The British Fashion Council has announced this year’s recipients of the BFC Trust as House of Holland, Mary Katrantzou, Michael van der Ham, Osman, Richard Nicoll, Todd Lynn, Zoe Jordan and Emilia Wickstead, a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge.
The initiative, now in its fourth year, is aimed at supporting designers financially and via a mentoring scheme. Grants totalling £215,000 will be split between these eight designers. Often seen as a yardstick for which designers will break into the mainstream, previous recipients have included household names such as Christopher Kane, Jonathan Saunders, Marios Schwab, Nicholas Kirkwood and Peter Pilotto.
Nicoll, who has received the grant before, told the BFC: “The support of the BFC Fashion Trust has been invaluable to my company and the future of our business. Not only have they provided tailored support and advice from experienced industry professionals and advisers, but they have enabled us to take our sales in-house and retain the services of a celebrity PR agency, which is already increasing the profile of the brand internationally”.
