22 year old Cleo Droomer from the Cape Town College of Fashion Design has won the 2010 ELLE New Talent Fashion Award, in partnership with top fashion value retailer Mr Price. ELLE announced the winner at the opening of South African Fashion Week last night, which was held at Arts on Main in Johannesburg.
Droomer received a cash prize of R25 000 to assist him in launching a career in fashion. He will also be mentored by Mr Price at their head office in Durban for two weeks, where he will get involved in the complete retail cycle and business element of fashion design. Mr Price also gave him R5 000 to use towards the cost of making up this range. He will get to redesign his winning range for mass market appeal to be sold in selected Mr Price stores and will get to showcase his range at the ELLE New Talent Fashion Show at the 2011 SA Fashion Week.
Droomer’s winning designs mirrored ELLE’s New Talent Fashion theme of optimism for the competition. His designs were made up of a mixture of subtle pinks, purple, green, grey and silver and were made from a combination of rough, fun, soft and glossy materials including PVC, leather, silk organza and duchess satin.
The judging panel consisted of ELLE Fashion Director, Chris Viljoen, ELLE Senior Fashion Editor Kirsty Stolz, Mr Price Trend Forecaster Amber Jones, Mr Price Trend and Design Executive Jo Coelho, 2007 ELLE New Talent Fashion winner Tiaan Nagel, Blogger and Journalist Milisuthando Bongela and Dion Chang.
Droomer said; “The Soccer World Cup gave me optimistic feelings of hope. During the World Cup, I spent time observing, thinking and preparing ways to project my feelings in my designs. I used a lot of colour especially with the inside seaming of my designs, and most of it was inspired by our country’s diverse culture and the national flag.”
He said that, his designs were inspired by the people of South Africa, whom he compared to the abalone shell, which is rough on the outside and soft on the inside making them very pleasant people.
“I’m really excited to have won this competition. In the past three months, I’ve worked really hard, physically and mentally, and I’m glad to have been able to capture our country’s new found hope through my designs,” says Droomer.
ELLE Fashion Director, Chris Viljoen said that, “All contestants went through a gruelling process and it was not easy to choose a winner, as all contestants managed to capture the theme of optimism and most of them reflected great craftsmanship in their designs.”
“The judging panel was looking for visionary, well crafted and unique designs with a clear signature. Cleo was able to mirror optimism through his manipulation of the national flag and by clearly defining his designs through the analogy of the shell,” says Viljoen.
Mr Price Trends Analyst Amber Jones said that, “It is pleasing to see the display of masterful vision and how this year’s designs and stories captured the audience.
“Mr Price is proud to support upcoming designers and feel that exposing them to the full retail cycle will ensure we guide our young talent towards a successful future in fashion design. We have benefited immensely from the talent coming into the industry with the two previous winners already contributing towards Mr Price’s retail collection, we can’t wait to include Cleo’s addition into our collection,” said Jones.
“Over the years, ELLE has established amazing platforms to create opportunities for young and emerging talent, and our objective is to continue to support and grow the industry. We want to ensure that we create avenues of entry into the industry for emerging talent to ensure they become a success and make valuable contributions in the industry, and more industry influencers need to come on board and invest in these young people, as they are the future of the industry,” comments Editor of ELLE, Jackie Burger.
