The winners of the 2015 Australian Fashion Laureate Awards have been unveiled.
Former Vogue Australia editor-in-chief Nancy Pilcher was handed the most prestigious award at a ceremony hosted at the Opera House last week.
Additional winners across the categories included Maticevski for Best Australian Womenswear, Calibre for Best Australian Menswear, Scanlan Theodore for Best Australian Retailer and STRATEAS.CARLUCCI for Best Australian Emerging Designer.
Pilcher was awarded the Laureate in recognition for her contribution to the industry, through her former roles as editor-in chief for Vogue Australia and vice-president of editorial development in the Asia Pacific region for Conde Nast.
Pilcher was also integral in the establishment of Australian Fashion Week in 1996.
The event held at the Sydney Opera House brought together a number of notables within the fashion industry to celebrate the Australian fashion industry.
Fashion authority and Vogue international editor Suzy Menkes attended the awards ceremony as the guest of honour during her visit to Australia’s fashion capital Sydney.
Pilcher joins the likes of previous Laureate winners including Nicky and Simone Zimmermann of Zimmermann, Jenny Kee, Collette Dinnigan, Pamela Easton and Lydia Pearson of Easton Pearson, Carla Zampatti, Akira Isogawa as well as Simon Lock, the founder of Australian Fashion Week.
An IMG initiative, supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW, this was the first time the Australian Fashion Laureate was orchestrated as a stand-alone event, outside of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia.
For the first time, the recipient of the Best Australian Emerging Designer category was also awarded with $10,000, thanks to St.George Bank.