Belgian designer Tom van der Borght, the winner of FASHIONCLASH Festival 2019 Award, won the Première Vision Grand Prize at the 35th edition of the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography. The prize was announced by a jury headed by designer Jonathan Anderson, founder of JW Anderson and creative director of Loewe.
“What we really, really admired in the work of Tom van der Borght is that it was a totally new type of form, new type of shape, new type of commitment to a silhouette, and it was uncompromising,” designer Jonathan Anderson, head of the jury, said during a remote award ceremony. “And in this moment we are in, we as a jury believe that it was about starting this new decade with newness, this idea of originality.” Anderson continued: “It was not about looking at something for its automatic commercial sense. It was about the beauty within fashion, the handmade, the technique, and the risk in it. And I think Tom has really achieved something in what he has done and I think he will go on to do very well.”
Tom Van Der Borght started his fashion education at the age of 30 and founded his label in 2013 after graduating from the Stedelijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten Sint-Niklaas. Recently he joined the Master of Theatre study at Toneelacademie Maastricht.
