All You Need to Know About the 2024 Fashion Awards in London

LONDON — The Fashion Awards, the annual fundraising event hosted by the British Fashion Council, will be held Monday at Royal Albert Hall with a slew of celebrities and designers attending.

Among the nominees competing in various categories this year are Miuccia Prada, Jonathan Anderson, John Galliano and Kim Jones.

Categories include Model of the Year, British Menswear Designer, British Womenswear Designer, Designer of the Year, BFC Foundation Award, Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator, Outstanding Achievement Award and Leader of Change.

There’s one new category, British Accessories Designer, which is meant to highlight the country’s jewelry, millinery and footwear creators.

The nominees for the category include Anna Jewsbury for Completedworks; Helen Kirkum for Helen Kirkum Studio; Jack Cannon and Joe Gelb for Hatton Labs; Rosh Mahtani for Alighieri, and Stephen Jones for Stephen Jones.

This year’s trophy is 3D-printed and was designed by the British Nigerian interdisciplinary artist Jade Adeyemi.

A series of special awards will be handed out during the night, with Tom Ford being honored with the Outstanding Achievement Award.

The American designer sold his namesake label to The Estée Lauder Cos. in 2022 in a deal that valued the business at $2.8 billion. He shot to fame after helping turn Gucci into one of the hottest brands of the ’90s.

Gucci’s success under Ford and then-chief executive officer Domenico De Sole paved the way for the formation of one of Europe’s biggest luxury conglomerates under the-then PPR, now called Kering. Ford was also the creative director of Yves Saint Laurent from 1999 to 2004.

Ford parted ways with Kering in 2004 and launched his namesake label the following year. The brand’s successful beauty business is managed by owner Estée Lauder, while the fashion collections are produced by Zegna Group via a licensing deal. 

Earlier this year, Haider Ackermann was named creative director of the brand, succeeding Peter Hawkings.

Ford, in a statement, said the award is “incredibly special to me, as I have spent a great deal of my life in London. During my 35 years in the fashion world, I have focused on creativity and the love of beauty and style. Fashion and film are both collaborative efforts. One has to have a vision and then communicate that vision to a team of talented people, and I would like to acknowledge all of those people who have supported me along the way.”

A$AP Rocky will be honored as a Cultural Innovator for his resounding impact on the creative industries and popular culture this year, from his Paris Fashion Week debut with American Sabotage to designing the retro-futuristic neighborhood in the Moncler’s The City of Genius in Shanghai.

“Through these collections and the promotion of his upcoming album Don’t Be Dumb, he has firmly positioned himself at the intersection of culture and innovation. We are also incredibly grateful for his continued support of UK designers and retail,” said Caroline Rush, chief executive officer at the BFC.

The multi-disciplinary artist has logged 17.5 billion streams of his music and 3.5 billion combined views on YouTube since his emergence in 2011. He is also widely regarded as a fashion icon, appearing in campaigns including Bottega Veneta, Calvin Klein, Gucci, Courvoisier, Dior, Mercedes Benz, Moncler, Guess, and Fenty Skin.

American photographer Tyler Mitchell is this year’s recipient of the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator.

The 29-year-old artist rose to fame after shooting Beyoncé for the cover of the September 2018 issue of American Vogue. Mitchell has since introduced new narratives around beauty and desire to an industry that’s traditionally been dominated by white, male photographers.

His images have been acquired for several private and public collections, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the National Portrait Gallery in London. He has participated in solo and group exhibitions in galleries worldwide.

Mitchell said the recognition “affirms the necessity and power of storytelling through the beautiful marriage of image-making and fashion. And it affirms the importance of creating spaces where new voices and visions can flourish. This award is a reminder that fashion is not just about what we wear, but about how we see ourselves and the world.”

Remo Ruffini, chairman and CEO of Moncler SpA, will be honored with the Trailblazer Award for his leadership and creative vision in developing disruptive ideas at the company, such as Moncler Genius.

Since acquiring Moncler in 2003, Ruffini has undertaken a global brand reset and elevated the Italian outerwear brand to a luxury positioning. He led the company to a listing on the Milan Stock Exchange in 2013 and expanded Moncler into a fashion group with the acquisition of Stone Island in 2021.

In 2018, Ruffini launched Moncler Genius, which aimed to deepen the brand’s cultural relevance in the digital era, via pioneering collaborations with British talents such as Craig Green, Jonathan Anderson, Richard Quinn and Simone Rocha.

In 2019, Ruffini was named the winner of the Business Leader award at the British Fashion Awards. The British Fashion Awards was rebranded as The Fashion Awards in 2020, reflecting its embrace of international, as well as British, design talent.

Moncler Genius now is a platform for co-creation, with partners in art, design, entertainment, music, sport and culture.

