The fabulous side of Zurich: Swiss Textile Awards

If you were on Twitter (and if you follow me) you might have noticed that last night I was tweeting from Puls 5, a convention center in Zurich West. I was there to attend the Swiss Textile Awards, a fashion show featuring emerging designers who have excelled in the craftsmanship and use of textiles in their designs. The Swiss Textile Awards was celebrating its 11th year of promoting and helping promising new designers  by featuring their latest collections and awarding the winner 100,000 Euros to help them expand their brand.

Last year’s winner was Alexander Wang, who was the guest of honor at last night’s show and also presented his Spring/Summer 2011 collection. But let’s focus on the contestants – I’d like to share some of the designs from my top three favorites!

First up: Jason Wu. He is incredibly, amazingly talented. He talked about how he keeps a notebook by his bed, because he gets his best ideas in the middle of the night, and he wants to be able to just reach over and start sketching; and about how he works so much on the details, until he is really happy with a piece, until it’s perfect – “because  the only way to do something… is to do it perfectly.” His clothes are beautiful and not entirely removed from what an average fashion-loving woman might have in her wardrobe:

I also loved Duro Olowu‘s collection, and his intro – he came across as really passionate about the process of putting together beautiful garments that don’t force the woman who wears them into anything constrictive or limiting, both as far as the fabric and cut and as far as the look. His clothes flowed beautifully, they made me happy just looking at them.

And last but not least, the breakthrough artist of the night: Mary Katrantzou.
Mary said she was inspired by Givenchy and Jean Paul Gaultier, with their eye for the shape of women’s bodies – and you could see that in the clothes, that were well-cut, sophisticated but also irreverent. And part of that irreverence was, I think, a hint of Alexander McQueen – the unusual details and prints, that might have seemed like just too much in the hands of a less skilled designer, but somehow not only worked out, but resulted in something truly stunning. Mary has a background in architecture, which is what she studied before turning to fashion, and you can see it in her designs – not only in the perfect structure and interesting cuts – you can literally see architecture on her pieces, since most prints feature interior designs. Sounds odd? It is, and yet absolutely gorgeous.

Mary was the winner of the Swiss Textile Award for 2010. And you can see why:

(And if you can’t see why, just click on the individual pictures to see the stunning details.)

Honorable mention goes to Adam Kimmel, whose collection was inspired by Snoop Dogg, and who definitely got everyone’s attention (don’t all girls secretly like bad boys?) by choosing to have his clothes modeled by non-models, guys who looked like he recruited them straight off the mean street of New York. Turns out it was the mean streets of Zurich – who knew there was so much badass potential in conservative Switzerland? Genius Adam! And thank you for giving space to real people. And providing eye candy for the many many women in the audience with a soft spot for bad boys.
What a great evening! I’m really looking forward to Saturday night, when I’ll attend the Closing Show… and tell you all about it of course.