Josslyn Shi wins ‘Real Leather.Stay Different’ student design competition 2024

'Real Leather.Stay Different.' has unveiled the winner of its international student design competition 2024. Josslyn Shi, from the California College of Art (CCA) has been selected as this year's top fashion designer from a total of four finalists announced in August.

The 21-year-old designer presented her project Ephemeral Eclosion to a professional jury. For her designs, she took inspiration from the lifecycle of butterflies and combined ‘craftsmanship, innovation and a commitment to sustainability’, as per the press release.

Shi was selected as the winner in the ‘People’s Choice’ category last month. In the final she competed against three other category winners.

The three other finalists were: Mor Elfassy from Shenkar College of Engineering, Design & Art in Israel, winner in the apparel category, the winner in the footwear category, Roscha Dinler from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany, and BingBing Bai, the top designer in the accessories category and a PhD student at Kingston School of Art in the UK.

As the overall winner of the competition, Josslyn Shi will have the opportunity to develop a capsule collection based on her winning design. The aim of this collection is to highlight ‘the importance of natural materials and sustainable design in fashion’, the release reads.

CCA student Josslyn Shi named 2024 winner of Real Leather.Stay Different. design competition

The Real Leather.Stay Different. student design competition is an initiative of Leather & Hide Council of America (L&HCA) that seeks to encourage young fashion talents to use leather ‘as a natural alternative to cheap, short-lived fast fashion materials.’

The 2024 edition of the contest was open to current fashion design students worldwide and recent graduates, designers who graduated in 2022 or 2023.

Candidates were asked to submit a bespoke leather item consisting of 50 percent or more cattle-hide leather that fit one of the three categories of the competition.

Commenting on the news in a statement, Christopher Koerber, managing director at Hugo Boss and one of the jury members, said: "The talent on show has been outstanding."

He continued: "Real Leather. Stay Different. plays an important role in showcasing and elevating young designers who are embracing leather as a material to create innovative designs, to a global audience.”

Kerry Brozyna, president at the Leather and Hide Council of America added on his part: "Real Leather. Stay Different. celebrates the next generation of design talent.”

“It underscores the importance of using natural materials, such as leather, which is not only a by-product but also sustainable, durable and versatile,” he continued.

“These young designers show the way forward by focusing on sustainable solutions that stand the test of time," he said

This year’s award ceremony of the Real Leather.Stay Different. student design competition took place at the US embassy in London on Monday evening and was hosted by Jane D. Hartley, the US ambassador to the UK.