As in previous years, the winner will be selected by an international jury on the show evening. Apart from the criteria of creativity and innovation of the collections, their marketability or commercial potential will also be taken into account.
The following finalists have been chosen:
Undercover (Japan)
Jun Takahashi was born in 1969 in Kiryu, Japan. His label has been on the market since 1994 and is sold in many prestigious shops worldwide (Barneys, New York; Maxfield, Los Angeles, Maria Luisa, Paris; Corso Como, Milan, Degli Effeti, Rome; Selfridges and Browns, London). The collections have been shown at the Prêt à Porter weeks in Tokyo since 1994 and in Paris since 2002. Jun Takahashi trained at the Bunka Academy of Fashion in Tokyo.
Giles (Great Britain)
Giles Deacon was born in Durham, Great Britain, in 1969. He founded his own label in 2003 and has been showing at the Prêt à Porter weeks in London since 2004. His collections are on sale at such outlets as Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Liberty and Joseph in London and Bergdorf Goodman in New York. Giles Deacon graduated from the St Martins School in London in 1992; before founding his own label, he worked with Jean Charles de Castelbajac in Paris and at the Gucci Group in Milan. In 2000 he was Head Designer at Bottega Veneta.
David Szeto (Canada)
David Szeto was born in Vancouver, Canada, in 1967. He launched his own label on the market in 1993. David Szeto has been showing his new collections in the Prêt à Porter weeks in Paris. His label is on sale in many stores (Barneys and Linda Dresener, New York; Maxfield, Los Angeles; Harvey Nichols and Browns in London, Galeries Lafayettes, Paris; Beams in Tokyo). He studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. He showed his first personal collection in 1996.
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