Wool, C’est Cool!

The prizewinners of the 1954 International Wool Secretariat Competition; Karl Lagerfeld, left, Yves Saint Laurent, centre and Collette Bracchi, far right.

Sonia Rykiel has been announced as the official patron of the Australian Merino Woolmark Prize launching in Paris, July 2008.

Hailed by the American press as the “Queen of Knits”, French designer Sonia Rykiel launched her label in the early 60’s. She was the first designer to put seams on the outside of garments, and to print words onto sweaters.

In 1980 she was voted one of the world's 10 most elegant women and in 1985 she was awarded Legion d’Honneur by the French government. A published author, Sonia Rykiel has written a number of fashion-related and children books and runs her company with her daughter.

Rykiel will be joined by a panel of global fashion experts who have been selected to award the winner of the Woolmark Prize, and will convene early July to begin the selection process. The jury consists of;

• Sally Singer- Vogue USA
• Véronique Philipponnat- Elle France
• Vanessa Friedman- Financial Times, UK
• Gabrielle Hackworthy- Vogue China
• Olivier Saillard- Musée Des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
• Sarah Lerfel- Boutique Colette, Paris
• Sarah Mower- Style.Com
• Valerie Steele- Fashion Institute of Technology, New York
• Terry Jones- I-D Magazine

The Woolmark Prize has been created to provide support to young fashion designers. Awarding creativity in Merino wool, it is aimed at designers with more than two seasons of professional experience. The Prize will be awarded at the opening of an exhibition presenting not just the work of the 10 finalists, produced by Woolmark, but also an overview of 45 years of Woolmark in images.

The winner will receive aid in sourcing material, production, presentation and promotion of a collection.

High end boutique, Colette in Paris will carry an exclusive stock of a limited edition garment to be designed by the winner of the Woolmark prize and produced in collaboration with Woolmark.

The 10 Finalists are:

• Louise Goldin - England
• Rubecksenyamanaka - Norway/Japan
• Tom Scott - USA
• Everlasting Sprout - Japan
• Chrystl Fischer - Belgium
• Qui Hao - China
• Shao Jia - China
• Cooperative designs (Annalisa Dunn & Dorothée Hagemann) - England & Germany
• Marielle Van de Ven - Holland
• Xavier Brisoux - France

For more information visit www.woolmark.com/prize

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