Designers Rushemy Botter and Ken Boonsong Thaodee, both recent Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp Fashion Department graduates, are among the 8 global finalist nominees for the 2018 H&M Design Award. It’s so rewarding to stan for Antwerp talent. The annual design prize awards a sum of €25.000 to one young designer, including a six-month paid internship at H&M’s head office in Stockholm (remarkably replacing the capsule collection concept from previous years). Every finalist receives a €5.000 reward, including the winner. Safe to say it’s Team Antwerp all the way on this one, as we await the finalist ceremony in London slated for early December.

The full list of nominees, each selected for their outstanding graduate collections, includes Flore Girard de Langlade from HEAD Switzerland, Katiuscia Gregoire from Parsons New York, Emma Chopova & Laura Lowena, Stefan Cooke and Kevin Germanier from Central Saint Martin London and Sueim Yang from SADI Korea. Previous H&M Design Award winners include the fabulous Minju Kim and London Fashion Week-showing Ximon Lee.

When KNOTORYUS talked to then-graduating masters Ken Boonsong Thaodee and Rushemy Botter for this year’s Antwerp Fashion Department SHOW2017 magazine, they were both reflecting on their now-nominated graduate collections and what’s next:

ON DESIGN
Rushemy Botter: "That unapologetically black and gender-defying aesthetic is something I stand for. With this collection, I want to give these kids their own voice. It’s also a protest against big corporations like Shell who are harming the coral reefs in the Caribbean. I have a platform and I want to use it for people whose voices might not be heard."

Ken Boonsong Thaodee: “For me, it’s very important to start a collection based on a feeling, not on something tangible. You can create something beautiful from anything. I try to give value to things that don’t have any. If something doesn’t last for a longer period of time, you’ll cherish it more.”

ON THE FUTURE (OF FASHION)
Ken Boonsong Thaodee: “In the future, I just want to be free and have things to look forward to, there’s so much left to do still and so much to change. I’d like to do something socially engaged or something that makes me a better person. If you participate in the immediately replaceable fashion system, nothing will change. So I’d like to do something different, or something that fights or changes things." 

Rushemy Botter: "I am looking forward to the future. I want to start my own label together with my girlfriend, that’s for sure, but every choice I’ve made so far has always been based on my gut feeling. If a great house or label wants to hire me, and I think it's a good fit, that would be great too. I’ve learned it’s very important to always stay true to yourself and to keep pushing on, because that’s what’s going to stand out. My career doesn’t have to move fast, but the sooner I receive critiques from the people I value, the quicker I can act on them."

The 2018 jury will consist of H&M Creative Advisors, as well as noted fashion journalist and author Alexander Fury, last year’s award winner Richard Quinn and a slew of international stylists and fashion professionals.

This news comes only a few days after Rushemy Botter received the “most promising graduate” award at the first Belgian Fashion Awards for the auspicious young brand he’s been forging with partner Lisi Herrebrugh. Ken Thaodee has moved to Paris after graduation to work for Nina Ricci. This new accolade for both designers is just another testament to how great talent has a place to be guided to excellence under the auspices of Antwerp fashion department head Walter Van Beirendonck and his tirelessly brilliant faculty.

Header image: Ruth Ginika Ossai - Studio Root
Interview excerpts taken from Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp Fashion Department SHOW2017 magazine (June 2017)