Eight emerging designers will receive NEWGEN support, sponsored by TOPSHOP, to showcase their AW16 collections at London Fashion Week (LFW) 19th - 23rd February 2016.
Ashley Williams, Claire Barrow, Danielle Romeril, Faustine Steinmetz, Marta Jakubowski, Molly Goddard, Ryan Lo and Sadie Williams will all receive support this season.
Ashley Williams and Ryan Lo will both host catwalk shows while the other designers will host static presentations. Both Marta Jakubowski and Sadie Williams first joined NEWGEN for AW15 and have had installations within the NEWGEN area in the Designer Showrooms for the past two seasons. This February both designers will showcase their latest collections with a standalone presentation on the LFW schedule for the first time.
Each of the NEWGEN designers will be allocated a dedicated pop-up showroom space within the Designer Showrooms at Brewer Street Car Park, each designer will take residence after their show or presentation to maximise sales potential.
The NEWGEN committee has also selected Roberta Einer as One-To-Watch for this season. The recent Westminster fashion graduate will present an installation in the NEWGEN area within the Designer Showrooms. Faustine Steinmetz and Marta Jakubowksi were both previously selected as Ones-To-Watch before graduating to full NEWGEN support.
Sarah Mower MBE, BFC Ambassador for Emerging Talent, Contributing Editor to Vogue US and Chair of the NEWGEN selection commented: “Thanks to the sustained support from Topshop and Sir Philip Green NEWGEN has been London’s prime generator of exciting talent for over a decade. The long-term pattern of success was again readable at this year’s British Fashion Awards, where former ‘graduates’ J.W.Anderson, Erdem, Mary Katrantzou, Thomas Tait and Jordan Askill swept the board. Emerging Talent nominations were also won by Molly Goddard and Faustine Steinmetz, who are still in the NEWGEN scheme, and will return with their remarkable presentations in February. They’re joined by Ashley Williams, Claire Barrow, Danielle Romeril, Marta Jakubowski, Ryan Lo and Sadie Williams, as well as Westminster University recent graduate, Roberta Einer, who steps into the One-To-Watch slot. On their behalf, I would like to thank the NEWGEN committee for their mentorship, commitment and enthusiasm, and everyone who is inspired by backing up our young designers and seeing them fly.”
Mary Homer, Managing Director, TOPSHOP commented: "Supporting emerging talent is at the very heart of the TOPSHOP brand and we are incredibly proud sponsors of the NEWGEN initiative. Seeing the prestigious alumni that the scheme has nurtured, as well as the promising names that are currently part of the programme, demonstrates the intrinsic importance of NEWGEN to the continuing development of home-grown talent for a global stage."
NEWGEN is a BFC initiative that supports the very best emerging talents and aims to build global, high end fashion brands for the future. The scheme offers designers financial support and showcasing opportunities at London Fashion Week. NEWGEN designers are identified by their creativity, strong design aesthetic and point of difference. The BFC, with support from the NEWGEN committee and TOPSHOP, will deliver individual mentoring and business training to assist the designers as they develop their business infrastructure and skills.
Since its inception in 1993, NEWGEN sponsorship has acted as a promotional launch pad for young designers including Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane, Erdem, Jonathan Saunders, J.W.Anderson, Marques’Almeida, Mary Katrantzou, Nicholas Kirkwood, Roksanda Ilincic and Simone Rocha.