Mercedes-Benz and IMG announce the launch of Mercedes-Benz Start Up. We break it down
Last night, industry folks were treated to an old fashioned game of suspense. Ushered into a location much further east than most knew existed⎯the sleek Mercedes-Benz dealership that straddles the DVP⎯we gathered to hear an announcement about an upcoming project. Most guessed that it would be fashion week related… a new sponsorship deal? A new location, perhaps? What was announced instead, was something so much more exciting: the launch of Mercedes-Benz Start Up. Produced alongside IMG, LG Fashion Week Beauty by L’Oréal Paris and the FDCC, Start Up is a new initiative to help foster new and upcoming designers on a national scale. Promising to nurture young businesses rather than a simply a competition based on creativity, Start Up is as its title suggests… a magnified launch pad for Canadian talent.
So, how exactly will it work? We break Start Up down:
1. The Mercedes-Benz Start Up team will tap influential media (hint, hint...) as well as fashion buyers and educators to help select qualified candidates. All designers with less than five years in existence can enter!
2. 20 designers will be selected to vie in the semi-final round of the competition. (In the first year, semi-finals will be conducted in two provinces, but will expand in future years to encompass the whole country)
3. 4 designers will be selected from the semi-finals to show during LG Fashion Week Beauty by L’Oréal Paris in October.
4. One designer from this showcase will be selected as the Mercedes-Benz Start Up recipient. This designer will receive access to industry mentors for five months, resulting in the creation of his or her debut show at LG Fashion Week Beauty by L’Oréal Paris in March 2012.
For those of you who would like to enter, visit mercedes-benzstartup.com for more information. And for details as to how FASHION is a part? You’ll have to stay tuned!