23 July 2009
Fashion starlet is 'Best of Manchester'
... but arty trio miss out
MMU FASHION starlet Holly Russell picked up an award at the Best of Manchester Awards, which took place at Urbis last night.
The annual awards, also organised by Urbis are open to anyone who works in Manchester’s art, music and fashion sectors.
The panel of judges at this year’s event were Peter Saville, Wayne Hemingway, Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller, Tim Marlow of White Cube in London, MMU lecturer Alison Welsh and Luke Bainbridge, a writer for Observer Music Monthly.
The winner of The Best Of Manchester Fashion Award 2009 was Holly Russell, an alumnus of Manchester School of Art (MMU) whose graduate collection features hundreds of hand-sewn scarab beetle wings. Russell has also collaborated with a metal worker to incorporate aluminium into her designs.
Art runners-up
Shortlisted for The Best of Manchester Art Award were graduate trio Contents May Vary aka Elizabeth Murphy, Alice Bradshaw and Richard Shields, but the category was won by Owl Project, an art collective which produces “semi-sculptural musical instruments”.
The joint winners of The Best Of Manchester Music Award 2009 were Jayne Compton and Max Moran.
In 2008 the multi-talented Nabil El Nayal, another graduate of the BA Fashion course was a runner-up in the Fashion category in 2008.
Each category winner received £2,000, as well as a 12-month professional development package designed to help them kick-start their career. Their work is being exhibited at Urbis from today until September 20.
