Woolmark Award Winner Announced
May 27 1998
(UK) The winner of the inaugural 1998 Woolmark Award is 26 year old Craig Buglass, final year menswear M. A. student at the Royal College of Art, London. The RCA has developed a very strong association with Woolmark over the last eleven years and this new Award has been designed specifically for final year menswear students.
Earlier this year, twelve students at the RCA were given the brief to develop a menswear concept instigated by Woolmark for Autumn/Winter '98 called 'The Total Wool Look'. The criteria was to design a capsule collection of separates and to develop its marketing and merchandising strategy.
Three students were selected as finalists - Sarmilla Roy, Ines Haller and Craig Buglass. All three students presented collections that were vastly different, original and of an excellent standard. Craig Buglass was selected as overall winner because of his collection, entitled Separate Airports', reflects what men will be wearing in the next millennium. His inspiration is a modern Steve McQueen character who travels constantly into vastly different climates, necessitating clever layering of clothing. As the planet continues to shrink and traditions change, there is a new separates based culture emerging in menswear.
Craig's collection features luxurious wool jackets and coats that can literally be turned inside out, so that the waterproof lining becomes the outer layer. Another wool coat unzips to become three separates garments, including a long sweater. Craig's idea is that as the weather becomes warmer, layers can be peeled off to maximise comfort. His collection shows just how adaptable wool can be in different temperatures and how it can be used to great effect in both casualwear and outerwear. Even Craig's shirting is made of wool poplin and lightweight wool jersey and his sleeveless poloneck is flexible under heavy double faced flannel coats and wool fleeces. Craig's high tech rubberised wool and overprinted wool jackets and coats are treated for protection and are part of the new fabric innovations being undertaken by Woolmark licensee weavers.
The judges of the Award included Peter Lefevre, Group Manager of Menswear at Woolmark and Jonathan Akeroyd, the Harrods Contemporary Menswear Buyer They agreed that Craig's collection fulfilled the criteria and encapsulated the future of menswear design, best demonstrating the ascendancy of wool into the next century with its exciting versatility of comfort, quality and modernity. Woolmark has awarded Craig a cash prize of £1,000. Peter Lefevre of Woolmark comments, 'The students work was innovative and captured Woolmark's project message'. Jonathan Akeroyd praised the finalists by saying 'I was highly impressed with the quality and styling of the collections and thought that all the finalists had a sound, professional understanding of the business requirements of today'.
Craig Buglass's collection for The Woolmark Award will feature in the RCA Gala Show on June 18 and will be displayed in Harrods later in the year, together with the collections of the other finalists.
