Date Posted: Friday 30th November 2018
Priya Ahluwalia was announced as winner of the H&M Design Award 2019, H&M’s annual prize for the best graduate designers from around the world. Priya, a graduate from the MA course of the University of Westminster, London, wins a prize total of €50,000. Now in its eighth year, the H&M Design Award shows H&M’s long-term commitment to the future of fashion talent, and to helping push fashion forward.
Priya’s winning collection combined both recycled materials with new sustainable fabrics, showing the possibilities for the future of environmentally responsible fashion. The London-born designer looked to her Nigerian and Indian heritage to bring stories of the garment waste industry to light, and to show how second-hand clothing can be used in a meaningful way.
Priya follows in the footsteps of the 2017 winner Richard Quinn. Richard made international headlines when HRH Queen Elizabeth II sat front row at his AW18 show at London Fashion Week in February 2018. Meanwhile last year’s winner, Stefan Cooke, is now showing at London Fashion Week Men as part of the Fashion East collective, and is already stocked at stores such as Dover Street Market.
Priya was chosen as winner by an international jury that included: editor-in-chief of German Vogue, Christiane Arp; last year’s H&M Design Award winner, Stefan Cooke; broadcaster and consultant, Camille Charrière; Highsnobiety style director, Jan-Michael Quammie; writer, Charlie Porter and H&M’s creative advisors Ann-Sofie Johansson and Margareta van den Bosch.
For more details and the full list of finalists visit designaward.hm.com.