NEWGEN SS13... THE WINNERS ARE...

Posted by Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large

From left: Work by J. JS Lee; Christopher Raeburn; Michael van der Ham; J.W Anderson; Simone Rocha; Lucas Nascimento; Lim Cooper; Huishan Zhang with shoes by Sophia Webster; Palmer Harding; Sister by Sibling and Marques Almeida

As you might know by now I sit on the NEWGEN panel with my esteemed colleagues in the British fashion industry, headed by the wonderful Sarah Mower MBE, BFC Ambassador for Emerging Talent. It is a great privilege to be part of the group selecting the talent representing the best of new British fashion design to the world, and it is not a task any of us take lightly. Each season we comb the colleges, look closely at graduates and fledgling fashion businesses, spending hours deliberating on the right way to distribute the TopShop/BFC provided funds fairly and for maximum effect to the designer and London Fashion Week. The scheme has seen the likes of Alexander McQueen, at the inception of NEWGEN in 1993, Christopher Kane, Erdem and Jonathan Saunders (and many, many more) pass through its doors.

Yesterday, the latest recipients of NEWGEN sponsorship for the Spring/Summer 2013 season (showing in September) was announced, and I had something of a baptism of fire when Sarah Mower asked me to step in to announce the winners of her behalf at the last minute due to a back injury brought on, no doubt, to her spending all weekend attending menswear shows in her amazingly high and gorgeous Rupert Sanderson heels. I wish Sarah a speedy recovery, and of course huge congratulations and good luck to the designers. All the hard work begins for them now.