The Italian house, recently helmed by British designer Daniel Lee, took home four awards at the event in London yesterday evening
Yesterday evening, celebrities and members of the fashion industry gathered at London’s Royal Albert Hall for The Fashion Awards 2019, which saw Italian house Bottega Veneta – and its British creative director, Daniel Lee – take home four awards. Lee, an alumnus of Phoebe Philo’s Celine, took the helm of the house in June last year; in the time since, he has instilled the house with new energy, and amassed a legion of devoted fans. Last night, he won Designer of the Year, Womenswear Designer of the Year, and Accessories Designer of the Year, while the house itself took home the prestigious Brand of the Year award. “It’s been an incredible year for Bottega Veneta,” the designer said in an acceptance speech.
Other winners of the evening included Kim Jones, who took home British Designer of the Year Menswear for Dior Men – collected on his behalf by Donatella Versace, as Jones is currently in Miami where he will present a pre-fall collection this evening – and former AnOther cover star Rihanna, who won the Urban Luxe award for her label Fenty, which was launched by luxury conglomerate LVMH earlier this year. The awards for emerging talent, meanwhile, went to Rejino Pyo, for her eponymous womenswear label, and Bethany Williams, whose socially and environmentally conscious menswear previously saw her win the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design earlier this year.
The model Adut Akech – who wore a green Valentino gown – won the award for Model of the Year, presented by Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli, an early champion, and British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful. Akech, who was born in South Sudan, before moving to Australia as a refugee while still a child, used her speech to highlight the continuing need for diversity in the industry. “It is important for all of us to remember that someone like me winning this award is a rarity,” she said. “This is for the young women and men who found representation and validation in my work. I want them to never be afraid of dreaming big like I once did.” Former AnOther cover star Naomi Campbell, another early supporter of Akech, and who the model calls ‘mama’, won the evening’s Fashion Icon award, thanking her own mother for “raising me single-handedly”.
A series of industry heavyweights took home the rest of the evening’s honorary awards, including Giorgio Armani, who won the Outstanding Achievement Award for “his outstanding contribution to the global fashion industry, his creativity and vision of timeless style and care for detail, that have provided such inspiration to so many in the industry”. Sarah Burton, creative director of Alexander McQueen, won the Trailblazer Award – presented by Campbell, who wore McQueen for the evening – while the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator went to hair stylist and AnOther contributor Sam McKnight.
Find a full list of winners here.