Westpac Young Fashion Designer Competition 2013

Posted by anya on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 · Leave a Comment

This morning the Top Ten semi-finalists for this year’s Westpac Yound Fashion Designer Competition 2013 (#WYFDC) were announced. I love this competition each year as you get to see some amazing design at work – and we get to be part of the process of choosing who wins!

Starting today, and until midnight on Sunday 25 August, we can cast one vote per day for our preferred designer collection by clicking through the ‘Contests’ tab on the Westpac Young Fashion Designer Competition’s official Facebook page Westpac Young Designer of The Year Facebook

The three young designers who get the most public votes by Sunday 25 August will travel to Auckland to present their collections in front of the judges during New Zealand Fashion Week. After a dramatic runway walk-off at the Westpac RED COLLECTION show, the winner will be announced live!

The judging panel for the Westpac Young Fashion Designer Competition 2013 is The judging panel this year is comprised of Zambesi menswear designer, Dayne Johnston; Fashion Features Editor of the New Zealand Herald’s Viva magazine, Zoe Walker; and the Editor of REMIX magazine, Tina Moore.

It seems that this years decision making was easier than in past years with the ten finalists being clear standouts. I have seen Louella Huang at Whitecliffe and her work is amazing – so if that is the level of this year’s finalists – then we are all in for a treat.

So, here are the Top 10 finalists in the Westpac Young Fashion Designer Competition for 2013:

Petra Benton, Auckland

Wynn Crawshaw, Te Puke

Grant Davy, Hamilton

Steve Hall, Wellington

Matt Hickmott, Wellington

Louella Huang, Auckland

Sean Kelly, Wellington

Ayla Rorvik, Wellington

Zoey Radford Scott, Wellington

Georgie Veitch, Wellington

Now in its fourth fashion-forward year, the influential Westpac Young Fashion Designer Competition (#WYFDC) celebrates and champions New Zealand’s most promising student fashion designers. The award has been going for four years now and has produced Georgia Currie, winner in 2011, who has release her ss2013/14 collection called New Game under the label Georgia Alice. She won the prize package which included NZ$5000, an internship at Zambesi (how incredible is that?) plus Westpac business banking advice. Last year, 21-year-old Jack Hill, a Bachelor of Design (Fashion) student at Massey University in Wellington, came out on top after three rounds of judging and almost 10,000 public votes.

The WYDC is open to all students who are completing a New Zealand fashion-based terry course, or have graduated in the last four years.

While the voting will be done on the Facebook Page, Instagram will keep people updated with what the entrants are up to – you can follow their progress by using the hashtag #WYFDC

Key Competition Dates:
Wednesday 14 August, 2013 – Top 10 semi-finalists announced on Facebook, public voting commences
Midnight, Sunday 25 August, 2013 – Public voting concludes
Wednesday 28 August, 2013 – Top 3 finalists announced
Friday 6 September, 2012 – Westpac RED COLLECTION show at NZ Fashion Week, winner announced live!