TODAY SEES the launch of The Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize, judged by a panel including some of fashion's most influential names. Manolo Blahnik, Daphne Guinness, Giles Deacon, Stephen Jones, Yasmin Le Bon, Elizabeth Saltzman and ES magazine's Gianluca Longo will adjudicate and choose one designer, of ready-to-wear or premium accessories, to receive £25,000.
The prize can be used as the designer wishes in order to create their next collection and develop their career. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in November in The Dorchester. In addition to the prize money, the designer will receive an event in a Dorchester Collection hotel of their choice.
"The Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize is a groundbreaking initiative and so it called for groundbreaking fashion forces to select the winner," Bronwyn Cosgrave, chairperson of the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize, explains of the jury selection.
Designers can apply online at www.dorchestercollection.com between March and June 2010.