The Fashion Awards 2025 announces first nominees

The British Fashion Council (BFC) has announced the Designer of the Year, British Womenswear Designer, British Menswear Designer and the Vanguard Award nominees for The Fashion Awards 2025.

The annual awards will take place on December 1 at The Royal Albert Hall in London, and will celebrate British and international fashion talent while also raising funds for the BFC Foundation, which supports the British fashion industry by focusing on education, grant-giving, and business mentoring.

This year’s accolades include Northern Irish designer Jonathan Anderson once again being nominated for Designer of the Year, an award he has won two years running. This year, he is nominated for his signature JW Anderson label and his new role as creative director of Dior, the French luxury fashion house he joined in June.

He will be up against tough competition from Glenn Martens for Diesel and Maison Margiela, Martine Rose, Miuccia Prada for Miu Miu, Rick Owens and Willy Chavarria, who have all been selected for producing “innovative collections” that have made “a notable impact on the industry, defining the shape of global fashion”.

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For British Womenswear Designer of the Year, an award recognising homegrown talent that has made a “global impact with their innovative and creative designs, shaping the international womenswear landscape,” last year’s winner Simone Rocha is nominated alongside Charlotte Knowles and Alexandre Arsenault for Knwls, Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena for Chopova Lowena, Erdem Moralıoğlu for Erdem, and Sarah Burton for Givenchy.

The British Menswear Designer of the Year accolade may be one of the tightest awards this year, with Grace Wales Bonner for Wales Bonner, last year’s winner, taking on Craig Green, Foday Dumbuya for Labrum London, Kiko Kostadinov, Nicholas Daley, Stefan Cooke and Jake Burt for Stefan Cooke.

The BFC also announced the nominees for the Vanguard award, created to recognise a designer at “the forefront of a new wave in British fashion,” who can demonstrate “visionary creativity, cultural leadership and global influence and helping to shape the future of fashion”.

The nominees are: Aaron Esh, Dilara Fındıkoğlu, Feben, Steve O Smith, Tolu Coker, and Torishéju Dumi for Torishéju.

The shortlist of nominees was selected by a jury of 19 distinguished critics, editors and buyers invited by the BFC. The shortlist will now be presented to a voting committee of leading industry members, who will cast votes confidentially. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in December.

The Fashion Awards will also celebrate accessories, models, and leaders of change. The BFC has also previously announced that Italian designer Brunello Cucinelli will be awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award for his "exceptional contribution to the world of fashion, as a pioneer who has succeeded in combining luxury and design with a more responsible approach to business”.