About the jury
An international jury of top-ranking fashion industry professionals representing a cross-section of the international fashion industry, decide objectively which designer they expect is most likely to bring his/her label onto the international market. All jury members invited by the Dutch Fashion Foundation believe in its mission of promoting Dutch fashion on a national and international level.
INTERNATIONAL JURY 2011
Owner and manager of Biffi and Banner boutiques, and fashion, art and design showroom SpazioGenova, Milan
As a grandson to the founder of the esteemed Milanese Biffi boutiques, Mrs. Rosi Biffi, Tiziano Cereda proudly carries this fashion powerhouse’s flame into the future. Apart from managing the infamous men’s and women’s Biffi boutiques - there are five now of which three are in Milan and two more in Bergamo - he initiated and runs SpazioGenova, a showroom space in the centre of Milan which is the stylish roof to a hot agenda of selected high end fashion, art and design sales events. As such, Mr. Tiziano Cereda is also the generous benefactor of the International Fashion Incubator Award 2011, which will grant the winning label a nice spot in his showroom, with sales support, for two seasons. (Mr. Tiziano Cereda joined the jury panel only days before the Dutch Fashion Awards 2011 event, gracefully replacing Beppe Angiolini, the Director of the Camera Italia dei Buyer della Moda in Milan, who was unfortunately forced to cancel his trip this year due to personal circumstances.)
Editor-in-chief of Fashion Illustrated and Fashion Science professor at La Sapienza University, Milan and Rome
Fabiana Giacomotti looks back at a long career in print press, working as correspondent, editor or editor-in-chief for newspapers like MFFashion and several magazines like Amica. Next to her chair at the university she is currently editing Fashion Illustrated, the international multimedia platform for fashion professionals, and writes for the political and cultural newspaper Il Foglio. Her most recent book is ‘La Moda è un romanzo’ about ‘style and elegance in literature’.
I'm always extremely intrigued by the opportunity to discover new talents and, even more, to meet with young bright people and listen to their ideas and visions about the future of fashion and fashion markets. I am proud to join the jury of such an important prize, and as always I will be ready to contradict whoever says there's nothing new to say and to create in fashion! As for opportunities for emerging fashion labels in today’s market; of course, the size of the company is important, but the product, the brand positioning even more so. Like any other product category, in today's market fashion brands have to differentiate and offer a distinctive, unique proposal, which wasn't always the case in recent years. Think big! Care about details and marketing, even if you're small.
Worldwide Learning & Development Director at PPR Luxury Group, London
With her background in plant biology Barbara worked in the flower industry and in the organic food sector at Royal Wessanen before joining the Gucci Group in 2006 (now PPR), as learning and development director. A top level human resources job that focuses on improving company leadership. Barbara joins her colleague Kat Nadj on this year’s jury panel hoping to learn as much from the experience as they intend to share.
At PPR management and design work together as a team. If they don’t the business will suffer. The Awards are about talent identification, possibilities for growth, breakthrough potential. What are all the necessary components and what is everybody’s interest? This is where I hope to share my insights. At the same time it is great to learn what kind of support the design side of the business needs for its development. Especially today designers have to think more entrepreneurial than ever, like using the digital sphere to conquer the market for example. I meet really smart financial and businesspeople all the time, who would love to switch to the luxury industry just to work with creativity and a beautiful product. Emerging designers should realise that, just to build a resume in fashion, these professionals are available to help them develop their business plans. Independent designers have to be very smart and confident to gather strong people around them.
Senior HR Manager for PPR Luxury Group, London
Katarina (Kat) Nadj started her career in fashion founding her own business for which she was granted funding by The Prince’s Trust, a trust fund run by the Prince of Wales. After four years of growing the women’s label from its Portobello Market stand to the high street fashion retailers, she sold her stakes to her business partner and moved into ‘Human Recourses’ in 2006. Having worked her way up to a senior position, Kat now looks after recruitment for all the PPR Luxury Group’s brands in the UK, and globally for McQueen and Stella McCartney.
For the past three years I have been on the jury of ITS# which is all about highlighting the talent of creative individuals. What is truly exciting to me about the Dutch Fashion Awards is that it focuses on talented designers who already have a small business up and running. At PPR Luxury Group, we are in the process of developing ideas to support young design talent on a structural level. As we continue to investigate ways in which PPR Luxury Group can help support this talent, we are keen to learn what kind of mentoring could help these aspiring businesses. The business climate out there is hard for sure, but designers, more than anything, have to be creative innovators and stand out with their proposals. They have to set the trends not follow them.
Fashion Director Rinascente, Milan
Tiziana Cardini comes from a vast background in fashion magazines, both as a stylist and fashion editor. She was the fashion director at Italian Glamour and Amica, and she has been a regular contributor to Italian Vogue and their site Vogue.it. In 2007 she was appointed Fashion Director of Renascente, one of the world’s finest luxury department stores, with ten stores throughout Italy and a flagship store in Milan. Through research and talent scouting Tiziana makes sure that international fashion and design trends are well represented in the brand-mix. Rinascente is actively planning to increase its collaborations with emerging talents.
Being in this jury is a privileged position and it will enable me to get a better understanding of what is going on in the Dutch fashion arena. Holland is an interesting new hub for creativity, which I am eager to explore. One of the main activities in my job is talent scouting. A moment like the Dutch Fashion Awards allows me to meet the designer and learn of all the different perspectives of his or her work: the effort, the creativity, the concept, the execution of their work and the ideas they have, also on a commercial level, the positioning of the brand. This moment in time is very unique, even though it may be touch for the economy. Big brands are playing their big games on a global scale but at the same time the market needs unique pieces, unique creativity, unique product and unexpected new talent. For emerging designers it is a good moment to be noticed and to be acknowledged as giving new blood to the industry.
Initiator and owner of L’Eclaireur and Tranoï, Paris
Armand Hadida and his wife Martine opened their first fashion store in Paris back in 1980. L’Eclaireur, as it was called, would soon take its legendary lead in retail pushing a constantly avantgarde mix of luxury fashion and design labels and creating estranging and uncompromising environments working with trending artists. For L’Eclaireur’s 30th anniversary last year for example the Hadida’s collaborated memorably with photographer Gilles Ouaki and artist Arne Quinze. Next to leading six stores in Paris, Armand Hadida is the initiator and owner of the Paris tradeshow Tranoï, which is managed by his son Michael Hadida.
My motivation? I am waking in the morning and sleeping at night and there is only one thing; my motivation is my spine, my oxygen. Martine and I have always followed this same idea of bringing our knowledge, our vision, our sensibilities into this beautiful world of fashion. We always give a lot. Though our experience with the stores we give the maximum because we are at the evolution of what a store is. Anticipation is the key word of our functioning. My team insisted I come to be part of this jury and it is a pleasure to share. If our analysis or point of view helps someone to make the right choices than this is the best. Manifestations like these Awards are important because no matter how small things start, they can grow over time and become very important. We have an obligation to stay curious. The market is at the very beginning of a new story. We are coming from the old world and we are looking for the new world, the new world of consumption, the new world of appreciations, because the culture of yesterday and today are not the same. The Internet is part of this evolution. Yesterday it was small; tomorrow it will be bigger and faster. The market is always in movement.
