Get To Know All The Winners From The 2020 BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund

The BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund exists to seek out and support the industry’s future stars, with the winner announced alongside British Vogue’s annual presentation of the shortlist. It is always a talent show like no other, but this year it took place at a moment like no other, too. So, for the first time in the competition’s history, the £200,000 award and offer of mentoring will be split evenly between all the finalists. To learn more about the finalists, whose work is modelled by Fran Summers, styled by Jack Borkett and photographed by Scott Trindle, in a shoot which appears in the June 2020 issue, scroll on.

Rejina Pyo

In recent years, a new wave of creatives have recognised that their designs ought to serve the lifestyles of the women they dress – and Rejina Pyo’s artful brand of modernity is leading the charge. “We create wearable pieces for real women and the full lives they lead,” notes the South Korean designer. “I am fascinated by the ritual of daily dressing, and how clothing can enhance the power and beauty of the wearer.” Propelled to success by the favour she found in the wardrobes of industry editors, her playful twists on convention have since established her as a new-gen fashion darling, and her gently sculptural silhouettes and tailoring have become contemporary staples. “To me, personal style is about the expression of a mood or feeling – and being comfortable in your second skin,” she notes. A sentiment worth buying into.

Charles Jeffrey Loverboy

Since its inception in 2014, the subversion that defines Charles Jeffrey Loverboy has established the label as a cornerstone of contemporary queer culture. It has also evolved from a brand born out of a Dalston club night into an international success story. Charles Jeffrey’s dramatic silhouettes and punk-inflected tailoring offer theatrical impact, but the simultaneously developed smash-hit knits and sustainable basics have found ubiquity beyond disco-lit dancefloors. “There’s definitely a Loverboy ‘look’,” the Glaswegian reflects, on how his designs have infiltrated the world at large. “I recently compiled a book of all the photos Loverboy was tagged in on Instagram. It’s gorgeous to see it translated in so many ways, yet still hold an identity.” 

Alighieri

Rosh Mahtani’s approach to founding her jewellery brand was unconventional to say the least: in 2014, after completing a one-day course in wax carving, she turned up at a Hatton Garden goldsmith with a handmade wax crustacean, wondering if the craftsmen there could cast it into a charm. They could, and Alighieri was born. In the years since, Mahtani’s idiosyncratic jewellery – inspired by, and named in homage to, the cantos of Dante’s poetry – has evolved into equally alluring ranges of shoes, ready-to-wear and homeware. All Alighieri jewellery is designed and manufactured within a six-street radius of its London HQ, and Mahtani is dedicated to forging good relationships both within her supply chain and with her devoted customers. “I want to bring people together through objects and stories,” she says of her totemic designs. After all, “jewellery has always been a universal language across cultures, since the beginning of time – and, right now, I think that’s more important than ever.”

Halpern

Anyone with the faintest proclivity for sequins will likely be familiar with Michael Halpern’s designs: while his nascent brand may only be three years old, he is often credited with prompting a contemporary resurgence of 1970s sparkle. His escapist fantasies – realised through corseted, flared jumpsuits and gold lamé gowns – have become a compelling antidote to the ominous realities of recent years, their magnetic allure evoking the best of Studio 54 hedonism. “With the current state of our world, there always seems to be more and more need for people to escape, to give themselves some respite from some of the scary things happening,” he reflects. You’d be hard-pressed to slip into his floor-sweeping, shimmering eveningwear and not, if only for a moment, feel better about the world. “I love that I can provide that,” he continues. “If I can bring the women who wear my clothes some joy or happiness, then my job is done.” 

Métier

“You wouldn’t buy a luxury car if it didn’t drive; you shouldn’t buy a luxury bag if you can’t carry it.” So says Melissa Morris, who, in 2017, founded Métier – a range of leather goods rooted in perfectly engineered practicality. Marrying midcentury minimalism with modern, modular design, Morris was determined to prove that what you carry day-to-day needn’t be “a tiny handbag or a giant, bottomless pit” – and her profoundly useful, meticulously crafted pieces are a case in point. Be it calfskin carryalls that conceal snap-out shoulder bags, or collapsible totes designed to slip inside roomy cabas numbers, her brand is an essential for anyone seeking resolute functionality in its most elegant form.

David Koma

In the decade since he founded his eponymous brand, David Koma has become a favourite of red-carpet stars from Scarlett Johansson to Michelle Obama. But his dedication to technical development and precise fit ensures his sleek silhouettes flatter all women. “I imagine her as a 21st-century femme fatale,” explains the Georgian-born, London-based designer. “Every decade has its own sense of modernity and glamour. The magic happens when you find a balance and place it within the context of the current world.”