Launched in 2012, the International Fashion Showcase celebrates London’s position as an international fashion city with a reputation for nurturing emerging talent. Organized by the British Council and British Fashion Council, IFS 2014 was an exciting opportunity for nearly 30 countries to showcase their most talented young designers. The Showcase was a festival of emerging designer talent which continues to champion fashion as a cultural expression. It offered a collective welcome to creative talents from across the globe and – unique to London Fashion Week – it also opened its doors to the public, allowing them a first glimpse of some of the most exciting international designers. For the first time a central venue at 180 The Strand hosted 14 of the showcases.
This central space that hosts IFS 2014 was designed by architect Pernilla Ohrstedt Studio and showed the work of exciting emerging designers from countries including Argentina, Austria, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Nigeria, Paraguay, The Philippines, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland and Vietnam. Other countries displaying the work of emerging designers in satellite exhibitions across the capital were Brazil, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Panama, Quebec (Canada), Romania, Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden), Tanzania and The Netherlands. Romania’s designers for IFS 2014 were: Lucian Broscatean, Ioana Ciolacu, Lana Dumitru, Cristina Sabaiduc.
In 2014 there are two new awards, for a designer and a curator, as well as the overall Showcase winner awarded to one participating foreign embassy or national cultural institute. These were presented at an awards ceremony held during London Fashion Week at our central venue 180 The Strand. Showcase Award – Estoniafor their exhibition ‘Fashion Now: Estonia’, Curator Award – Yoshikazu Yamagata (Japan), Designer Award – Hyein Seo (Korea). The award winners were selected by a panel of experts, representative of both the business and cultural spheres of the fashion industry, chaired by Sarah Mower MBE, BFC Ambassador for Emerging Talent. Other members of the panel include: Anna Orsini (British Fashion Council), Robb Young, (Contributor International New York Times and Business of Fashion), Susie Lau (StyleBubble).
We will leave you with a couple of snapshots taken during IFS by Cristina Stan, one of the funders of Skip a Heart Beat, which was one of the organizers of IFS 2014 from British Council.
Article created in collaboration with Skip a Heartbeat.
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