“I always wanted to be a designer. I was obsessed with buying fashion magazines like Vogue or iD when I was little, I filled my room with them and read them in their entirety,” confesses Priya Ahluwalia, founder of the brand that bears her last name and that since 2018 has been revolutionizing the world of fashion with its thoughtful designs that are a statement of intent! And it is precisely her passion that has led her to win multiple awards, the latest being The Bicester Collection award for Emerging Designers presented by the CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards 2023 and The Bicester Collection at Milan Fashion Week.
The British creator of Indo-Nigerian origin is one of the great new talents in fashion and has emerged as an avant-garde pioneer in the industry through creations led by design, but always made responsibly through the use of fabrics and garments. vintage, recycled, upcycled and sustainable.
The idea for his brand was born after a trip to Lagos, Nigeria, in 2017 when he went to visit his family. “I started noticing street vendors wearing second-hand dark British clothes, so I asked them where everything came from and learned about the huge second-hand clothing industry. Then I came across Panipat, the second-hand clothing capital of the world, and visited it. The travels culminated in my fanzine, Sweet Lassi, and what I learned became part of my ethos in the future,” says Ahluwalia. The result? Unique pieces that combine elements of her dual Asian and African heritage with her London roots and with ecological and social awareness.
Ahluwalia, who received the award from Chiara Ferragni, who is part of the Camera Moda Fashion Trust advisory committee to support the next generation of fashion talent, and Laurent Vinay, Chief Brand and Communications Officer of Value Retail, cares in detail each of her designs and her imagination has no limits “I am inspired by many things, but in general art, music, culture, theater and, above all, the black and brown diaspora,” says the creative.
Behind each piece there is a huge amount of work that goes beyond simple fashion pattern making: “First I write my initial collection idea and from there I plan what I would like to investigate and what areas I still need to work on,” explains Priya Ahluwalia. “Then I look at a lot of books and visit galleries - he continues - and then I select from the research with huge panels of mood boards, divided into sections that represent different areas of inspiration, such as prints, silhouettes and colors, and finally with the team we work on the sketches.”
Ahluwalia is convinced that fashion has a lot of potential: “Contrary to popular belief, it is a fun industry full of people who work to innovate and create significant changes,” she says. As winner of the award, Priya Ahluwalia will receive long-term support to expand her business, including access to The Bicester Collection's bespoke mentoring programme, the opportunity to take part in the upcoming The Creative Spot pop-up store and to showcase her work during Milan Fashion Week in 2024, as part of the Designers for the Planet exhibition at the Fashion Hub of the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana. The Bicester Collection, a label to which La Roca Village and Las Rozas Village belong, has joined the CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards 2023 for the fifth year.
In five years the award has been given to 18 Italian and international designers, with the commitment to promote talent and achieve a positive impact on a social, economic and environmental level. The other two finalists for The Bicester Collection Award for Emerging Designers are the jewelry brand SO-LE Studio, founded by Maria Sole Ferragamo and born from her passion for craftsmanship and sustainability, and Made For Woman, an innovative social enterprise to empower to women from vulnerable backgrounds and that promotes women's crafts in Madagascar.
