Earlier this month, Vogue and the British Fashion Council announced the winner of their highly esteemed Fashion Fund for 2011. Talented British Designers from all over the country fought for the opportunity to turn their already established names into global brands. The prize? £200,000 and mentoring from some of the most successful business people in the industry.

Here’s a look at the seven brilliant British designers have caught the eyes of Vogue and the BFC, and their Spring/Summer 2011 collections.

The Shortlist

Richard Nicoll

Richard Nicoll’s collection of modern eveningwear for SS ’11 meshes influences from the seventies and the forties in a curiously harmonius combination. The soft translucent pleats of the skirts,  juxtaposed with a black and flesh coloured PVC, all accompanied by the David Bowie led soundtrack; with collections like this, it’s easy to see how Nicoll’s brand is growing so rapidly, having acquired more the fifty new stockists over the past two seasons alone. It seems he’s reappropriating commercial success on his own terms.

Jonathan Saunders

Jonathan Saunders steered firmly away from seventies androgyny for his SS ’11 collection, choosing instead to focus on an athletic femininity planted firmly in the forties and fifties. The result is a series of pretty dresses in strong, edgy colours and shapes, with Claire McCardell and Erwin Blumenfeld as his key references. Unexpected colour combinations,the new ‘airbrushed stripe’ and bold silhouettes prevent the  look from becoming too girly.

“Because of my furniture background, my designs have, until now, had quite an androgynous bent, but I feel now is the right time to explore more feminine shapes and ideas,” he told Vogue. Femininity seems to be the way forward for Saunders – his new florals are flying off the shelves.

Saunders is also currently working on his collection for Escada’s Sport label, for which he will be showing a twenty piece collection in June later this year.

E Tautz

E. Tautz is run by menswear designer Patrick Grant, alongside his principal project, Norton & Sons, which was founded in 1821, and which Grant bought five years ago. Grant describes E. Tautz as a more casual counterpart, almost a ready-to-wear version of Norton and Sons’ bespoke Savile Row tailoring. All the materials used by E. Tautz are sourced from around the U.K., and as such are of exceptionally high quality. The only menswear designer in a shortlist dominated by womenswear, E. Tautz is making a stand for heritage inspired design.

Osman Yousefzada

Osman Yousefzada, creator of Osman, showed a clean, pure and impressive collection for SS ’11. Seemingly simplistic clothes were given an extra layer of interest with a fluorescent insert, assymetric fastening or opening to reveal a tiny peek of skin, and the predominantly black and white palette was then coupled with pops of pale yellows, sweet coral and deep chestnut brown. A beautiful combination of the minimalist trend with spring’s new focus brights – his AW ’11 collection is sure to follow suit.

Charlotte Olympia

Charlotte Dellal, creator of Charlotte Olympia, is fast becoming one of the most popular new designers in footwear. Her shoes, which bear the signature gold web on the sole, have been spotted on everybody from Beyoncé to Gwyneth Paltrow, and even Carrie Bradshaw.

“I have to say, it was thrilling to see Sarah Jessica Parker wear my Dolly and Eve shoes,” she told Style.com. “Then Carrie Bradshaw wore them in the last Sex and the City movie, which was a 2-in-1—too good to be true! It was great to see Beyoncé wearing Charlotte Olympia as well, but in fact, my biggest rush comes when I just see women on the street wearing my shoes—that is the coolest. I tend to go up to them and say, ‘Hey, you are wearing my shoes!’”

The island wedge which boosts her shoes to vertiginous heights is also due to become her trademark. Her new store has recently opened in Mayfair, London.

Peter Pilotto

Peter Pilotto, made up of one part Peter Pilotto and one part Christopher de Vos, introduced simplistic, ladylike style for this summer, with a refreshingly un-patronising edge that set them apart from some of the more flamboyant collections.

“The duo took the ultimate dowdy hemline, mid-calf, and the ultimate frumpy shape, pleated, and created featherweight skirts that were cut away in flapping, uneven panels.” Style.com reported of the SS ’11 show. “There was a sense of movement, velocity. And paired with the collection’s burlap-textured tweed vests, in expedition-gear shapes, there was even a sense of toughness.”

The pieces made reference to rock climbing, with the carabiner effect prints, parachute silk blouses and uneven, cutaway sections in skirts and dresses, and floor length silk jersey column dresses had a decidedly womanly and elegant feel to them.

Nicholas Kirkwood

As well as working on his own line and preparing to open his first boutique on Mount Street, Christopher Kirkwood has designed shoes for Erdem, Peter Pilotto, Roksanda Illincic, Preen and Meadham Kirchoff. He is also creative director at Pollini, and planning a line of handbags, men’s shoes, sunglasses, and jewellery. In short, he’s a busy man.

“I want to expand out of the niche that I’ve built myself,” he told Vogue. I want to create everyday shoes, simpler styles, something that isn’t necessarily a ‘piece’ – it can be just a shoe”. It seems that Christopher Kirkwood is looking to make his shoes more attainable for all of us.

And the winner is… Christopher Kane

Christopher Kane is fashion’s darling. Renowned for being a hard worker, the creation of his brand with his sister and business partner, Tammy Kane, pushed the limits of British fashion from the moment that Donatella Versace offered him a job after seeing his graduate collection. An offer which he turned down.

Now, of course, Kane is a consultant to Versace, and also designs the Versus range. As Vogue‘s Harriet Quick states, Kane is “a good fit with Versace. They have a shared love of the bodycon, rock-heroine image, which is always deeply respectful of womankind.”

In 2006, he won the Young Designer of the Year at the Scottish Fashion Awards, then in 2007, the New Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards, and then went on to design a rapidly selling capsuel collection for Topshop. Since, the brand has continued to grow rapidly in both size and success, making him a natural winner for Vogue/BFC’s Fashion Fund.

“This is truly deserved and very exciting at this stage of his business,” said Vogue fashion features director Harriet Quick. “He has created 11 collections and since the get go – those fluoro bandage dresses; you could feel the excitement. He’s a designer with a punky elegance and a very focused and highly executed vision. You never quite know what Kane is going to do next. His sense of proportion and exaggerated detail make him a standout and it’s always quite a thrill to wear his clothes.”

Congratulations to Christopher and Tammy Kane.

Click here to find out the reactions of all seven finalists upon finding out they’d been chosen for the shortlist, and here for Vogue’s exclusive photographs of the designers presenting their ideas.

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Author: Maisie May

Bio
Maisie May Skidmore is currently based in London. She studies English at King's College London, and writes for frockOn and other fashion blogs.