CSM student wins award on night of drama

by Jennifer Logan

A Central Saint Martins student won a prestigious Fashioning the Future award on a night when two of the judges failed to make it to the Canary Wharf venue due to a road accident in the local area.

Sara Emilie Terp Hansen, 26, won the Unique Balance Award in a ceremony that was delayed by more than an hour as organisers scrambled to find last minute replacements for the absent judges.

Both supermodel Erin O’Connor and TV personality Jo Wood failed to make it to the Centre for Sustainable Fashion’s (CSF) event held at East Wintergarden on November 10.

Delayed

Representatives from London College of Fashion (LCF) stood in for the missing duo when the ceremony finally got underway and the five Fashioning the Future winners were announced.

Selected from more than 2,000 applicants from 30 different countries, the final five had to make it through three stages by impressing a jury of highly respected fashion figures such as CSF co-founder Caryn Franklin and LCF Head, Professor Frances Corner.

After collecting the award for her trench coat made from cork, Hansen said: “It means a lot to win this award.

“It’s a push to tell you that you are going in the right direction,” she added.

Sustainability

Now in its third year, the categories for 2011 were inspired by the launch of the United Nations’ International Decade on Biodiversity.

CFS Director Dilys Williams said: “It is imperative that fashion should be a major part of the sustainability discussion because the global fashion industry is one of the most polluting in the world – on a par with the chemical industry.”

Corner brought the awards to a close by saying: “These are extraordinary examples of how we might all be responsible in helping to fashion our own futures and to change the nature of the fashion industry going ahead.”