‍Last week, the applications for the 2021 Unicorn Fashion Awards closed, prompting an exciting search for creativity and innovation within the fashion industry. What follows is a month-long review process by jury members and industry experts, including xPlot's Lars Mattiasson.

Looking for creators that prioritize quality and creativity, combined with strong personal vision, the UFA offers young designers the opportunity to launch and develop a brand through ERA-KI's Fashion Business Accelerator Program. The purpose is to connect with the individual and soul behind the products. Dreams come first – goals second – in order to make it happen on the markets.

The main goal of the UFA is to provide emerging fashion designers with international visibility, and to provide exposure to a larger audience.
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Considering awarded design as an engine of social and economic change, the UFA understand the importance of opening dialogues between young talents and renowned professionals inside the fashion world.

Among the winners of the 2020 Unicorn Fashion Awards were:
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1. GIUSEPPE DELLA MONICA

A young designer from the Amalfi Coast, Giuseppe Della Monica won the UFA 2020. After obtaining his degree from IED, he won the Student of the Year Award and participated in a Silicon Valley Study Tour in California. In September 2016, Giuseppe was featured as a new talent in the print issue of Vogue Talents with his graduate collection Sunday lunch. After two years as designer at Aquilano, Rimondi and Fay, Giuseppe decided to launch his own brand DELLAMONICA.

All the work is almost exclusively plastic-free and the materials used are mostly recycled and recyclable, from fabrics to paper. T-shirts are water-printed with the highest respect for nature and the saving of resources. This attention to environmental sustainability blends with all the semiotic content of Giuseppe’s production: his origins, the Milanese LGBT scene, the importance of tailoring learned during his studies, and the technological component acquired during the Silicon Valley Study Tour.

2. CAROLIN WOITKE

From Germany to Italy, Carolin Woitke was the runner-up of the UFA 2020. Carolin wants her idea of fashion to become a means of communication, a sort of bond, a real bond, in a world in which to communicate to each other is getting harder and harder. She is now collaborating with Dare Clan to launch a capsule collection of outerwear and accelerating the Dare Clan chapter in Germany.
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3. ANASTASIA CHEBOTAREVA

Born in Russia, absorbing the Italian Romanticism, and with London Fever in her heart, Anastasia Chebotareva was the second runner-up of the UFA 2020. She uses fashion as an artistic expression. The designer creates original textiles combined with unique, artisanally developed techniques. Anastasia is exploring the idea of luxury and the contradictory world that it is in, aiming to push its boundaries and challenge the viewer. She is currently working at Armani in Milan.

This year's schedule is as follows:

Most importantly, on August 30th, the finalists are announced, and on August 31st, online voting begins – which is where you may have an impact! To follow along this exciting journey, please stay tuned for updates on the xPlot blog, along with updates happening over on DARE Clan.

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We are very excited to take part in the 2021 Unicorn Fashion Awards, in which the fashion industry is disrupted and re-imagined.

To read more about the 2021 UFA, please visit dareclan.com/ufa2021.

Cover image via DARE Clan.
Text adapted to xPlot via DARE Clan.

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