Last night saw the birth of a new fashion star when Takayuki Tanaka was named as winner of
the prestigious Cushman & Wakefield Student Fashion Awards at a glittering ceremony at
London's Royal Opera House. Takayuki completed a hat trick for Central St Martins, London
with both runners-up also studying at the world famous college.
The awards are the only national student fashion awards in the country and are organised by
the Chartered Society of Designers (CSD) and sponsored by Cushman & Wakefield. Now in
their fourth year they are open to all second and third year BA fashion and textile students in
the UK.
The final 24 designs from over 350 entries from across the UK were revealed at a catwalk
show at the Royal Opera House which was hosted by fashion designer Jeff Banks FCSD, Past
President of CSD. The panel of judges chaired by Jeff banks also included the king of
stretch jeans Peter Golding, Barbara Horspool, head of womenswear design Marks & Spencer,
Professor Wendy Dagworthy, Royal College of Art, Anne Tyrrell FCSD, vice president British
Fashion Council, Anne Sinclair FCSD and Jill Morris FCSD. Zandra Rhodes, Amanda Wakeley
and fashion editor of the Daily Telegraph Hilary Alexander were also involved in earlier stages
of the judging.
A final eight designs were whittled down from the long list of 24 and included six from
Central St Martins in London along with one from Nottingham Trent University and one from
University College Northampton.
This year the theme was the rich cultural and artistic heritage of Africa, South America and
South East Asia. Takayuki Tanaka took his inspiration from Tibetan monks and received a
cheque for £5,000, a further £2,000 for his course, and the Chartered Society of Designers'
Student Fashion Design Medal. Runners up Hea Joeng Shin and Jeanne Labib-Lamour took
their inspiration from oriental women's foot bondage and Chinese art respectively and each
received £1,000.