ITS Contest 2023 reveals shortlist of 16 finalists from 11 countries

The ITS Contest emerging designer competition has revealed its 16 finalists, picked among 750 applicants from 65 countries by a jury of fashion experts and talent scouts headed by Barbara Franchin, the award’s founder and president of the ITS Foundation.

 
“We’re witnessing a generational change in fashion, the emergence of new benchmarks. A fresh generation of designers is making its mark, and young talents are realising this and charting new paths,” said Franchin. “The fashion industry is currently experiencing a time of huge confusion and transformation, while the role of creative directors is being redefined. What will the designers of the future look like? The role seems to be moving away from the creative process as business becomes the priority,” she added.
 
The ITS Contest’s jury has shortlisted 16 designers for the competition’s final event, scheduled on March 22. They are Ivan Delogu from Italy; Chelsea Jean Lamm and Marcel Sommer (Germany); Clementine Baldo, Shanon Poupard and Lilian Navarro (France); Daniel Bosco (Canada); Ju Bao and Kexuan Liu (China); Mert Serbest (Turkey); Momoka Sato and Tomohiro Shibuki (Japan); Silvia Acien Parrilla (Spain); Eun Ji Oh (Belgium); Tal Maslavi (Israel); and Richard Farbey (the UK).

The finalists have all been awarded an ITS Residency, and they will stay in Trieste, Italy, the home of ITS, for a creative residency, collaborating to a collective project under the aegis of ITS Arcademy-Museum of Art in Fashion, the first contemporary fashion museum in Italy, home to over 15,000 design projects collected during the ITS Contest’s 20-year history. The museum will stage an exhibition for the collections presented at the award’s 2023 edition.
 
The finalists will also vie for several cash prizes and mentorship opportunities, awarded at the final in March.
 
ITS Contest was first held in 2002, and is one of the world’s leading emerging designer competitions. In its 20-year history, it has featured over 15,000 fashion, accessories and jewellery designers and photographers, from over 80 countries. Among them, some of the top creative names to emerge in recent times, like Demna, Matthieu Blazy, Nicolas di Felice and Richard Quinn, Chopova Lowena and Cecilie Bahnsen.