A NEW award scheme to promote the work of Northern Ireland fashion designers has been announced.
The Guinness 1996 Fashion Awards, announced yesterday, will be presented in the Whitla Hall at Queens's University Belfast on Friday, November 1st, in the course of a charity evening to raise funds for breast cancer research.
There will be two award categories, for commercial and student designers, and entries for both closed yesterday.
According to the event's organisers, the primary criterion for eligibility is that the designer must currently be working in the North. Some 20 applications have been received for each category and all work submitted will be considered by a panel of judges.
Although there have been earlier fashion award schemes in Northern Ireland, this is the first event to showcase both students and commercial designers together. Some eight of the former and 10-12 of the latter will have their work shown on November 1st in a show hosted by Ms Caryn Franklin, presenter of the BBC's The Clothes Show.
Underlining the commercial benefits from participation in the event, a number of fashion buyers will be invited to attend as guests of LEDU, the local government agency which assists small businesses in Northern Ireland.
The winner in each category will receive a prize of £1,000 together with a specially designed trophy. In addition, the student who comes first will be sent to work with a British design house before next season's London Fashion Week.
Members of the audience at the awards will not be overlooked. A troop of "fashion police" will be on patrol carrying out selective arrests of "the most appropriately-dressed patrons" who will be invited on stage at the end of the evening to receive awards.
