MELBOURNE: L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival (LMFF) has announced the finalists for the 2010 Designer Award presented by Woolmark.
Dion Lee, Dhini, Gail Sorronda, Gary Bigeni, Lui Hon, Konstantina Mittas and Therese Rawsthorne were chosen from a broad field of entrants.
The finalists will present their capsule autumn/winter 2010 collections in a runway presentation at LMFF in March.
They will face a judging panel comprising representatives from Vogue Australia, David Jones and Myer. The 2009 winners Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett from Romance Was Born will also be on the panel, along with LMFF festival director Karen Webster.
The award recognises designers in their first five years of business, who excel in creative design, quality and have the potential to grow within the industry.
The winner will receive a $10,000 cheque from Woolmark and commemorative award. The winner will be flown to either Pitti Filati trade show in Florence or Premier Vision trade show in Paris. There they will be introduced to Woolmark’s extensive network of contacts.
It is the 14th installment of the Designer Award. Previous winners include Ben Pollitt of Friedrich Gray, Toni Maticevski, S!X, Mad Cortes, Josh Goot, TV and Yeojin Bae.
The presentation will be on March 16 at 7.30pm at Atlantic, Central Pier, Docklands.