Otago Polytechnic graduate Rakel Blom won the ID International Emerging Designer Awards last night in Dunedin, with a collection that tapped into the Zeitgeist of global communities and cross-cultural connections.
Blom, who originally hails from Iceland, told Lucire, ‘My biggest passion is travelling,’ and that she had ventured through Asia and Europe before studying in New Zealand.
That passion saw her design seven garments, one for each continent, although only five were required by the competition. Consequently, Oceania and Antarctica were omitted.
The collection was called The World through My Eyes, and featured prints with designs representing each continent. It had been inspired both by travel and textiles. Judges called it ‘eclectic and joyful, sleek, chic and professional, with intricate detailing and true depth.’
In a release, Assoc Prof Karen Webster, guest judge for the competition, said, ‘It absolutely had the “wow factor” but also real depth. There was incredible intricate detailing, including hand-made buttons, stars cut out of Perspex mixed with bold inspirational prints. The collection was a discovery waiting to be made.’
Blom speaks highly of her Alma Mater but despite the win, which includes a NZ$5,000 prize from Peroni, she says her next focus is to ‘find a job.’
Blom’s collection was the crowd favourite at the Edgar Sports Centre, helped by the support of a local crowd. She competed with designers from Ireland, England, China and Australia.
Judge Stephen Jones, OBE, the famed milliner, said that the key themes for the evening were ‘diversity, globalism and everything made to a perfect degree.’
The 1,300-strong audience included two High Commissioners and a consul, cheering on the UK, Australia and China. It was hosted by Shannon Ryan.
China’s contribution also included 10 international models from the University of Shanghai Engineering Science. Aliana McDaniel led the make-up team backstage for Revlon.
A full report from ID Dunedin Fashion Week will follow in Lucire.—Jack Yan, Publisher
Winners
Peroni 1st Place Prize (NZ$5,000): Rakel Blom, School of Design, Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Caffè L’Affarè 2nd Place (NZ$3,000 cash): Emma Boseley, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia.
Strawberry Sound 3rd Place (NZ$1,000 cash): Kathleen Choo, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.
Dunedin’s Golden Centre Mall Prize (NZ$1,000) for the most commercial collection: Blathnaid McClean, National College of Art and Design (NCAD), Dublin, Ireland.
Global Fabrics Award for Excellence in Design (NZ$1,000 cash and a NZ$2,000 voucher): Sohong Lim, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.
The 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards took place in a tent at Santa Monica beach on Saturday, supported by Jameson Irish Whiskey, with Silver Linings Playbook the big winner at the event. Silver Linings Playbook beat rival independent films Beasts of the Southern Wild, Bernie, Keep the Lights on, and Moonrise Kingdom, the other nominees this year. It won best picture, best director and best screenplay for David O. Russell. Jennifer Lawrence, who had already won numerous awards for best actress at other awards, took the same prize at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
John Hawkes won best actor for The Sessions, beating out Playbook’s Bradley Cooper. Helen Hunt won best supporting actress for The Sessions, while Matthew McConaughey won best supporting actor for Magic Mike. Starlet received the Robert Altman Award.
Guests attending included Zoë Saldana, Lemon Zhang, Stephan A. Shtereff, Matthew McConaughey, Camila Alves, Daniel Radcliffe, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Mads Mikkelsen, Jake Johnson, Jason Isaacs, Amy Poehler, Stana Katic, Kyle MacLachlan, Bryan Cranston, Laura Dern, Chris Tucker, Kerry Washington, Emily Mortimer, Alessandro Nivola, Ron Livingston, Rosemarie DeWitt, Melanie Lynskey, Bruce Willis and Emma Hemming, Jeremy Renner, Jack Black, Tanya Haden, Nina Dobrev, Rashida Jones, Ben Richardson, and Benh Zeitlin. Andy Samberg MCed the event.
Top Amanda Seyfried catches the paparazzi’s attention at the 19th annual Screen Actors’ Guild Awards. Above Bradley Cooper and best actress winner, Jennifer Lawrence.
