Filipino designer John Herrera won Britain’s Top Designer award at the fifth season of the Fashion’s Finest event for emerging talent in British fashion.
Herrera’s “Agila (Eagle)” collection featuring Philippine history and culture – the Philippine Eagle and Filipino tribal art, won over five other London-based designers. The tribal art pieces included tribal tattoos from Northern Luzon.
The Philippine Eagle print acts as a symbol for the collection. The House of Herrera Philippines presented six show pieces created with digital dye-sublimation printing. It is the designer’s first work on custom-made print in collaboration with EPSON Philippines.
The resulting fabrics were made into dresses, overcoats and angular tailored jackets in white, brown and black. Herrera first showed his creations in London in 2015 – and was immediately awarded the London Emerging Designer Award for his 10-piece collection inspired by the bioluminescence of Philippine marine life.
Herrera was chosen the winner by London fashion scene’s experts namely, celebrity photographer and Britain’s Next Top Model judge Nicky Johnston; CEO of Fashion’s Finest and creator of Britain’s Top Designer Deborah St. Louis; celebrity stylist Bernard Connolly; Cerys Wrigley-Moss; fashion stylist and Prince’s Trust Ambassador Lewis Duncan-Weedon; fashion stylist Lola Royle; and former fashion director of the Daily Telegraph Hillary Alexander.