The Yu Prize, a dedicated fashion prize established by Wendy Yu in 2020 in association with Shanghai Fashion Week and the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM), is aimed to identify and support the careers of emerging Chinese fashion designers. On the occasion of the Digital Shanghai Fashion Week, the completion revealed this year's winners via a series of broadcast videos. The designers were selected by a panel of judges including Iris van Herpen, Harrods managing director Michael Ward, Madame Lu, Mary Katrantzou, Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode’s president Pascal Morand, Otb Group president Renzo Rosso, Sarah Mower, Vogue Italia’s Sara Sozzani Maino, Tasha Liu, Xuan Feng and Xiao Xue.
"Together with our Prize partners, it is our mission to come together to form a foundational eco-system for our creativity community and present promising Chinese designers with career-enhancing opportunities both locally and internationally to enable their future success in this evolving industry,” said Yu, the globally renowned investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
The three awards being presented for this year’s edition are: The Yu Prize x Li-Ning Grand Award, The Yu Prize Rising Voices Award in partnership with Ugg and The Yu Prize Creative Impact Award in partnership with Yumee.
PONDER.ER - Yu Prize x Li-Ning Grand Award
Yu Prize x Li-Ning Grand Award 2022 went to Alex Po and Derek Cheng of Ponder.er for demonstrating all-round excellence and potential in fashion. The brand also scored highly for the creative assignment set by Li-Ning where the 10 finalists were required to create two looks - one conceptual look and one commercial look inspired by the dream of flying high and the continued exploration of possibility in the past, present and future. The designers will be granted a 1,000,000 renminbi cash prize, a collaboration launch with Li-Ning, the opportunity to showcase at the Sphere showroom in Paris for two seasons, a 12 month mentoring program with Otb Group, retailing at Harrods and promotional support on Xiaohongshu.
“Thank you very much to the Yu Prize and Li-Ning for this honour and opportunity. In receiving such recognition from the Prize partners and jury, we feel even more motivated to continue our hard work and introduce our collections to new markets and customers," said Alex Po and Derek Cheng, co-founders of and designers for Ponder.er. "In the spirit of 'Dream to fly', the theme of our upcoming collaboration with Li-Ning and in winning the Yu Prize 2022, our dreams of flying are indeed coming true as we connect our creative world and ideas with reality.”
Yu Prize Rising Voices Award 2022 in partnership with UGG was awarded to Yuchen Han of AlienAnt for the creative assignment set by Collaboration Partner Ugg, where the Prize semi-finalists were tasked with reimagining UGG’s iconic heritage shoe styles, the “Classic Ultra Mini” and “Fluff Oh Yeah”, with an empowering message for younger generation. Yuchen Han will receive a 100,000 renminbi cash prize and his collaboration with Ugg will be put into production, launching to market next year.
“The Yu Prize Rising Voices Award in partnership with Ugg is the best award I have ever won since I started my brand in 2019," said Yuchen Han, founder of AlientAnt. "I can’t explain how much this validation means to a young designer and how excited I am to continue on this journey. I truly feel aligned with Ugg®’s ethos from a design aspect. This collaboration is an amazing opportunity for our visions to come together.”
Yu Prize Creative Impact Award 2022 in partnership with Yumee war awarded to five of the semi-finalists, Louis Shengtao Chen, Private Policy, Ruohan, Victor Wong and Yirantian , a collective of designers for their their unique approach to the creative assignment set by Luxury Chinese makeup brand Yumee, where they were tasked with designing a digital pattern inspired by Chinese art and beauty for application to Yumee's product range. Each winning designer will receive a 50,000 renminbi cash prize.
With a view to further supporting promising Chinese designers through these challenging times, restrictions-permitting Harrods will host a showcase for the finalists in The Harrods Residence in Shanghai later this year. Furthermore in addition to the winner Ponder.er, Otb Group will be offering its mentoring program to all finalists.
Last year, the Yu Prize celebrated Chen Peng, the 2021 winning designer who most recently created the costumes for the prestigious Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Thanks to the support of the Yu Prize, his brand Chenpeng is now stocked at Harrods and has received a 1,000,000 renminbi cash prize which he says “will be primarily invested in e-commerce for digital brand development and growth”. Furthermore in March Chenpeng showcased at the Sphere showroom in Paris together with six other upcoming designers curated by FHCM including the 2019 Lvmh Prize Winner Thebe Magugu.
See also:
The 10 finalists of Yu Prize 2022
Courtesy Image
