Quite rare years ago, fashion competitions are now an integral part of the fashion scene and allow young creators to develop their projects or launch their brands.
Whether they are ready-to-wear brands, magazines or even associations, numerous are companies to launch their own fashion competition. The competitions are diverse : from first competitions of styling at the festival of Hyères in the 80s to the photography or creators’ competitions, all the domains of the fashion are represented from now on in competitions. What allows number of young talents to can show what they are capable of in front of a public and a professionals’ jury.
Fashion competitions are certainly a good advertising, but not only. The opportunities which the winners can get are very real. The endowments are not insignificant, the exposure gained thanks to a victory is also a very good point to allow them to build themselves an address book, more than essential in the environment. By speaking about exposure, the winners of competitions often get a location in lounges like the Who’s Next Paris or Première Classe, an excellent way to be spotted and to found investors.
Numerous big names of the fashion (and not only! ) have from now on a competition in their name. There are famous names like the International Woolmark Prize which exists for more than 60 years and which crowned big names as Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Ralph Lauren and many others, the Andam, which always gathers one of the most prestigious jury or the LVMH prize, more recent but which the subsidies are a real help for the talented artists who have the chance to win it.
And there is more and more competitions of the type over the years. In 2016, it is the Mercedes company, in association with the French fashion designer Alexis Mabille who organized its own competition with ” Mercedes-Benz Stars “. One year earlier, it is the brand The New Designers that launched its competition. There is also the young creators competitions of Dinan, the e fashion award and many others… Fashion competitions are thus a real accelerator of development for the young creators or companies which are lucky enough to be able to mention a victory to the one of them on their resume.
Whether it is in term of visibility through the press publications of press and the lounges to which they are invited, of legitimacy with a recognition of their work by professionals, or even in term of contacts, numerous are the advantages to participate to fashion competitions for the artists who feel capable. And we see new competitions of the type to appear every year, it is as much opportunities for the hidden talents to get themselves in the spotlight.
Matthieu DONKENG ALIMETA
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