Fashion Scout name Wen Pan as Merit Award winner

Fashion Scout has named London-based eponymous brand Wen Pan as the winner of its spring/summer 2020 Merit Award, which will see the womenswear label presenting its collection during London Fashion Week.

Created in 2009 and now in its tenth year, the Merit Award supports the winning designer across two seasons and has been created to support and develop new designer businesses on a global level. Wen Pen will receive a fully sponsored catwalk show with Fashion Scout with space to host press and buyers.

The Merit Award acts as a springboard for emerging designers, with many going on to become established labels within the international fashion industry, including past winners Eudon Choi, Phoebe English, David Koma, Roberts|Wood, Han Wen, Xiao Li, Katie Ann McGuigan, Edda, I-Am-Chen and most recently, autumn/winter 2019 winner Tolu Coker.

Wen Pan wins Fashion Scout’s Merit Award for spring/summer 2020

Wen Pan is a London-based womenswear label launched in 2018 and now in its third season. The brand fuses the “spirit of oriental recluses with romantic grunge aesthetics”. By using raw fluidity and layers of textures, Wen Pan, who graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2015, aims to “evoke characters in a balance of subtlety and freedom,” explains Fashion Scout.

In previous seasons, the brand has explored the beauty of brokenness, traces of human presence, Chinese ancient recluses and the 1990 grunge. For spring/summer 2020, Wen Pan will return with contrasting floral prints and textures, mixing fragile linen layers and sheer silk fabrics with rough cotton drapery and asymmetric cutting. As well as a continuation of using utility wear with workwear detailing in a palette of muted greens and faded sandy cream.

Having shown previously in Shanghai and Paris, Wen Pan boasts a global stockist list including Opening Ceremony, YoungBritishDesigners, and Selfridges, where her autumn/winter 2019 work is currently part of the Design Gallery Installation.

Before launching her namesake label, Pan work at numerous fashion houses including Christopher Kane, Alexander McQueen, and Uma Wang.

Wen Pan to showcase during London Fashion Week

On hearing she had won the Merit Award, Wen Pan said in a statement: “It is such an honour to receive the Fashion Scout Merit Award. I feel very grateful to have this great opportunity, which provides a wonderful platform to share my point of view about beauty and femininity: a delicate balance between prettiness and roughness.”

Wen Pan’s “relaxed layered aesthetic” is what impressed the Fashion Scout judging panel, which included the talent platform’s founder and creative director Martyn Roberts, Contanza Lombardi, Next Gen Buyer at Browns, Niamph Tuft from Fashion Revolution and Hannah Craggs, trends at WGSN.

Fashion Scout’s Martyn Roberts added: “We are extremely excited to award Wen Pan the SS20 Merit Award following the exceptional AW19 collection presented at the Selection Panel. Her brand was an easy decision for the judging panel to award Merit to, due to her originality and beautiful draping and pattern cutting skills. Fashion Scout are excited to give Wen Pan the opportunity to continue building the brand and profile on a global scale.”

Wen Pan will showcase at Fashion Scout on September 14 in its new London Fashion Week home, Victoria House, after the platform relaunched after spending eight years at Freemasons’ Hall. Fashion Scout SS20 will run from September 13-15.

Images: courtesy of Fashion Scout / Wen Pan