documentary will be released across 40 UK cinemas from 7th October 2016 ahead of UK Wool Week.

Officially selected for SXSW and Goteborg Film Festival 2016, YARN follows four international artists who are redefining the tradition of knit and crochet, bringing yarn out of the house and into the world. Reinventing our relationship with this colourful tradition, YARN weaves together wool graffiti artists, circus performers, and structural designers into a visually-striking look at the women who are making a creative stance while building one of modern art's hottest trends.

The film introduces us to the unique stories of characters from four different countries that use yarn in very different ways. Their view of the world is reflected through their passion with yarn as they travel around the world spreading their work. The characters all have one thing in common - they all work by hand and their work is in one way or another interacting with the environment; as part of architecture, the streets, nature and people. 

The film has been met in the US and Canada with critical acclaim, with the New York Times referring to it as: “You have almost certainly never seen a better documentary on yarn than ‘YARN’… thread and string should be jealous” and The Hollywood Reporter calling it “A fanciful art doc for the craft-y among us.”

Co-Director and Producer Heather Millard said: “We began production for YARN back in 2013 and since then we’ve filmed across 11 different countries (including the UK), worked with a crew from the UK, Iceland, Canada, Poland and Sweden and are now in the midst of our US theatrical release with further releases planned for Sweden, Canada, Australia, Greenland, Slovakia, Netherlands and Greece.”

For more information on YARN, to watch a trailer and to find out where it’s showing in cinemas, click HERE.

Wool Fair & Sheep Drive, and all things woolly

After a pleasurable summer of carefree days and warm sunshine, you probably find the milder weather with a hint of autumn quite welcoming.  Soon we'll be turning our attention to more woolly things as the evenings start to draw in earlier by the day.

A sheep farm on Beachy Head, near Eastbourne in UK's southeastern coast, looking over the English Channel.
Photo by Lucia Carpio (C) My Fashion Connect Global.

A number of exciting things are being staged in September that will put wool in the limelight.

One notable event is the Wool Fair & Sheep Drive due to take place at Monument & London Bridge in the UK capital.

Staged by the Worshipful Company of Woolmen, one of London’s oldest Livery companies and the City Wool Alliance and co-produced by Best of Britannia and Callow Events, London’s first Wool Fair takes place on September 25th, pulling together a range of wool-based traders to showcase the breadth of uses of this incredibly versatile natural fibre.  2016 will be the first year for this exciting new event as an annual accompaniment to the traditional London Bridge Sheep Drive hosted by Nigel Mansell, driving slightly slower than he’s used to.

Woollen transitional scarf by knitwear designer Layla Chelache whose textile pieces reflect her love of colour, texture and sculptural forms. Using the very finest materials, from Scottish cashmere to Italian silk and linen, each scarf, hat or glove is made by hand, on vintage industrial knitting machines in CHELACHE’s London studio.  Photo from Best of Britannia.

Brands taking part include; Penrose, The Wool Room, Crowns & Coronets, Northdown Farm, Southdown Duvets, Chapman House, One Hut Full, Sweet Potato Spirit Company, Chelache, Romney Marsh Wools, Romney Tweed, Blissimore, Ross Barr, Settlers Stores and Elspeth McVey.

Lazy Days and Cozy Nights

Pure new wool throws from the Essentials Range by Tolly McRae in a selection of
soft colours:Village Green, Lady Grey, Damson Gin & Donkey.
Each throw measures 150cm x 180cm

Meanwhile Tolly McRae has launched its Essentials Range, which is styled on their ever popular chunky lambswool throws and produced in pure new wool. They have added in extra softness at the finishing stage to achieve a near lambswool feel, so the result is a really great everyday throw.

As with all Tolly McRae throws and blankets, the Essentials range is woven in a family run mill in the British Isles that has been producing textiles for generations. The arrows are produced in small batches and hand finished by craftsmen passionate about their trade.

Co-founder and owner Danielle Tolson hopes the new Essentials range will allow Tolly McRae bring the ‘rural luxe’ aesthetic into many more homes: “With this range we’re bringing our customers the fabulous Tolly McRae quality and styling they have come to expect, at a more accessible price point. “