Who, What, When? A Round-up of the 2020 Fashion Award Winners

After a tumultuous year like no other, this year, the British Fashion Council decided to do things a little differently in comparison to what usually has been done before for the annual award ceremony, The Fashion Awards. The first dramatic change saw the physical event take place digitally, in guidance with the government’s Covid-19 restrictions. The event was live-streamed and saw a 30-minute film clip replace what would’ve habitually been a physical event at London’s Royal Albert Hall. This meant, for the first time ever, The Fashion Awards (which have now become so popular that some consider the awards show is London’s response to New York’s Met Gala) was made accessible to the public rather than just those were invited. The second and most surprising change of all had less to do with the predictable abandonment of the physical event but more to do with the actual awards presented and more specifically, who they were presented to.

In a series of swift changes the usual ‘Model Of The Year’ and ‘British Designer Of The Year’ awards were both absent in last night’s showing and instead 20 awards were handed out in the hopes of honouring and celebrating all the different designers, brands, creatives and individuals who have been a voice for change in the industry. Rather than a single winner announced for each category as the general rule of thumb has been for the past many years, this meant the awards this year - presented by the likes of Millie Bobby Brown, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rosalí - were split into just four categories; Community, Creativity, Environment and People which saw five winners declared for each one.

From those who proactively and efficiently lent their time and valuable resources to help front line workers during the global pandemic to the creatives and individuals who made their voice heard, continuously fighting long and hard against prejudice in the industry; the British Fashion Council made sure that these were the people and brands that had rightfully earned an award, deciding to recognise the people who were responsible for change in light of this year’s recent events.

SHOWstudio would like to extend congratulations to the 2020 NEW WAVE: Creatives list, with the likes of SHOWstudio contributors, Trey Trey, Kai-Isaiah Jamal and Betsy Johnson all honoured at the evening. Congratulations to those mentioned above and below, from everyone at SHOWstudio!

The Awards:

COMMUNITY

A Sai Ta

Chanel

Emergency Designer Network

Kenneth Ize

Michael Halpern

PEOPLE

Aurora James

Edward Enninful

Lindsay Peoples Wagner and Sandrine Charles for Black in Fashion Council

Priya Ahluwalia

Samuel Ross

ENVIRONMENT

Anya Hindmarch

Christopher Raeburn

Gabriela Hearst

Stella McCartney

The Fashion Pact

CREATIVITY

Grace Wales Bonner

Jonathan Anderson

Kim Jones

Prada, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons

Riccardo Tisci and Burberry