Hamza Guelmouss (Pic By www.elle.co.za)
A dream came true for Hamza Guelmouss (20) of Morocco’s Casa Moda Academy when he was named the winner of the ELLE Rising Star Design Award 2015 in association with MRP in Hyde Park, Johannesburg.
“Listening to the finalists’ stories during the judging as they took us through their collection made it incredibly difficult to settle on one single winner. There were undoubtedly strong visions and voices in this year’s selection of finalists. Above and beyond this, Hamza had a plan, a clear idea of where he would like to take his brand, a future for his range and a strong signature. His range is a perfect expression of his incredible creativity, design skills, combined with strong craftsmanship and impeccable proportions,” says Emilie Gambade, judge and ELLE South Africa editor.
Hamza and the other finalists, Cara Geach, Daisie Jo Grobler, Blünke Janse van Rensburg, Bianca Messina and Siyabonga Ntini, have been hard at work for the past nine weeks with an online basic business skills training course, run by Get Smarter and the University of Cape Town. They were also bringing their full fashion ranges to life to show them off at the awards event.
“The Rising Star Design Award offers a great opportunity for young designers to make their mark in the fashion world. David Tlale was one of our first winners and he is now an acclaimed international designer, showing his ranges at New York Fashion Week,” says Gambade.
Hamza said winning the award has confirmed that he will make his dream of becoming an international designer come true.
“It is a real challenge for young designers to translate sketches of silhouettes cleverly placed on a mood board into actual garments,” says Joanne Frédéric, Trend Director at MRP and ERS judge. “What designers conceptualise in their heads or draw on paper might be very different from what can be executed in reality. The South African finalists, as well as Hamza, stood out during the judging process because they were creative and fresh. We were impressed by their flair, audacity, skills, love and care.”
The finalists had the opportunity to showcase their collections at a fashion first event in Hyde Park with AFI’s Fasttrack. “AFI Fastrack™ and ELLE Rising Star are creating opportunities for passionate young designers with inspired talent. AFI Fastrack™ is our national fashion incubation programme that gives us the opportunity to curate, mentor and develop young fashion designers,” says Hannelize Robinson, general manager of Africa Fashion Week.
Hamza won R30 000 from MRP to help launch his fashion career and intensive two-week internships with MRP and ELLE. He will also get the opportunity to design a predetermined range that will be sold online and in select MRP stores, as well as the opportunity to show a range at the 2016 ELLE Rising Star Design Award and an annual subscription to ELLE.
“To choose the winner we were looking for a designer who could rise to the challenge of taking a concept and execute it into actual garments. Hamza showed us that he could do exactly that,” says Frédéric.
The six finalists were chosen by the judges from an original top 8 whose garments were used for a fashion shoot in ELLE magazine. Readers also voted for their favourites.
ELLE publisher Gisèle Wertheim Aymés believes that the choice of award partners and the opportunities created at all stages of the awards, demonstrates the importance of the critical balance between inspiration and technical skills, ramp projection and retail appeal, that forms the foundation of the judging.
Wertheim Aymés says Hamza will learn some essential lessons for a designer when he spends his two internship weeks at ELLE. “He will see how we interpret trends to choose garments for our fashion editorials.”
“There must be a golden thread running straight through the project, from coming up with the concept right though to showing the range at the end. South Africa has proven that it can be a leader in fashion with so many local designers on the international catwalks. On the other hand we have a very discerning consumer market that wants good quality and value for money. The ELLE Rising Star Design Award not only recognises emerging young talent, but also offers an important training opportunity and mentorship with leading retailer MRP and the ELLE fashion team, so the winner will know how to turn their talent into profit.”
