I was a judge on the Africa Fashion Awards. You may not know this as I wasn't at the awards ceremony as I needed to get back to work. But let me give you my perspective on the judging process and the outcomes. Why not?
One of the things I insisted on when agreeing to be a judge, was that the entire process was transparent. There was to be no political posturing, and no special affiliations due to sponsors or influence of the organisers. And so it was. I can promise you that.
Extensive research was done. Each judge was presented with a pack with a long list of possible candidates in each category. Each judge voted for their top three against a strict set of criteria, which was referred back to continually throughout the process. Additional names were allowed to be suggested at this point. These were all combined and the over-all top three were then put forward as a short list of nominations. Each nominee was informed and one or two declined the nomination. This was taken into account, but generally not adhered to as it would dilute the process.
A round table, face-to-face meeting was held in a locked room for all the judges to discuss and vote on the winners. You'd be surprised how many winners were voted unanimously.
My fellow judges were fashion director of Marie Claire, Sharon Bekker, Arieta who is the PR of River Island in the UK, Fern Mallis from Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week and we were managed and chaired by Emma Jordan. It was an amazing group of people to spend hours sharing fashion insights with.
So let me give you my thoughts on each category.
* Designer of the Year: Africa — Black Coffee [Not my choice. I was out-voted on this one. Everyone else voted for BC, I voted for Clive Rundle. I think he is awesome]
* Designer of the Year: International — Duro Olowu [Unanimous]
* Emerging Designer of the Year: Africa — Ituen Basi [Unanimous and very close to my heart — so well deserved in everyone's opinion]
* Emerging Designer of the Year: International — Bunmi Koko [Unanimous and well deserved — did you see those prints? see pic]
* Menswear Designer of the Year: Africa — Stiaan Louw [Unanimous with my empassioned motivation to our foreign judges]
* Menswear Designer of the Year: International: Ozwald Boateng [Unanimous. Africa needs to produce more of Ozwald]
* Accessories Designer of the Year: Albertus Swanepoel [Some voted for Missibaba, but Albertus got a clear majority. He is an amazing fashion talent]
* Contribution to Styling: Edward Enninful [Totally unanimous. He is a style god]
* Contribution to Photography: Koto Bolofo [Again unanimous. He is incredible]
* Contribution to Make Up: Pat McGrath [I couldn't really comment on this category although I did try and get others added to the list to no avail. Fair enough]
* Contribution to Hair: Saadique Ryklief [Unanimous]
* Model of the Year: Sessilee Lopez [This was the most contentious category. There was a lot of discussion about international model diversity and what constitutes an African model. I voted for Behati Prinsloo, but was convinced by Sessilee.]
* Fashion Communicator of the Year: BellaNaija.com [This is the one area that we desperately need more people to be active in — with international influence. Bella Naija is awesome though — you should check her blog out]
* R-Etailer of the Year: Africhic.com [Yay. etailing is so important and a wonderful opportunity for entrepreneurs. Go Sylvia. See pic]
* Miriam Makeba Style Icon of the Year Award: Grace Jones [Um. No. I suggested and voted for Iman. Obviously.]
* Male Style influencer: Michael Jackson [I laughed about this and then realised they were serious. Oh well, he was king of some West African nation]
* Lifetime Achievement Award: Yves Saint Laurent, Azzedine Alaia and Joseph Ettendgui [This is what every person in the fashion industry should aspire to]