Bottega Veneta's Lee, Rihanna, and Moncler's Ruffini win big at Fashion Awards

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 3, 2019

The 2019 Fashion Awards on Monday evening saw the increasingly important event acting as a powerful mirror of what’s been happening in the luxury sector this year.

Winners at the event, which is staged in association with the British fashion Council, included Bottega Veneta, Rihanna (via her Fenty label) and Moncler, three names that have been hard to miss all year.

Also hard to miss was the celebrity line-up at the event. As we said, the Fashion Awards have been growing more important every year, moving from what was once a UK-focused event to a happening with a more global relevance. 

And the big name celebs (wearing big name designers) in attendance reflected this. The red carpet hosted Julia Roberts, Kylie Minogue, Adwoa Aboah, Naomi Campbell, Cate Blanchett, Emilia Clarke, Anna Wintour, Edward Enninful, Rihanna, Liam Payne, Alexa Chung, Jourdan Dunn, Lewis Hamilton, Rita Ora, and Janet Jackson, among others.

But what of the awards themselves? Well, it’s certainly been Daniel Lee’s year. As well as helping to drive sales and awareness of Bottega Veneta since he arrived at the Kering-owned label, he’s now the recipient of not one, but four, Fashion Awards.

Bottega Veneta was named Brand of the Year, a deserved title given the impact it has been making, while Lee was hailed as Designer of the Year. And Lee walked away with the Accessories Designer title too. That was no surprise given his shoe and bag designs’ presence on the many bestseller and most wanted lists that have been coming out this year. And to add to it all, he also nabbed the British Designer of the Year - Womenswear title.

If there’s one person who’s made a bigger impact at the helm of a label in 2019, it has to be Rihanna, and she was named the winner of the Urban Luxe Award for her Fenty label. She really has transformed the idea of the celebrity fashion label and her link-up with LVMH has underlined her importance to the fashion sector.

Meanwhile, a major name that made as big a splash this year has been Moncler and the label’s Remo Ruffini accepted the Business Leader Award, another title that hit the spot. Ruffini’s company has really taken it up a notch in recent periods with its Genius concept, that comprises multiple drops from a diverse range of must-have designers, proving a big success at retail.

A number of fashion’s other luminaries were also honoured as Dior’s Kim Jones was recognised via the British Designer of the Year - Menswear title, with Donatella Versace accepting it on his behalf. And Christopher Kane was handed the Designers' Designer accolade. 

The Awards also focused on newer names and Rejina Pyo received the British Emerging Talent - Womenswear Award, while Bethany Williams picked up the menswear equivalent. 

Other awards included Sam McKnight picking up the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator, the signatories of the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action accepting the Positive Change Award, Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton being hailed with the Trailblazer Award, and Giorgio Armani accepting the Outstanding Achievement Award.