H&M Design Award 2015 - the Finalists

H&M announces the eight finalists for the H&M Design Award 2015

H&M is pleased to announce the finalists for the H&M Design Award 2015. The eight graduates, chosen from the world's leading design schools, have been selected as some of the most promising talents of their generation. Now in its fourth year, the H&M Design Award underlines H&M's strong commitment to encourage future talents who will help to push global fashion forwards.

"As a design-driven company, it is an honour for H&M to be able to support fashion's future talents. The level of creativity, passion and technical skills we've seen for this year's H&M Design Award is exceptional." says Ann-Sofie Johansson, H&M's Head of Design for New Development.Each of the finalists will present their sources of inspiration and collection to a jury of fashion experts, which will choose the overall winner. They will also be rewarded with a finalist prize sum of €5,000. This year's jury will include Luella Bartley, Design Director of Marc by Marc Jacobs; Lucinda Chambers, Fashion Director of British Vogue; Paula Goldstein di Principe, Creative Director; Tommy Ton, Visual Journalist; Angelo Flaccavento, Freelance Fashion Critic; Justin O'Shea, Buying Director for Mytheresa.com; Lily Allen, Singer/Songwriter; Ann-Sofie Johansson, Head of Design, New Development, H&M and Margareta van den Bosch, Creative Advisor, H&M.THE FINALISTS:MAGDALENA BROZDA (Poland) – Magdalena took her MA at the Geneva University of Art and Design. Her collection is based on positive and celebratory ideas of death.ANDREAS EKLÖF (Sweden) – Andreas took his Masters at the Swedish School of Textiles in Borås, Sweden. His nominated collection used taping to develop new ideas in outdoors wear.GRAHAM FAN (Canada/Hong Kong) – An MA graduate from Central Saint Martins, London. Graham used hand-woven techniques to develop the complex textiles for his minimalist silhouettes.ANDREA JIAPEI LI (China) – Andrea studied on the MFA program at Parsons, in New York. For her collection, she used the antithesis of her aesthetics to define herself and her work in a new way.JAMES KELLY (UK) – James took the MA course at the Royal College of Art in London. His inspiration was photographic imagery of garments caught in movement.LEONARD KOCIC (Serbia/Sweden) – Leonard studied at Beckmans College of Design in Sweden. His nominated collection is based on his memories of his mother.XIMON LEE (Hong Kong) – Ximon studied menswear at Parsons, New York. His collection was inspired by the documentary "Children of Leningradsky".FIONA O'NEILL (Ireland) – Fiona studied on the BA course at Central Saint Martins, London. Her inspiration for her nominated collection came from women painting pictures of other women.The winner of H&M Design Award 2015 will be announced on January 27, 2015. He or she will receive a prize sum of €50,000, and their own catwalk show to present the winning collection at Fashion Week Stockholm. The winner will also receive mentoring and the chance to develop pieces from the winning collection to be sold at selected H&M stores.

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For more information about H&M Design Award 2015 visit designaward.hm.com

Press contact:

Kristina StenvinkelE: mediarelations@hm.com T: +46 8 796 53 00