Two Italians among the finalists of International Woolmark Prize

Two Italian finalists at The Woolmark Company Prize, who has just announced the names of the finalists for the European edition. This are Nicola Brognano for the womenswear category and Miao Ran for menswear.

Miao Ran

Miao Ran was born in China and moved to Milan in 2008 to study Fashion Design at Politecnico and the Carlo Secoli Institute. In 2013 he received a master’s degree in fashion design at the New Academy of Fine Arts Milan (NABA). In 2010, designer began working with choreographer Bob Wilson and in 2014 created his eponym of clothing line. Last June was selected by Giorgi Armani to go to the Armani Theater.

Nicola Brognano

Nicola Brognano, Calabria, class 1990, studied Fashion design at the Marangoni Institute. After graduation he worked for Giambattista Valli and for Dolce and Gabbana Alta Moda. In June 2016 he won the competition designed by Vogue Italia and AltaRoma: ‘Who Is On Next’. Nicola launched his Brognano brand in the summer of 2015.

The newly introduced Innovation Award has been created to celebrate outstanding creative and innovative fabric or yarn development in wool. The Innovation Award aims to inspire finalists to be more experimental and creative when developing fabric or yarn for final collections and can be awarded to any of the 12 global finalists. The winner of the Innovation Award will be granted AU$100,000 as well as being presented with commercial opportunities.

Other finalists are: For Antwerp Art Menswear (Belgium); 22/4 (Germany); Jazz Chris (The Netherlands); Miro Sabo (Czech Republic), Neo design (Serbia); Palomo Spain (Spain), L’homme Rouge (Sweden) and Miin (Turkey). For womenswear the finalists are Wim Bruynooghe (Belgium); Mark Kenly Domino Tan (Denmark); Vladimir Karaleev (Germany); Time Alemi (Kazakhstan); David Laport (The Netherlands); Tereza Rosalie Kladosova (Czech Republic); Moisés Nieto (Spain) and Bashaques’ (Turkey).

Each of the recently announced 65 global nominees competing in this year’s regional events will receive AU$2000 to assist in the development of their submission piece, ahead of the regional finals to be held in Dubai, London, Milan, New York, Seoul and Sydney throughout July. In addition, each regional menswear and womenswear winner will this year receive AU$70,000 to go towards their final collection. Prize money for the two eventual winners has also increased, with the global menswear and womenswear winner each receiving AU$200,000.

“The new award, Innovation Award was created to reward those who would better develop avant-garde wool or Merino wool yarn. “Due to increasing pressures on young designers, we have restructured our program spend with a greater focus on the design talent and our partners. “Each year, I am truly amazed with what our finalists present to the judges. Just when you may think you’ve seen it all, along comes an exciting new fabric or innovative new yarn, and that’s why we have established the Innovation Award. It not only keeps competition fierce but it also allows for our prestigious trade partners to get global recognition and ultimately increases the market share of wool.” Said Stuart McCullough, managing director of The Woolmark Company.