DUTCH FASHION AWARDS 2008 - Dutch Fashion Foundation

On November 7th 2008, Dutch fashion designer Monique van Heist won the Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award 2008. She received a financial reward of 25.000 euro to enable her to take further steps in the international fashion industry. The international jury and its honorary member Christine Ellis chose Monique van Heist out of seven nominated designers during this second annual Award show. Monique van Heist not only won the Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award but also the Dutch Fashion Media Award and the Dutch Fashion Incubator Award.

On this festive evening 800 guests were invited to the Beurs van Berlage in the heart of Amsterdam. The presentation on the evening was in hands of Dutch actress Hanna Verboom. The winning label of the Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award 2007, Klavers van Engelen, showed its latest collection as part of the evening program. The awards presented were designed and produced by the Dutch design atelier Ted Noten. Monique van Heist not only won the Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award but also the Dutch Fashion Media Award and the Dutch Fashion Incubator Award.

© PETER STIGTER DUTCH FASHION AWARD 2008 — © Peter Stigter

Dutch Fashion Awards 2008

Nomination
To become nominated for the Dutch Fashion Awards, the criteria are that the designer:

– graduated from a recognised (inter-)national fashion academy,
– owns the Dutch nationality, or has been living and working in the Netherlands for at least 5 years,
– runs his or her own registered enterprise,
– has developed at least five collections under his or her own label,
– shows a striking talent creating a fashion label with distinguished style and knows to present this convincingly,
– is nominated by at least 3 members of the Academy of Dutch Fashion Design,
– has already taken strategic steps onto the international fashion market.

In order to guarantee an objective and independent vote, the Dutch Fashion Foundation has invited a select group of national decision makers and key-players in fashion to serve on the Academy of Dutch Fashion Design. The Members of the Academy of Dutch Fashion Design, including the winners of all previous editions of the Dutch Fashion Awards, each listed their individual top 10 of most promising Dutch fashion designers. For the 2008 edition of the Dutch Fashion Awards this criteria check resulted in a list of 5 eligible designers.

Nominees Dutch Fashion Awards 2008:
Monique van Heist
Mada van Gaans
Joline Jolink
G+N
Francisco van Benthum
Jeroen van Tuyl
Percy Irausquin

International jury
An international jury of top-ranking fashion industry professionals representing a cross-section of the international fashion industry, decide objectively which designer they expect is most likely to bring his/her label onto the international market. All jury members invited by the Dutch Fashion Foundation believe in its mission of promoting Dutch fashion on a national and international level.

Jury members Dutch Fashion Awards 2008
Christine Ellis – Director Christine Ellis Associates, Milan
Terron Schaefer – Group Senior Vice president Creative and Marketing Saks Fifth Avenue, New York
Franck Jacquard – Headhunter at Sterling Executive Search, Paris
Paul Helbers – Head menswear design Louis Vuitton, Paris
Andreina Longhi – Director Attila & Co, Integrated Communication Agency, Milan
Beppe Angiolini – Director Camera Italia dei Buyer della Moda, Milan)

Awards 2008: Several awards were presented on the evening of November 7th. There is the much desired Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award with a financial reward of 25.000 euro, which is regarded as the main award, but there are more. The Dutch Fashion Awards consist not only of financial injections but also of substantial in-kind contributions from the national and international industry. There is a growing interest from organisations, companies, institutes, agencies and platforms to share their expertise and to support the nominated designers through channels and products that are of essential value to the realisation of the designers national and international business objectives.

Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award 2008 – Winner: Monique van Heist
The Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award is presented to the Dutch fashion design label most likely to succeed in bringing its label onto the international market. The winner of the Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award receives a financial reward of 25.000 euro which will enable the label to take further steps in the international fashion industry.

Previous winner:
2007: Klavers van Engelen

Dutch Fashion Incubator Award 2008 – Winner: Monique van Heist
The Dutch Fashion Incubator Award is composed of substantial in-kind contributions from the industry to the realization of the ambitions of the Winner of the Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award. This Award extends not only to the support of the label, but as well to illustrate the value these products and channels have for the realization of the designer’s business objectives.

Winner Monique van Heist received the generous offer of three companies in the field of Software and Technology, Sales and Production:

Department store the Bijenkorf offered to take up a part of the winning collection in its assortment to be sold in its flagship stores in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam the next year.

Lectra offered the winner a package and training-course of the Modaris ExpertPro and Kaledo software. These solutions will enable the winner to streamline and accelerate her design process and communication with production facilities.

The Fair Wear Foundation offered not only to the winner but to all the nominated designers a course to get acquainted with the fair wear principles and are being brought in contact with production facilities that comply with the criteria of Fair Wear.

Dutch Fashion Media Award 2008 – Winner: Monique van Heist
The Dutch Fashion Media Award was presented by leading Dutch fashion media and given to the designer that according to the Dutch Fashion Media Academy deserves an extra incentive on national soil through shown excellence in the past year.

This award was made possible by Club Brillant, a collaboration of fashion conscious opticians, offering the winner a possibility to collaborate with a renowned eyewear designer in the development of their own eyewear collection to complement their collections. Also the designer received an incentive of 5.000 euro to invest freely in the development of his/her brand.

Dutch Fashion Icon Femme & Dutch Fashion Icon Homme 2008 – Winners: Aynouk Tan & Carlo Wijnands
The 28 pre-nominees chosen by the Academy of Dutch Fashion Design in the first round of procedure leading up to the final nominees, have together chosen their favorite Dutch Style Icons. A collective voice of the designers, being an homage to the muses and wearers.

Previous winners:
2007: Carice van Houten & Ruud van der Peijl