A national contest for emerging designers culminated on Tuesday night when Montreal label UNTTLD was awarded the grand prize at the Mercedes-Benz Start Up competition at World MasterCard Fashion Week.
Pitted against five other labels from across Canada, UNTTLD designers Jose Manuel St-Jacques and Simon Belanger took home the grand prize at the fifth annual competition after sending their collection of Japanese and Spanish-inspired suits and dresses down the Toronto runway. The duo will receive a $30,000 bursary, mentorship support, an editorial spread in Fashion Magazine and will receive a fully produced runway show during Fashion Week in spring 2016.
This wasn't UNTTLD's first appearance on the Start Up runway... Four years ago the design duo competed in the inaugural competition, which was won by Montreal design darling Martin Lim.
Sisters Chloe and Parris Gordon of Toronto-based womenswear label Beaufill, Nikki Worthensohn’s Toronto-based womenswear label Narces, and Toronto based designer Laura Siegel were among this year's Start Up finalists, along with Spencer Badu’s Calgary-based unisex brand S.P. Badu and Montreal designer Leinad Beaudet.