Daniel Day-Lewis. Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman. Olympian Gabrielle Douglas and Jessica Chastain. Robert de Niro and Grace Hightower. Sofia Vergara. Anne Hathaway. Jordin Sparks. Arlene Silver and Dick van Dyke, and Ed O’Neill and Catherine Rusoff.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Wireimage
Michelle Dockery. Justin Timberlake. Peter Facinelli. Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts. Sigourney Weaver. Gretchen Mol. Hugh Jackman. Ben Affleck. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Busy Phillips and Justin Mikita. Sophie McShera, Amy Nuttall, and Phyllis Logan. Katrina Bowden.
Jason Merritt/Wireimage
Jennifer Garner. Jennifer Lawrence. Freida Pinto and Dev Patel. Jennifer Garner and Julianne Moore.
Michael Kovac/Wireimage
Helen Hunt and John Hawkes. Adam Shulman and Anne Hathaway.
Kevin Mazur/Wireimage
Rainn Wilson and Rico Rodriguez; Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Marion Cotillard. Nicole Kidman.
Larry Busacca/Wireimage
Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt. Sacha Baron Cohen, Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck and Isla Fisher. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner.
Stefanie Keenan/Wireimage
Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts. Tina Fey. Kerry Washington.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s first official portrait, by Glasgow-born artist Paul Emsley, has met with praise from the subject, who called it ‘amazing—I thought it was brilliant.’ Art critics, however, have been less kind.
The Duchess, who sat for the portrait at Emsley’s studio in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, and at Kensington Palace last May and June, had requested that she look like a real human being.
At the preview, the Duchess wore a burgundy dress by Whistles (see video below), and appeared healthy despite an earlier and serious bout of morning sickness late last year, which saw her admitted to hospital.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had had a preview of the portrait at the National Portrait Gallery on Friday morning before the official unveiling later that day.
The work had been commissioned by Sir Hugh Leggatt for the Gallery in memory of art collector and philanthropist Sir Denis Mahon. The Duchess chose Emsley herself from a shortlist.
The Duke echoed his wife’s thoughts, saying, ‘It’s beautiful, it’s absolutely beautiful.’
The portrait is now on display at Room 36 of the Gallery.
Some critics were disappointed that the Duchess is not smiling and that the portrait shows the shadows and lines under her eyes. Waldemar Januszczak told BBC News that the Duchess’s eyes lacked sparkle and that she looked ‘dour’. However, Richard Stone, who has painted many members of the royal family, said the painting had an ‘informality’ and ‘warmth’ to it.
WordPress has summarized the year of this news section, and told us something we know already: that our story on Marine Lorphelin being crowned Miss France 2013 was the biggest of the year. This also correlates with our Facebook fan page numbers.
It also put France as one of the top countries accessing Lucire during December, though the United States remains number-one for our entire website. New Zealand, the UK and Australia were consistently in the top five each month.
Last year, we did some quick arithmetic on the interest in Miss France versus its rival pageant, Miss Prestige National. In 2010, the ratio of readers for our Miss France story versus our Miss Nationale one was 2·7: that means, of Lucire readers, nearly three times as many were interested in Miss France than Miss Nationale. Last year, the ratio rose to 8·6. This year, however, the ratio is at 35·6 for Miss France versus Miss Prestige National—not great news for Geneviève de Fontenay and her committee, though if their online viewing numbers are healthy, then their sponsors will continue backing them.
Our second most-read article was on We’ll Take Manhattan, and the interest in Bailey and Jean Shrimpton because of the BBC TV movie starring Karen Gillan and Aneurin Barnard earlier this year.
The passing of Whitney Houston netted a lot of interest globally, and our article on celebrities paying tribute to her came in at number three.
Interestingly, our Miss France 2012 article came in the top 10, as did a story on the Duchess of Cambridge wearing a dress by New Zealand-born designer Emilia Wickstead in May. A 2011 story on Keira Knightley modelling for Chanel Coco Mademoiselle also showed up in our top 10, making Knightley our most searched-for celebrity this year. Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Jean Dujardin appear after our top 10, in 13th place.
The formula remains similar, with pageants, celebrity and royalty gaining the most public interest. As noted on our Tumblr, a number of countries were absent from our readership this year. This includes numerous African states such as South Sudan, Liberia and Lesotho, where fashion is hardly a priority with daily struggles, and Turkmenistan, where the state still has a say on what is and what is not permitted. One reader pointed out that in our map, Kosovo was also missing from our reader countries.
As to our latest articles, pop to the main part of the site, where our Paris editor Lola Saab has her spring 2013 must-haves from New York.
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