2023 Designer Winners
Ready-to-Wear Award
Aisling Camps
After graduating from Columbia University, Aisling Camps worked as a Mechanical Engineer focusing on sustainability. Her creative urges drew her to FIT where her design skills bloomed into an affinity for knitwear. The Trinidad native started her eponymous brand after graduating from FIT and specializes in superior-quality knitwear.
Her studio is based in Brooklyn and after much research and perfecting, she sources her yarns from Italy.
Each piece is either meticulously made by hand in Brooklyn by a small dedicated team or outsourced to a family-run factory in Emilia- Romagna, Italy that has been specializing in knitwear production for three generations, since 1954.
Creativity Award
Puppets and Puppets
Carly Mark is the founder and creative director of Puppets and Puppets. Originally from the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, Carly moved to New York to attend the School of Visual Arts. She then shifted into the fashion world, showing her first collection in Fall Winter 2019. Through fashion, she is able to merge her love of art and fashion.
Jewelry Award
L'Enchanteur
Soull & Dynasty OGUN are artists and designers, based in Brooklyn and the founders of L’ENCHANTEUR, a creative incubator inspired by science, color theory, mysticism, folklore, numerology, and healing. Soull and Dynasty have been creators, and designers since very young ages, where they would create jewelry from hair decorations their mother would buy, or take apart garments and reimagine them to their personalities. Through their designs, Soull & Dynasty seeks to communicate the inspiration of spirituality behind each of the works they exhibit, from jewelry & garments to small furniture and textiles.
Graduate Award
Papa Oppong
Born on the 11th of March 1992 in Accra Ghana, Papa Oppong Bediako is a fashion Illustrator, fashion designer, and a new-age artist. Papa’s fashion journey kicked off at a very early age by way of playing with Barbie dolls. Through his work, Papa seeks to show the world that Africa is a goldmine of talent and potential, and can be as influential in fashion as the rest of the world is. Papa has designed RTW looks for West African textile giant Woodin, illustrated for makeup giant MAC cosmetics, art directed and styled a fashion show for Adidas (Ghana) and worked with several African brands including ethical fashion brand Studio 189. The young designer has also gained a lot of praise and accolades from media giants such as CNN and Forbes, the latter naming him as one of 15 young Africans re-branding the continent. Papa Oppong holds an MFA in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City where he currently resides.
Sustainability Award
Elena Velez
Elena Velez is an American fashion designer and artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, based in New York City. Her work is known for its non-traditional synthesis of metalwork and high fashion. Velez graduated from Parsons School of Design and completed her studies at Central Saint Martins in London. Of Puerto Rican heritage but raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Velez claims that the industrial nature of her nontraditional upbringing as the only child to a single mother who is a ship's captain on the Great Lakes influenced her current artistic identity, one which she says draws heavily on the relationship between femininity and force. Her company, founded in 2020, was subsequently featured in Forbes for its work with Midwestern makers and mission to 'democratize resources and recognition' for artists outside of traditional creative capitals.
Inclusivity Award
Agbobly
(Formerly Black Boy Knits)
I was born and raised in Togo, Africa, and immigrated to the Westside of Chicago, Illinois, with my family in 2007. Living in Togo, I spent most of my time at my grandmother’s, who rented part of her home to tailors and seamstresses in order to afford rent. As a young queer child, I often felt isolated and spent most of my time crawling under the cutting tables watching in awe as they turned brightly colored-printed African textiles into unique custom-made pieces fit for each client.