On Friday November 30th 2012, the Dutch and international fashion industry came together in the Grote Kerk in The Hague to enjoy the 6th edition of the Dutch Fashion Awards. All guests were seated at individual tables set with white linen; an evening that embraces the spirit of innovation. A jury consisting of 12 leading figures in the international fashion industry rewarded Dutch fashion talent with a series of prestigious awards.
With his collection, Mattijs van Bergen managed to obtain the Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award with a financial reward of 25.000 euro. With his colourful collection MATTIJS was the grand winner of the evening. In addition to the Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award, van Bergen also received the International Fashion Incubator Award. The jury was unanimous in its decision; Mattijs van Bergen is the ambassador of Dutch creativity within the international fashion world, stating: “A contemporary interpretation of the current luxury market in which the signature of the designer is clearly present. Mattijs van Bergen bears the flag of Dutch fashion”. With the Mercedes-Benz Dutch Fashion Award 2012 the jury declared that this designer has the most potential of making a name for himself internationally within the near future.
It was also the third year that the Dutch Fashion Incubator Award 2012 was presented. For the second time in a row Hyun Yeu was the rightful winner of this prestigious award. During the award ceremony, the Fair Luxury Award and the Dutch Touch Paris Award were respectively granted to Elsien Gringhuis and Anne de Grijff. Innovation and design came together in the awards themselves, this year designed by Ted Noten.
A select amount of guests from the national and international fashion industry was invited to sit back, relax and witness the catwalk presentations of the nominated designers while enjoying a light dinner prepared by the Italian chefs de cuisine of La Molisana, several wines by Italian wine estate Angelo D’Uva and dance performances choreographed by Martin Butler. It was an evening to be enjoyed by all the senses. The presentation of the evening was in hands of Dutch actress Hanna Verboom.
Dutch Fashion Awards 2012
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, resulting in a pre-selection of 45 designers. For the 2012 edition of the Dutch Fashion Awards this criteria check resulted in a list of 5 eligible designers.
Nominees Dutch Fashion Awards 2012:
Anne de Grijff
Hyun Yeu
Mattijs van Bergen
Marga Weimans
Elsien Gringhuis
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 2012:
Antonella di Pietro – Global accessories director at Karl Lagerfeld, Amsterdam
Antonio Cristaudo – Marketing Development Manager at Pitti Uomo, Florence
Bruno Collin – Founder of WAD magazine, Paris
Ceyda Balaban – Creative Director Harvey Nichols Turkey, Istanbul
Géraldine Florin – Fashion Buyer for Galleries Lafayette, Paris
Giovanni Pungetti – CEO Viktor&Rolf and Maison Martin Margiela
Mandi Lennard – Owner Mandi’s Basement, London
Mauro Galligari – Founder of Studio Zeta, Milan
Roberta Valentini – Owner of Penelope Stores, Brescia
Harmeet Bajaj – Owner and designer at Bian / Dutch Fashion Here & Now India ambassador, Delhi
Stefan Siegel – Founder & CEO of Not Just a label, London
Jana Kern – Freelance journalist and communications consultant, Frankfurt am Mein
Muriel Piasier – Co-chairman of the jury
Awards 2012: Several awards were presented on the evening of November 30th. 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 2012 – Winner: Mattijs van Bergen
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 will receive a financial reward of 25.000 euro which will enable the label to take further steps in the international fashion industry. Mercedes-Benz also offers the winner the opportunity to show his or her collection on the main stage of the Mercedes-Benz Berlin Fashion Week.
Previous winners:
2011: Conny Groenewegen
2010: Iris van Herpen
2009: Sjaak Hullekes
2008: Monique van Heist
2007: Klavers van Engelen
Dutch Fashion Incubator Award 2012 – Winner: Hyun Yeu
The winner of the Dutch Fashion Incubator Award 2012 will receive two sale seasons at the Margreeth Olsthoorn store in Rotterdam. Margreeth Olsthoorn sells high-end fashion brands for woman and men chosen with love and integrity by Margreeth herself. Margreeth Olsthoorn stands for high-end fashion, avant-garde and conceptual design, but also identifies herself with new and classical, young and established, rough or refined, all within high quality standards. This added with her own taste, experience, knowledge, vision, an experienced staff next to her and a lot of personal attention for the clients brings it all together as a whole.
International Fashion Incubator Award 2012 – Winner: Mattijs van Bergen
The International Fashion Incubator Award 2012 is awarded to the designer that shows the most creativity and has the most outstanding and unique signature. This year the International Fashion Incubator Award consists of no less than five prizes. The this consortium award is to give one designer the support that he or she deserves in the entire chain of fashion. All the partners that are part of this award are strengthening each other but are unique representors in their segment of the chain.
The first prize is a financial injection of 4.000 euro from the renowned showroom Studio Zeta to increase the sales potential of the winning label, for the designer for travel and expenses or free to use. Studio Zeta is situated in Milan and its roots in the Italian fashion industry go back 30 years.
