SYDNEY — Alémais cofounder and artistic director Lesleigh Jermanus has received Designer of the Yr on the 2024 Australian Style Laureate awards.
Introduced at a lunch at Bennelong restaurant contained in the Sydney Opera Home on Thursday, the awards have been the final occasion staged by IMG in Australia after the corporate revealed final week it will be dismantling its native style occasions division, which additionally contains Australian Style Week, which IMG bought in 2005.
Rising Designer of the Yr was received by Gabriella Pereira, who designs underneath the label Beare Park, whereas Indigenous Designer of the Yr went to Grace Lillian Lee. Nagnata founders Laura Might and Hannah Gibbs received the Sustainable Designer of the Yr award and Andie Halas, founding father of social enterprise Thread Collectively — which redistributes extra new clothes donated by the business to the deprived — received the Carla Zampatti Award for Excellence in Management.
The Australian Style Laureate for Lifetime Achievement was awarded to Stephen Bennett, who based the Nation Highway label in 1974.
“We’re thrilled to convey the business collectively for our closing occasion to rejoice the accomplishments of Australian designers and business leaders who’ve been the driving pressure behind Australian style’s cultural and financial impression this 12 months,” mentioned Natalie Xenita, vice president-managing director of IMG Style Occasions and Properties, Asia-Pacific.
On Monday, the Australian Style Council introduced it will be taking cost of AFW’s resort 2026 collections showcase, which is because of place in Sydney in Might. On the time of writing, a working group was being assembled to handle the event of the occasion.
Alémais has been certainly one of AFW’s greatest success tales.
Now promoting to 450 stockists in 57 markets, the model skilled 52 p.c year-on-year development within the 12 months to June 2024 — and 184 p.c year-on-year development in its greatest market: the U.S.
“It has been fairly wild this final 12 months,” mentioned Jermanus, who benefited from an Australian authorities Export Market Growth Grant after working in design positions for native style firms together with Marcs and Zimmermann and founding Alémais in August 2020 along with her husband and enterprise companion Chris Buchanan.
“It’s arduous sufficient for rising manufacturers to to discover a platform to develop on this business. The EMDG grant, coupled with style week, offers designers an actual alternative to share their work with a world viewers. So we want it. I believe as soon as there’s a bit extra of a strong plan [for AFW’s future] and I’m positive that there will likely be, we’d positively look to assist it in whichever means we will,” Jermanus mentioned.