The International Woolmark Prize Names Its Winners

As the Pitti Immagine fashion fair kicks off in Florence this evening, the International Woolmark Company announced the winner of their age-old prize in a fabulous show in the Tuscan city. Following the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent, who won the prize as young designers in 1954, three new hopes took home the lucrative awards this year. The New York-based label Dyne won the Innovation Prize, while London-based Matthew Miller won the Menswear Prize and the Indian label Bodice was awarded the Womenswear Prize.

“There was heated discussions about the men’s and women’s winners but the Innovation Award was straight-forward,” said judge Elizabeth von Guttman of System Magazine. “We all agreed that Dyne was the obvious winner because innovation is in his DNA.” Working with merino wool knitted on a special machine to give a beautiful range of texture, Dyne used treated wool that’s waterproof as well as laser cutting the material to give very clean edges. “Last but not least we have a date chip embedded in each garment that interacts with your phone so you can, amongst other things, see where it’s made,” the designer of Dyne, Christopher Bevans, said. “It shows you exactly where the clothes were made, so you can zoom in on GPS.

This is important because it retains sustainability and keeps old crafstmen in business,” said judge Sarah Mower of American and British Vogue. “It’s about how people are treated. This is integral to getting through to this stage.” Dyne premiered a water-resistant windbreaker, the inside of which was all wool. “It’s a new way of using wool because we have such traditional views on how to use it,” said judge Tiffany Hsu of MyTheresa.com. “Typically wool isn’t a functional material but he made it that.”

A key name in London menswear, Matthew Miller won because “he was thinking about form following fiction and adaptability,” Mower explained. “He’s developed a coat which bonds sheepskin onto wool, which has never been done before. It’s smart utility.” He based his Woolmark capsule collection - which every nominee is asked to design - on Dieter Rams’ design philosophy that form follows function. “All the garments connect to each other with a clip system and that basically defined it. I bonded merino wool to shearling and vulcanised wool to make it completely waterproof,” Miller explained. “He had a clever and practical design approach to design,” Gutman reflected. “It’s well-tailored and really relevant to how modern men want to dress. It’s adaptable but also stylish,” added Hsu.

For Bodice, the Womenswear Award win was in the stars. “I knew Bodice from the International Fashion Showcase where she was part of the winning Indian group of emerging designers last year,” smiled Mower, chair of said board under the British Fashion Council, “so I’m thrilled to see her picked up from that stage to this next level.” Sourced in India, designer Ruchika Sachdeva worked from a point of sustainability. “Her work is very elegant and artisanal. She really thought about how the fabrics were created,” Hsu commented. Last year’s Menswear Award winners Cottweiler went on to showcase their most elaborate runway presentation to date this weekend at the Natural History Museum in London, underlining the power of the support offered by Woolmark.