The second prize is offered by the prestigious Italian BIFFI boutiques and their Spazio Genova showroom in Milan, providing the winner with showroom space and sales support for two consecutive seasons, a prize that corresponds to a value of 8.000 euro. Spazio Genova is an international showroom for ‘selected brands and selected buyers’.
The third prize is provide by the modern trade fair Pitti Immagine in Florence, offering the winner of the International Fashion Incubator Award one season at Pitti W in Florence and one season at the Super fair held at the Nhow Hotel in Milan.
The fourth prize is a software package provided by Gerber Technology which enables the designer to a more efficient design process. For 25 years, Gerber Technology has helped tens of thousands of companies, educational institutions and government organisations around the world design and grade patterns more efficiently and create optimised markers with the AccuMark and YuniquePLM software systems.
The fifth prize is the winners label being taken up and highlighted on the world’s leading designer platform NOT JUST A LABEL (NJAL), focused on showcasing and nurturing today’s pioneers in contemporary fashion.
Dutch Touch Paris Award 2012 – Winner: Anne de Grijff
The Dutch Touch Paris Award 2012 consists of five prizes. This consortium award is to give one designer the support that he or she deserves in the entire chain of fashion. All the partners that are part of this award are strengthening each other but are unique representors in their segment of the chain.
The first prize is provided by Carnet de Mode, offering the winner the opening of his/her mini-store on its platform to showcase and sell the collection for at least one season to Carnet de Mode’s French and international customers, with exposure on its blog, newsletter with 100.000 members and its social media pages which have more than 20.000 fans. Carnet de mode is the Parisian internet based fashion temple which offers an international showcase of tomorrow’s most talented designers.
The second prize is by virtual B2B fashion platform Le New Black, which tailors to cutting-ege brands and influential buyers. Le New Black sponsors a yearly registration for the winner of the Dutch Touch Paris Award 2012 on Le New Black, with a value of 3.000 euro, to optimise its international sales potential through an innovative and unique tool. The winning designer will benefit from a private B2B online showroom with the ability to showcase an unlimited number of styles per collection, plus all color and material options. He/she will be exposed to a network of 1400 selected buyers from 80 countries and will have their own personal link to send to buyers and sales prospects.
The third prize is international publicity and exposure in WAD Magazine, the renowned fashion magazine that focuses on the new urban and street movement. WAD Magazine counts 300 pages and has a world-wide circulation of 200.000 copies.
The forth prize is a offered by the internationally well-known and renowned French department store Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Historically and profoundly committed to the development of fashion talent, the group Galleries Lafayette accompanies young fashion talent and offers to do so also with the winner of the Dutch Touch Paris Award 2012.
The fifth prize is provide by TRANOÏ, offering the winner of the Dutch Touch Paris Award two seasons at the TRANOÏ trade fair in Paris. The Dutch Fashion Foundation and TRANOÏ have collaborated together for the Dutch Touch Paris campaign since March 2011, with the focus to support Dutch designers in bringing their labels to the French and international market and concentrating on the sales presentation and pr of their collections addressing international buyers, agents and media.
Fair Luxury Award 2012 – Winner: Elsien Gringhuis
The Fair Luxury Award will be granted to the designer who is the most successful in striking a balance between the Three P’s: People, Planet and Profit. The Fair Luxury Award is the result of collaboration between the Dutch Fashion Foundation and SeeMe, a fair luxury brand created in 2011 to the benefit of victims of domestic violence. The award represents a value of 10.000 euro, of which 1.500 euro is a cash prize. The remaining 8.500 euro allows the winning designer to develop products in collaboration with the incredibly skilled women working for KEID in Turkey. KEID is an organisation at work in the slums of Ankara, at the socio-economic insertion of victims of domestic violence and disadvantaged women.
The Fair Luxury Award is installed with the aim to bridge the luxury industry, which includes high fashion, with the fair trade movement. It is born out of the conviction that it is high time for the luxury industry to embrace and adopt a fair and sustainable code of conduct, both in production and trade, in order to create products that not only look good, but also feel good for all involved.
Dutch Fashion Icon Homme & Dutch Fashion Icon Femme 2012 – Winners: Carlo Wijnands & Liesbeth in ’t Hout
The designers chosen by the Academy of Dutch Fashion Design in the first round of the nomination procedure, have together chosen their favourite male and female Dutch Fashion Icons. It is a collective voice of the designers, an homage to the muses and Dutch fashion wearers and a respected acknowledgement within the Dutch fashion scene.
Previous winners:
2011: Elle Verhagen & Maarten Spruyt
2010: Stacey Rookhuizen & Jean Paul Paula
2009: Bonnie Orleans Voss & Ferry van der Nat
2008: Aynouk Tan & Carlo Wijnands
2007: Carice van Houten & Ruud van der Peijl
A digital magazine was developed specially for the Dutch Fashion Awards 2012: