16Arlington wins BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund

Established in 2008, the Fund also provides the winner with pro-bono bespoke high-level business mentoring and professional services and is supported by big names including British Vogue, as well as Burberry and Paul Smith.

16Arlington is only five years old but in its short history it has seen a meteoric rise to prominence, along with some tragedy.

Co-founder Federica Cavenati died in late 2021 after a short illness, but her fellow co-founder and life partner Marco Capaldo continued the label.

It has a strong focus on in-your-face party pieces and has dressed many red carpet favourites including Hailey Bieber, Simone Ashley, Emma Corrin, Adwoa Aboah, Jodie Turner Smith, Olivia Rodrigo, and Naomi Campbell.

British Vogue Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful, who’s also Vogue’s European Editorial Director and Chair of the Fund Committee, called the label “extraordinary”. He said the win is “a testament to Marco and Federica’s unwavering commitment to push boundaries and challenge conventions with their show-stopping, subversive and uncompromising womenswear designs”.

Other big names on the judging panel were BFC chief Caroline Rush, Alexa Chung, Burberry marketing head Rod Manley, and Vogue’s Sarah Harris and Sarah Mower, among others.

They had to choose from a shortlist that included Awake Mode, Ahluwalia, Alighieri, Completedworks, Piiferi and Supriya Lele.

Other winners of the prize in previous years are Erdem (2010), Christopher Kane (2011), Jonathan Saunders (2012), Nicholas Kirkwood (2013), Peter Pilotto (2014), Mary Katrantzou (2015), Sophia Webster (2016), Mother of Pearl & palmer//harding (2017), Molly Goddard (2018), Wales Bonner (2019), Bethany Williams (2021), and Richard Quinn (2022).