The Fashion Awards, held each year by the British Fashion Council (BFC), will crown this year’s winners on the evening of Monday 30 November at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The nominees were announced in mid-September, and ever since, the most debated question in British fashion circles has been the same: which designer will define the night this year? As the ceremony approaches, rather than run through the list from start to finish, we have highlighted the most intriguing races and one nominee who holds special meaning for us.
The nominees were chosen by an 18-member jury of critics, editors, stylists and buyers. The winners will be selected by secret ballot by a separate voting panel made up of leading names in the industry. The evening is also the biggest fundraising event of the year for the BFC’s foundation, which supports British fashion.
The tightest race in womenswear
This year’s most hotly contested category is, by a clear margin, British Womenswear Designer. Each of the five nominees represents a different vision of fashion: Sarah Burton at the helm of Givenchy, Simone Rocha and Erdem Moralıoğlu, who run their own labels, Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, and Clare Waight Keller, who works with Uniqlo. Creative directors of luxury fashion houses compete on the same list as the founders of independent brands, turning the category into a kind of comparison of styles.
From Givenchy: the Spring/Summer 2027 menswear collection by Sarah Burton
Double nominations: Burton and Rocha
The most striking feature of the list is that two designers have been nominated in two separate categories at once. Alongside Womenswear, Sarah Burton also appears in the Designer of the Year category, in which international names compete. Burton moved to Givenchy in September 2024 and won the Womenswear award at last year’s ceremony, so she is aiming to defend her title. In the Designer of the Year category, however, she faces strong rivals such as Matthieu Blazy of Chanel, Anthony Vaccarello of Saint Laurent and the Olsen sisters, founders of The Row.
Simone Rocha, for her part, is nominated in both womenswear and menswear. Known for romantic, layered designs that put handcraft front and centre, Rocha enters the menswear category for the second time. This double nomination is a strong sign that her label is no longer associated solely with its women’s collections. In menswear she is up against Simon Holloway of Dunhill, Nick Wakeman of Studio Nicholson, Labrum founder Foday Dumbuya and Kiko Kostadinov.
From Simone Rocha: a look from the Autumn/Winter 2026 collection
The view from Türkiye: Erdem Moralıoğlu
The name on the womenswear list that excites us most is Erdem Moralıoğlu. His label’s official website and the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection record state that the designer was born in Montreal to a Turkish father and an English mother. Moralıoğlu spent his childhood between Montreal and Birmingham in England, completed his master’s degree at the Royal College of Art in London in 2003 and founded his eponymous label in London in 2005.
Moralıoğlu is no stranger to this award. According to the label’s own records, he won the BFC’s Womenswear Designer award in 2014 and, in 2015, the award given to established brands; in 2020 he was also made an MBE for his services to the fashion industry. Known for floral prints, romantic silhouettes grounded in archival research and collections inspired by historic female figures, the designer’s return to this list also attests to the consistency of a label now more than twenty years old. The prospect of a designer of Turkish descent once again reaching for an award at London’s most prestigious fashion night is a development worth following for fashion audiences in Türkiye too.
From Erdem: a look from the Autumn/Winter 2026 collection
The new generation and honorary awards
The Vanguard award goes to labels representing the new generation of British fashion. This year’s four nominees are Conner Ives, Ellie Misner, Steve O Smith and Tolu Coker. All compete with eponymous labels; for those keen to spot early the names that will be knocking on the doors of major fashion houses within a few years, this category may be the most instructive part of the night.
The honorary awards, which are not put to a vote, were announced in advance. Sandra Choi, creative director of Jimmy Choo, will receive the Special Recognition award. Having joined the brand in 1996, Choi, according to the BFC, has spent close to thirty years both shaping the brand’s creative direction and championing craftsmanship and young talent. Of the award, Choi said: “I am truly honoured to receive this recognition from the British Fashion Council.” In other words, she expressed how deeply honoured she was to receive this recognition from the BFC.
The Model of the Year award has also been decided: the BFC has given the title to Awar Odhiang. You can read the details in our story on Awar Odhiang being named Model of the Year.
The BFC's Model of the Year announcement
50 names from behind the scenes
The night’s longest list, however, is New Wave: Creatives. In October the BFC announced 50 young talents working behind the scenes of the fashion world. Stretching from photographers to hair and make-up artists, from stylists to casting directors, and from producers to sound designers, the list is a reminder that a show or shoot is never made by the designer and model alone. The nominees were put forward by names on the previous year’s list, with the final selection made by an industry panel. The inclusion of casting directors Lina Eldali and Lisa Dymph Megens will be of particular interest to anyone following the modelling world.
From the BFC: the New Wave: Creatives 2026 jury
Why does it matter?
The Fashion Awards work like an annual report card for British fashion: they show who is on the rise, which brands are setting the industry’s agenda and where the new generation is heading. This year’s list paints a balanced picture in which major fashion houses and independent labels compete on the same stage and behind-the-scenes work is made visible too. For young talents planning their careers, the New Wave list is also a good roadmap; anyone interested in this field can also take a look at our guide to what it takes to become a model. We will announce the winners on the night of 30 November.
Sources
- FashionUnited: Announcement of the 2026 nominees
- The Impression: Nominee list, category by category
- The Industry: Burton and Rocha’s double nominations
- FashionUnited: Special Recognition award for Sandra Choi
- FashionUnited: The New Wave: Creatives list
- Erdem’s official website: the designer’s biography
- Victoria and Albert Museum: Erdem collection record
Image: Portrait of designer Erdem Moralıoğlu — Tom Mannion (uploaded by Erdem.emily.witley), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
