Every year since 1989, international individuals and businesses who have made the most outstanding contributions to the fashion industry during the previous 12 months are honored at the British Fashion Awards organized by the British Fashion Council. This year, in the Royal Albert Hall in London, several Italian names have been called on stage and acclaimed by the public.
Gucci prevailed on four other fashion houses – Balenciaga, Burberry, Off-White, and Prada – and won the prize for Brand of the year. While, Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli won the title of Best designer beating Alessandro Michele from Gucci, Clare Waight Keller from Givenchy, Kim Jones from Dior Homme, and Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton.
Among the nominees for Best business leaders, besides Gucci’s CEO Marco Bizzarri, who won the title for the third year in a row, another Italian was Marco Gobbetti of Burberry, along with Jonathan Akeroyd, CEO of Versace, Michael Burke of Louis Vuitton, and the CEO of Farfetch, José Neves.
As previously announced, Miuccia Prada received an Outstanding Achievement Award for «her extraordinary contribution to the world fashion industry». British Fashion Council chairman Stephanie Phair said: “Mrs. Prada’s intuition for the zeitgeist and her blending of multiple creative disciplines including fashion design, art, and architecture since the beginning have made her a pioneering force in our industry.”
Ilona Catani Scarlett