Victoria Beckham Leads The Woolmark Line-Up

Victoria Beckham, Lanvin creative director Bouchra Jarrar, and chairman of the British Fashion Council Natalie Massenet will join a host of fashion's most influential names to judge this year's International Woolmark Prize, the Woolmark Company announced this morning.

Set to take place in Paris on January 23, the event will see Beckham, Jarrar and Massenet joined by editor-in-chief of Vogue Germany, Christiane Arp; group fashion buying director for Harvey Nichols, Anita Barr; singer and actress Lou Doillon; Buro 24/7's Miroslava Duma; fashion and lifestyle editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, Virginie Mouzat; chief brand officer at Lane Crawford, Joanna Gunn; general manager of womenswear at David Jones, Damian Burke; contributing editor to Vogue Paris, Suzanne Koller; senior vice president and fashion director of Hudson’s Bay Company, Suzanne Timmins; co-founder and co-CEO of Boutique 1 Group, Lena Jabbour Matta; founder of System Magazine, Elizabeth Von Guttman; and Stuart McCullough, managing director of The Woolmark Company to select the womenswear winner.

They will be selecting from six womenswear designers from six regions: Toton from Asia; Macgraw from Australia and New Zealand; Faustine Steinmetz from the British Isles; Tim Labenda from Europe; Nachiket Barve from India, Pakistan and the Middle East; and Gabriela Hearst from the USA.

Also joining proceedings in Paris at the end of the month will be the menswear contingency of the prize. Munn from Asia; Ex Infinitas from Australia and New Zealand; Cottweiler from the British Isles; Tonsure from Europe; Bounipun from India, Pakistan and the Middle East; and Rochambeau from the USA will be vying for the top prize, which will be judged by some of the most esteemed names in menswear.

Imran Amed, founder and editor of the BoF; Rami Atallah, co-founder and CEO of Ssense.com; Jefferson Hack, CEO and co-founder of Dazed Media; Michael Hadida, director of development and men's buyer at Leclaireur; Olivier Lalanne, deputy editor at Vogue Paris and editor-in-Chief of Vogue Hommes; Michèle Lamy, Owenscorp partner; Benn McGregor, senior buyer of menswear at Harvey Nichols; Nelson Mui, VP of men’s fashion director of Hudson’s Bay Company; Shayne Oliver, creative director at Hood By Air; Fabrizio Servente, global strategy advisor of The Woolmark Company; Takehiko Suzuki, general manager of men's and sportswear at Isetan Mitsukoshi; Stefano Tonchi, editor-in-chief at W Magazine; and Leilah Weinraub, CEO of Hood By Air will be making the big decision.

All the brands that have reached the finals have already been awarded an AU $50,000 lump sum and mentoring for the last six months. If they win the grand final, they will win a further AU$100,000 prize and will have their collections hosted in top retailers around the world - including Harvey Nichols in London.

To mark the occasion, The Woolmark Company has commissioned Rankin to shoot the accompanying campaign entitled Unravelled, starring Jefferson Hack, Tim Blanks and Carmen Kass and featuring looks from this year's finalists. An accompanying trailer, shot by Isaac Lock, will be released tomorrow.