Regarding the honor, Ruffini said, “Creativity lives where dreams meet energy. This is how we build our creative vision in Moncler, in a constant pursuit of the extraordinary. I’m grateful to the brilliant minds — both within and beyond the company — who’ve joined us on this journey, and am excited for those yet to come, each sharing their unique ‘genius’ in shaping our creative journey together.”

Gucci will receive a special recognition award for the brand’s cruise 2025 “We Will Always Have London” campaign.

The campaign was an extension of creative director Sabato De Sarno’s cruise show at Tate Modern in May, where he laid down a carpet of greenery on the museum’s poured concrete floors for a collection inspired by the country’s lush gardens, greenery and fabulous fabrics.

The campaign, which features Debbie Harry, Kelsey Lu, Alaato Jazyper and Yanan Wan, was captured by the photographer and activist Nan Goldin as a tribute to London’s creative spirit and its influence on global fashion.

Both Gucci and De Sarno share a personal link to the British capital. Brand founder Guccio Gucci worked at The Savoy hotel in the late 19th century. His observation of the guests’ luggage inspired him to create his own line of luxury suitcases and bags.

De Sarno associates London with music, culture and art. He said he loves the city’s “clash of different cultures,” and listed his favorite spots as Tate Modern, for its Brutalist architecture; the city’s surrounding countryside, and the Rivoli Ballroom, the 1950s site in southeast London famed for its original decor.

For her contribution to the fashion industry, Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou of 10 Magazine will also be honored with a special recognition award during the ceremony.

A highly respected figure in the London fashion scene, she launched 10 Magazine in 2000, has expanded the 10 franchise to men’s fashion, and has launched global editions in Australia, the U.S., Japan and, most recently, Germany.

She has also worked closely with brands including Antonio Berardi, Roland Mouret, Richard Nicoll, Katharine Hamnett, Sinha Stanic, Elie Saab and Pringle of Scotland, and had a decade-long creative partnership with Victoria’s Secret.

Neophitou-Apostolou said she felt “truly honored” about the award.

“It’s lovely to be to get the recognition, but that’s not why we do it. None of us does it for that. We do it to have a platform to create, to be inspired and to invite other people and nurture the world we live in. I am also here to help the designers achieve what they need, give them platforms, and find solutions for them. And it’s great when someone says ‘Well done,’” she told WWD.

Margaret Barbour, chair of the British fashion label J Barbour & Sons, will get a special recognition award, as well.

Being honored for her contributions to the fashion industry and longstanding commitment to British excellence and innovation, the doyenne of the family business was appointed to the board of directors in 1968 after the sudden death of her husband, John Barbour.

In 1973, she became chairman of the now 130-year-old company and has led it for more than 50 years. 

In the 1980s she designed three of the brand’s bestselling jacket styles: the Bedale, the Beaufort and the Border. The jackets continue to be popular today as they have reached cult status on TikTok.

Barbour has also undertaken high-profile collaborations with brands including Erdem, Ganni and Gucci Continuum, increasing its visibility in the fashion industry.

The British royals are also longtime fans.

Barbour received a string of royal warrants from the late Duke of Edinburgh in 1974; the late Queen Elizabeth in 1982, and King Charles, then Prince of Wales, in 1987. In 2021, King Charles unveiled a plaque at the Barbour factory in England to mark the centenary of the company’s re-waxing service.

Barbour has also launched multiple charitable initiatives during her decades-spanning career.

In 1988 she founded the Barbour Foundation to support charities and important causes, mainly in the northeast of England. It has donated more than 29 million pounds to date. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she used the company’s factory in South Shields, England, to make PPE for the National Health Service.

American actress, writer and producer Issa Rae will receive the Pandora Leader of Change Award.

Actress and comedian Yvonne Orji, Rae’s “Insecure” costar and close friend, will present the award to the multihyphenate at the ceremony.

From the award-winning web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” to the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated series “Insecure,” Rae’s work has been celebrated for its representation of Black women. 

In 2020, Rae founded Hoorae, a media company dedicated to creating content that champions diverse storytelling. That year Rae also became a co-owner and face of vegan hair care line Sienna Naturals. 

Rae has also worked with the nonprofit organization Destination Crenshaw, a project committed to empowering Black Angelenos.

Below is the full list of the nominees.

Designer of the Year

Model of the Year 

British Menswear Designer of the Year 

British Womenswear Designer of the Year 

New Establishment Menswear 

New Establishment Womenswear

British Accessories Designer

The Fashion Awards is the primary fundraiser of the BFC Foundation, which aims to support the future growth and success of the British fashion industry by focusing on education, grant-giving and business mentoring.

It counts Pandora and The Peninsula London as key sponsors, while Kojey Radical and Maya Jama will cohost the event on Monday.