Siki Im and Tanya Taylor were announced as the menswear and womenswear winners, respectively, of the 2015/16 International Woolmark Prize USA Regional Final at Milk Studios in New York. Chosen from amongst the 10 most promising talents in American fashion design, both winners gain a financial contribution from the Woolmark Company, a subsidiary of the Australian Wool Innovation, of AU $50,000 (US $37,110), plus the opportunity to represent the USA and compete in the prestigious international final.
The final for menswear will be held in Florence in January 2016, and the womenswear final will be held in New York in February 2016 with an additional award of AU $100,000 (US $74,210), plus the opportunity to be carried in premier retailers globally, such as Harvey Nichols, 10 Corso Como, Saks Fifth Avenue and David Jones.
A judging panel comprising Ariel Foxman, Editor-in-Chief, InStyle; Colleen Sherin, Vice President, Senior Fashion Director, Saks Fifth Avenue; Eric Jennings, Vice President & Fashion Director Menswear, Home, Food & Gifts, Saks Fifth Avenue; Francisco Costa, Women’s Creative Director, Calvin Klein Collection; John Varvatos, Chairman, John Varvatos; Malcolm Carfrae, Global Head of Communications, Public Relations and Media, Ralph Lauren; Michelle Lee, Director of Americas for The Woolmark Company, Stefano Tonchi, Editor-in-Chief, W Magazine and Steven Kolb, CEO, CFDA; selected the two winners.
Label.m provided the hair for the show. The fashion conscious professional haircare brand is no stranger to the catwalk scene having been an official sponsor of London Fashion Week for the past 23 seasons. Richard Mannah, label.m USA International Artistic Director, led the hair team backstage. Asked why the brand got involved with the International Woolmark Prize, Mannah says, “A lot of these designers will be showcasing at Fashion Week. That’s the whole idea. And for us to build a relationship with them, for them to be happy with the hair, could lead to things in the future which would be great for us because at label.m we are known to be at the heart of Fashion Week. We are sponsors of London Fashion Week so to get that involvement here with the younger, cooler designers… who knows where that will lead to and where it will grow into?”
Mannah and his team used a range of products, but heavily relied on three heroes to pull of the looks. “If you’re doing a greasier look, the Argan oil is great. You can be quite generous with that. Even though it doesn’t make your hair greasy when you dry it in, if you just put it on top and air dry it, it does gives it a wetter look. Miracle Fibre has been a great one. Volume Mousse has been our key product today. Before we do a lot of the finishing of the hair, we always prep it with mousse because it allows the hair to be more malleable and gives it a really nice texture whether we’re working with the curling irons, whether we’re putting it up, we just need a good prepping product. Volume Mousse, for us, has been the key product for backstage today,” says Mannah.
About label.m Professional Haircare: label.m is an extensive range of ‘edge-driven’ prescriptive, Professional Haircare products – where ‘Fashion meets Iconic Styling.’ label.m is created, developed and endorsed by the award winning TONI&GUY International Artistic Team, led by Sacha Mascolo-Tarbuck, Global Creative Director. label.m products form part of the prescriptive ethos of the ‘4C’s Collection’: Cleanse, Condition, Create, Complete – excluding Therapy a stand-alone specialist sub- range. label.m is part of TONI&GUY, the world famous hairdressing brand which has 50 years (1963-2013), combined quality with both fashion and style.