Creator of 'cracked couture' Richard Quinn is causing quite a buzz in the fashion industry after winning the coveted £53k H&M Design Award 2017, which grants him a year's mentorship, and the chance to develop pieces from his winning collection to be sold in the high-street store.
The Central Saint Martins graduate had already showed promise with his BA work – a collection of ripped and collaged evening gowns - receiving a sponsorship from the Stella McCartney Foundation before interning at prestigious fashions houses including Raf Simons’s Christian Dior and Richard James’s Savile Row atelier. His masked models covered in floral gowns and waistlines that echoed Dior’s seminal New Look, continued to impress, with Dazed Digital hailing the collection as a 'stand-out' and H&M’s creative advisor, Ann-Sofie Johansson, praising the 'wow factor' of his work. Now the London-born fashion designer's win enables him to pursue his ethical and sustainable-minded production in his newly-founded studio, and become an established named in couture.