Fashion Fringe 2005

 

{mosimage}Last September the pressure was on to make Fashion Fringe the number one highlight of the Fashion Week calendar. Shaking up the UK fashion scene, the Fashion Fringe competition set up by Colin McDowell, along with a very impressive list of top industry names, went all out, luring applicants with a £100,000 prize to set up their own UK based fashion business.

 

Entries flooded in from across the land, and after several panel discussions the initial shortlist was whittled down to four strong finalists. Being the first of its kind, Fashion Fringe not only had high expectations of the designers but also as an annual event. Combining the glamour of the catwalk with a fantastic party along with food and booze a-plenty is a sure-fire way of getting all in the industry on side.

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Ever since we have been reading about the first Fringe winners; design duo – Basso & Brooke. Already high on their career ladder – they’ve put on their first London Fashion Week show (Feb 05) and are already being stocked in Browns, Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols in London, as well as shops in New York, Chicago, LA, Moscow and Hong Kong. Runners-up Sinhastanic and Rubecksen Yamanaka, design duos as well, have also moved forward leaps and bounds with their fashion careers. 

 

Hailed as a success, Fashion Fringe is now ready to embark on round two of its talent search. The prize once again, is £100,000 of business support for the winning label, along with plenty of expert business advice and not forgetting to mention global press coverage from here to Tokyo. If you are over 18, have a passion for womenswear and a determination to succeed – then this is the competition for you. You don’t have to be a fashion graduate, just full of strong and innovative design ideas.

 

{mosimage}If you’d like to find out what the competition is all about Fashion Fringe is due to tour the country and hold a series of talks. The tour formula worked so well last year that Fringe organizers have decided to do it again, this time with the addition of top British designers – Roland Mouret, Julien Macdonald and Christopher Bailey, of Burberry. Supported by Harvey Nichols and BMW, the talks are free of charge and as each venue only holds 100 seats, places will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.   

 

Fashion Fringe Tour Dates and Venues:

 

London: April 12, Harvey Nichols, 6pm-8pm

Manchester: April 20, Harvey Nichols, 6pm-8pm

Leeds: April 22, Harvey Nichols, 7pm-9pm

Edinburgh: April 26, Harvey Nichols, 6pm-8pm

Dublin: April 27, Jen Kelly, 6pm-8pm

Birmingham: May 3, Harvey Nichols, 6pm-8pm

 

 

 

To find out more about the design brief, competition rules and to download an application form visit: www.fashionfringe.co.uk

 

The closing date for all applications is 27^th May 2005.

 

 

By JoJo Iles