Priya Ahluwalia, a British designer who graduated from the Master of Art program at the University of Westminster, London, won a total prize of 50,000 Euros. In the eighth year of the H & M design award, the event demonstrated the long-term commitment of the Swedish fashion company H & M to the future of talented young people and helped push the fashion world forward.
Since the H & M Design Award was first held in 2012, there have been 4000 registered and more than 100 graduates have taken part in the award. This year’s 2019 H & M Design Award is open to BA and MA graduates from 42 design schools chosen in 17 countries. For H & M, it’s about finding new talents and aiming to reward the best graduates and encourage young people around the world to choose fashion as their future pathway.
Priya Ahluwalia with Recycled clothing
The Ahluwalia collection that won in this competition combines recycled materials with new sustainable fabrics, increasingly showing the fashion world that the possibilities for future fashion are environmentally responsible.
The 25-year-old London-born designer views the Nigerian and Indian heritage in her blood as helping to uncover the story of the garment waste industry and shows how used clothing can be used in a meaningful way. Men’s clothing that she designs is sportswear.
Ahluwalia followed in the footsteps of the winner in 2017, Richard Quinn, who has become one of the new names discussed in the fashion world. Richard Quinn made headlines internationally when Queen Elizabeth II attended the fashion show and sat in the front row at the AW18 at London Fashion Week in February 2018. Meanwhile, last year’s winner, Stefan Cooke, now performed at London Fashion Week Men as part of the East Fashion collective and his work is already available in stores such as Dover Street Market.
Priya Ahluwalia and List of Other Finalists
Other finalists are:
Bo Xu is from the London College of Fashion
Bohyun Park – SADI South Korea
Erica Bergamaschi – Polimoda, Italy
Ervin Latimer – Aalto, Finland
Guusje de Bruin – Artez, Netherlands
Hannah Vanspauwen – KASK, Belgium
Paolina Russo – Central Saint Martins, England
Rebecca Szmidt – La Cambre, Belgium
Regina Weber – Weissensee, Germany.
Each of the finalists has won 5,000 Euros in recognition of their work.
Ahluwalia was chosen as the winner by an international jury consisting of Christiane Arp who is editor in chief of Vogue Germany, last year’s H & M Design Award winner Stefan Cooke. In addition, consultants Camille Charrière; Top-flight director Jan-Michael Quammie; writer Charlie Porter; H & M creative advisor Ann-Sofie Johansson and Margareta van den Bosch.
Ahluwalia managed to win the hearts of the judges mainly because of its ongoing strategy that emphasizes social and environmental impacts, as mentioned by Johansson. Johansson said that Ahluwalia works only with classic materials and uses used clothing as an idea for its design. After graduating with an MA in June, Priya Ahluwalia launched Ahluwalia Studio, and a € 50,000 prize fund will help improve her success in raising her studio.
