Accent Clothing Sponsors the Designer of the Year Award at LFS 2011
This year saw Accent Clothing taking part in Dress Me Beautiful 2011 Leeds Fashion Show at Leeds City Museum, not only by showing some of its collections from the men’s and women’s store, but by also proudly sponsoring one of the awards: the Designer of the Year Award 2011.
Leeds fashion show is a non-profitable organisation which, for the past six years, has enabled emerging designers, boutiques, models and fashion students to show case their designs and talents to the public.
A brief was set for the Designer of the Year Award, for a six-piece collection to be created for spring/summer 2012 for both men and women. The set theme to inspire them was a glamorous night out at a new bar tipped to be a future hot spot with a guest list to die for. The three finalists for the award were PJA Couture with her collection displaying amazing colours and well cut designs which were beautifully flattering for all shapes and sizes, Domanska Designs and her creative and edgy pieces which still managed to maintain commercial appeal and finally Stay Retro with her flowing designs of retro colour and youthful appeal. All collections were impressive and congratulations to all that took part. Accent Clothing awarded the Designer of the Year Award to Ewa Domanska with Domanska Designs.
The prize from this award took Ewa on an all expenses paid mentor day at Replay Jean Head Office in London with Jason Eames Illingworth (UK and Ire country manager of Replay) where she got to experience and learn about the business and how to treat clients to make them feel special and unique, Ewa commented after the London trip “I enjoyed every minute of the day with Replay, I can already tell it has had a great impact on me and my future. I am so gratefull to Accent Clothing for organizing it for me”
The prize also included a full photographic shoot of the winning six piece collection from Domanska Designs with photographer James Mitchell. These photos would then serve not only as editorial shots for Domanska’s portfolio as product shots for the final part of the prize, but also the amazing opportunity to have the collection available to purchase from Accent Clothing's international website for the minimum of one month.
For the shoot Mitchell stated he wanted to show the collection “in a whole new light” by taking a complete departure from previous photo shoots of the collection. The shoot took place in The Faversham, a local Leeds night club, with a loud colourful set design of balloons and party string inspired from the work of famous fashion photographer David LaChapelle. The make-up reflected the palette of a colourful party, in-keeping with theme the shoot and the garish blue of The Faversham walls and the gold of the huge ornate mirrors really added to the Chapelle-esque setting.
The winning collection consists of 6 pieces. When asked what inspired her for the brief set, Domanska explained that she often turns to cinema for inspiration; this latest collection was heavily influenced by the mysterious character (played by Nathalie Portman) portrayed in the film ‘Black Swan’. The film had both a profound impact on the work and the designer herself, Domanska states “watching the film I was visualising my muse, a very gentle and innocent woman who lives her life striving for perfection. A woman full of passion who completely loses herself in what she loves”.
Accent Clothing is pleased to say the photo shoot was a complete success, the set looked fantastic, the make-up was magical and most importantly the dresses looked amazing. A big thank you must go out to the make-up artists Zaiba Khan Hair & Make Up Studio and the models Angel Browne and Anisha Hamilton, they were great! Thanks to The Faversham for allowing us to use their venue for the shoot and finally thanks to James Mitchell and his unique creativity, and to all that assisted him during the shoot including Rhonda Richards, an event organiser of Leeds Fashion Show.
The final edited photos are fantastic and will be available to see at www.accentclothing.com. Domanksa hopes her collection “will bring something fresh and unique to the fashion industry”.
Domanska Designs will be available to purchase from www.accentclothing.com soon. Prices range from £200-£299. Remember these dresses are exclusive to Accent Clothing; they are not available to buy anywhere else.
