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Press Information
12 July 2010
The Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize judges have just announced the five short-listed semi-finalists who will compete for the grand prize to be announced in November 2010. These include Chau Har Lee; Hermione de Paula; Louise Goldin; Mary Katrantzou and Thomas Tait.
The judging panel, which includes legendary shoe designer Manolo Blahnik; British fashion designer Giles Deacon; style icon The Hon. Daphne Guinness; milliner Stephen Jones, OBE; model and designer Yasmin Le Bon; Vanity Fair’s contributing editor Elizabeth Saltzman and ES magazine’s fashion director Gianluca Longo, spent this afternoon at The Dorchester short-listing the five semi-finalists from the 69 designers who applied for the inaugural 2010 Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize.
Bronwyn Cosgrave, chairperson of the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize, says; “The calibre of designers who have entered the first Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize has been impressive and exceeded our expectations. We are thrilled. It has been a very hard task to narrow down a list of five semi-finalists from the entrants. Yet we are in agreement that those selected are among the UK's most gifted fashion designers whose work also evokes the spirit of the Dorchester Collection’s iconic hotels and, therefore, projects a sense of individuality, luxury, style and craftsmanship."
The winner of the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize will receive accommodation and an event, tailored to their needs, at a Dorchester Collection hotel of their choice. The exceptionally gifted designer, of ready-to-wear or premium accessories, will be awarded £25,000 to enable them to create their next collection.
Dorchester Collection’s Fashion Prize is a groundbreaking initiative and is the only international fashion prize, which will take place annually in a different fashion capital. Dorchester Collection’s Fashion Prize provides an opportunity for Dorchester Collection to nurture the next generation of fashion industry legends.
Dorchester Collection
The Dorchester Collection is the successor to the Dorchester Group, originally established in 1996 to manage the collection of hotels in Europe and the USA. The Dorchester Collection is a portfolio of the world’s foremost five-star luxury hotels.
The launch of Dorchester Collection in 2006 signalled a change to the strategic goals of the company. By applying its unrivalled experience and capability in owning and operating some of the world’s great individual hotels, the company’s mission is to develop an impeccable portfolio of the world’s finest hotels, both traditional and contemporary, through acquisition as well as management of wholly-owned and part-owned hotels, and to enter into management contracts for luxury city hotels.
Backing the strategy is a strong company branding that expresses the market’s universally high regard for the current portfolio and the distinctive common values held by all Dorchester Collection hotels. The current portfolio is owned and managed by Dorchester Collection:
The Dorchester, London
The Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills
Le Meurice, Paris
Hotel Plaza Athénée, Paris
Hotel Principe di Savoia, Milan
The New York Palace, New York
Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles (closed for refurbishment until spring 2011)
Coworth Park, Surrey, UK (Opening September 2010)
45 Park Lane, London (Opening spring? 2011)
For further information on Dorchester Collection hotels please contact:
Sophie Darley or Jackie McDevitt at Peretti Communications
Telephone: 020 7244-1930
Email: sophie.d@peretti.com / jackie.m@peretti.com
19th February 2010:
London, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris and New York - in every major fashion capital there is an iconic Dorchester Collection hotel. By launching the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize, the Dorchester Collection becomes the first luxury hotel group to award a fashion honour.
To inaugurate the prize on Friday 19 February in the Penthouse & Pavilion at The Dorchester in London the noteworthy panel of judges will gather for the first time. The judging panel includes the world’s finest shoe designer Manolo Blahnik, British fashion design star Giles Deacon, style icon The Hon. Daphne Guinness, milliner Stephen Jones, OBE, model and designer Yasmin Le Bon, Vanity Fair’s contributing editor Elizabeth Saltzman and ES magazine’s fashion director Gianluca Longo. Bronwyn Cosgrave, chairperson of the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize, selected the judging panel and explains: “The Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize is a groundbreaking initiative and so it called for groundbreaking fashion forces to select the winner.”
This international prize will take place annually in a different fashion capital and will start in London in 2010 to be followed by New York in 2011. Over the course of 2010, the judges will award one exceptionally gifted designer, of ready-to-wear or premium accessories, with £25,000, to enable them to create their next collection. Applicants must have established design businesses and have operated their brand for two consecutive years in the country in which the prize is based. So the applicant must live and work in the UK for the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize 2010.
Designers can apply on line at www.dorchestercollection.com between March – mid May 2010. The winning designer will be announced at an awards ceremony in November 2010 at The Dorchester and will receive accommodation and an event, tailored to their specific needs, at a Dorchester Collection hotel of their choice. The work of the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize winner must evoke the spirit of the Dorchester Collection’s hotels and, therefore, project a sense of individuality, luxury, style and craftsmanship.
"The Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize is our opportunity to give something back to the fashion industry. Dorchester Collection hotels have long been considered a home away from home for the world’s finest fashion professionals. They are where they love to stay and play and, in doing so, they have added glamour and style to our uniquely individual hotels."
”The Dorchester, for example, has been the preferred outpost of a legion of British style leaders including Lady Diana Cooper, Elizabeth Taylor, Tom Ford and Kate Moss. At Le Meurice in Paris, Coco Chanel hosted elegant dinner parties during her 1930s heyday.
Also in Paris, Christian Dior opened his office and flagship store on the avenue Montaigne simply because of its proximity to the Hôtel Plaza Athénée, whose guests he wanted to attract to his “second home.” Dior, a noted gourmand, frequently lunched at the majestic hotel, which also provided a backdrop to most of his campaigns and couture collections.
Most recently the penthouse atop The New York Palace has played home to Serena van der Woodsen, the modish lead character portrayed by Blake Lively on the runaway hit TV series Gossip Girl. While the “world of fashion” - that is, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, Stella McCartney and Laudomia Pucci, among others - has always checked in to Milan’s Hotel Principe di Savoia – Dolce & Gabbana held their 50th birthday party there.
Irene Dunne and Loretta Young - Golden Age Hollywood’s best dressed actresses - once owned the Beverly Hills Hotel and the stunning “pink palace” along with the plush Hotel Bel-Air, which reopens in 2011, are the hotels where the film industry’s finest traditionally decamp to prepare for the world’s most watched fashion show - the Oscars.
And so, aside from the funds the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize will endow, granting a designer an event at one of its legendary hotels is a uniquely substantial benefit.
Editors Notes
Dorchester Collection owns some of the world’s great individual hotels. The company’s vision is to become the ultimate hotel management company, with a passion for excellence and innovation, honouring the individuality and heritage of its iconic hotels. This will be achieved through acquisition as well as management of wholly-owned and part-owned hotels. Dorchester Collection’s Chief Executive, Christopher Cowdray has set out the company’s goal to have between 15-20 hotels by 2015.
The current portfolio managed by Dorchester Collection includes
The Dorchester in London
The Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills
Le Meurice in Paris
Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris
Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan
The New York Palace in New York
Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles
Coworth Park, Ascot (opening 2010)
45 Park Lane, London (opening 2011)
For further information please contact:
Julia Record,
Director of Communications,
Dorchester Collection
jrecord@dorchestercollection.com
Tel: +44 207 319 7524
Or
Sophie Darley,
Peretti Communications
Sophie.d@peretti.com
Tel: +44 207 244 1930