IED Madrid alumna wins Vogue Fashion Fund Spain 2023

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Pepa Salazar, winner of the Vogue Fashion Fund 2023 award, during the award ceremony.Credits: Daniel Merino, courtesy of Vogue.

The biggest fashion prize awarded in Spain has selected the winner of its 2023 edition. Pepa Salazar was one of the three finalists announced for this year's edition of the award, and has now emerged as the winner of the prize, whose cash prize is worth 100,000 euros.

The designer has already said that she intends to use the money to promote the internationalisation of her fashion house, from which she has been dressing the likes of Rosalía, Madonna and Kim Kardashian and hopes to dress more international celebrities.

Pepa Salazar was born in Valencia and studied fashion design at the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) in Madrid, after which she joined the creative team at Loewe. A position from which she ended up gaining the necessary confidence and knowledge to decide to embark on her own solo adventure in 2013, founding her own fashion house and presenting her first collection on the Samsung EGO catwalk competition for emerging designers at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid, which is known as the Allianz Ego catwalk competition today.

Pepa Salazar, winner of the Vogue Fashion Fund 2023 award, during the award ceremony. Credits: Daniel Merino, courtesy of Vogue.

Pepa Salazar is crowned winner of Vogue Fashion Fund Spain 2023

Furthermore, during the September 2013 edition of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid (MBFWMadrid) Salazar’s designs were recognised with the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Talent award for the best emerging collection. From there she went on to achieve different recognitions and mentions, such as winning the Samsung Innovation Project award in 2014 for her second collection ‘Hyperdry’, which at the time was awarded by the Madrid event. In 2017, she was one of the finalists for the Vogue Who's On Next award, the predecessor of the Vogue Fashion Fund.

Inés Lorenzo, content director at Vogue Spain, with the creative directors of the three emerging brands finalists for the 2023 edition, Habey Club, Pepa Salazar and Sonia Carrasco.Credits: Daniel Merino, courtesy of Vogue.

Designs by Pepa Salazar, Sonia Carrasco and Habey Club. Créditos: Daniel Merino, por cortesía de Vogue.

Group photo of the members of the jury of this edition, formed by Lulú Figueroa, Sara Hernando, Helena Contreras, Pepa Bueno, Eloy Martinez de la Pera, Inés Lorenzo, Sita Abellán, Minerva Portillo and Paula Cánovas del Vas.

The jury for the 2023 edition consisted of Vogue Spain director Sara Hernando, stylist Helena Contreras, Acme CEO Pepa Bueno, and fashion expert Eloy Martinez de la Pera, who has been responsible for organising the main fashion exhibitions in Spain of the past few years, and others. Designer Paula Cánovas del Vas was also a member of the judging panel at this edition, having won the previous edition of the award.

Pepa Salazar and Inés Lorenzo with winners of previous editions of the Vogue Fashion Fund, with Jaime Álvarez (Mans), Paula Cánovas del Vas, Juan Vidal, Víctor Alonso, María Lemus, Leandro Cano ,Carlota Barrera and Moisés Nieto.

As a deserving winner in the eyes of the jury, the Valencian designer will automatically become a member of Spain's association for fashion creators (Asociación Creadores de Moda de España), without the need to go through the required assembly vote that is necessary to approve the incorporation of any new member of the association.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.ES. Translation and edit from Spanish into English by Veerle Versteeg.

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