ITS Contest 2023: Here are the names of the 16 finalists

The 16 finalists of this year’s ITS Contest have been announced from an initial intake of over 750 projects from 65 countries, with the award ceremony scheduled to take place on March 22, in Trieste, Italy.

Finalists were selected by a wide ranging jury, including co-founder of Fashion Revolution Orsola de Castro, curator and creative director Thierry-Maxime Loriot and designer at Moncler Sergio Zambon.

The talents of the new generation of emerging fashion, accessories and jewellery designers will follow in the footsteps of Demna, Matthieu Blazy, Richard Quinn, Chopova Lowena, who are just some of those that were intercepted at the beginning of their journey by the international contest founded in 2002 by Barbara Franchin, president of Fondazione ITS.

Finalists descend from across 11 countries

The 11 fashion finalists are Chelsea Jean Lamm from Germany, Clementine Baldo from France, Daniel Bosco from Canada, Ivan Delogu from Italy, Ju Bao from China, Marcel Sommer from Germany, Mert Serbest from Turkey, Momoka Sato from Japan, Shanon Poupard from France, Silvia Acien Parrilla from Spain and Tomohiro Shibuki from Japan.

The two finalists in the accessories category were Eun Ji Oh from Belgium and Tal Maslavi from Israel. Meanwhile, Kexuan Liu from China and Richard Farbey from the United Kingdom are the finalists in the jewellery category.

Lilian Navarro, from France is the 16th finalist, included in the artwork section. Also selected in the same category are Chelsea Jean Lamm, Daniel Bosco, Ivan Delogu, Shanon Poupard and Silvia Acien Parrilla.

"We are facing a generational change of image, of reference points. A new generation of designers is taking hold and young talents are taking notice, charting different paths,” Barbara Franchin said in a note. "Currently, fashion is experiencing a moment of great confusion and reorganisation, with an ongoing redefinition of the role of the creative director. What will the designer of the future be like? A figure who is moving away from the creative process, giving way to economic factors'.

The concept of this edition is Born to create

Each finalist of the ITS Contest 2023 will immediately win the new ITS residency award, through which they will be welcomed to Trieste for a creative residency and will collaborate in the realisation of a collective project within ITS Arcademy - Museum of Art in Fashion, the first museum of contemporary fashion in Italy that hosts more than 15,000 projects collected since the contest's inception.

All the finalists will also compete for a series of cash prizes and opportunities designed to support their professional growth, awarded during the final event to be held on 22 March, in Trieste. They will also attend, the following evening, the opening of the second exhibition of Its Arcademy, Museum of Art in fashion, curated by Olivier Saillard and Emanuele Coccia.

The main prizes include the ITS Arcademy award, which will award 15,000 euros to the most creative, innovative and socially responsible project, and the Media award of 5,000 euros to the fashion, accessories, jewellery or artwork finalist capable of communicating their innovative vision and socially useful message better than anyone else.

The list of prizes also includes the Go! 2025 Borderless award powered by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, which will provide 10,000 euros and exposure in a dedicated exhibition in the spaces of ITS Arcademy, Museum of Art in fashion.

The concept of this edition is Born to create, a celebration of the innate creativity of the human being that ITS Contest has been researching and protecting for over twenty years.