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Central Saint Martins alumna wins Vogue Fashion Fund Spain 2022

By Veerle Versteeg

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Photo Credits: Paula Cánovas del Vas (middle) during the Vogue Fashion Fund 2022 award ceremony.

Vogue Spain has announced the winner of its Vogue Fashion Fund, the award previously known as Who’s On Next Spain. Central Saint Martins College alumna Paula Cánovas del Vas is the winner of the 2022 edition.

Cánovas del Vas was previously a semi-finalist of the prestigious LVMH Prize 2022. She did her internship at Gucci and worked as a design assistant in artisanal womenswear and ready-to-wear at Maison Margiela, and as a design assistant to the creativo director of Ashish.

The fashion designer from Murcia, Spain, launched her eponymous fashion label in 2018, after graduating from Central Saint Martins, a brand which she defines as a brand based on creativity and sustainable production.

Cánovas del Vas was up against two other finalists for the Vogue Fashion Fund in Spain, two fashion designers who in fact were in the same graduating class at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at the University of the Arts London, namely, Alled-Martínez from Barcelona, and Ernesto Naranjo from Seville.

Cánovas del Vas, Alled-Martínez and Ernesto Naranjo all pursued a master’s degree in Fashion at Central Saint Martins between 2016 and 2018.

Central Saint Martins graduate Paula Cánovas del Vas wins Vogue Fashion Fund Spain

As the winner of the award, Paula Cánovas del Vas will receive a cash prize of 100,000 euros, granted by Vogue Spain in collaboration with Inditex. The rewards for the award will be completed with her "automatic" registration in the Asociación de creadores de moda de España Acme, without the need to pay the corresponding fee and without requiring a previous favourable vote for new members of its general assembly.

In addition, the designer will receive support and special editorial coverage by Vogue Spain, as well as, which is a new honour this year, the chance to participate officially in the calendar of the next edition of Madrid Fashion Week (Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid).

As for what the young designer will use the prize money for specifically, del Vas explained in a release that she values running her fashion house as if she were to "be living in the factories" and so that 90 percent of the fabrics she uses in her designs are of recycled origin.

"I will invest the prize money in building a solid team for my brand and a clear brand strategy, which thanks to this prize will receive the needed boost". "Everything I do, from the packaging to the smallest detail, relates to a deep personal commitment to the concept of sustainability", the designer explained, and "we currently need to invest in scaling up our production capacity".

The Spanish creative will focus on trying to ensure that "everything continues to be produced in Spain and Europe" and on "expanding into the Asian and European markets".

She wants to distinguish her fashion house, for which she finds her inspiration in figures such as the American designer Rick Owens, who "owns his own brand and even has his own factory".

"For me that is something that would really be my dream, because when you control the process that’s when you can innovate", she explains, while highlighting her admiration for other creatives such as Spanish designer Sybilla or the Belgian designer Dries Van Noten. In general, the designer confesses, she admires "designers who have integrity in what they do, even if they go against the current".

On the other hand, she is also “inspired by literature, authors such as Susan Sontag or Marguerite Yourcenar", and "I also love Gloria Fuertes, who plays with the concept of the everyday". A value that "I, in my own way I also think about how to explore", and from there can "transform the pre-established codes in clothing", Cánovas del Vas concludes in the release.

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Central Saint Martins
PAULA CANOVAS DEL VAS
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