Ukrainian Hat Maker Baginsky Received the Rrestigious ANDAM Fashion Award 2023
For the first time in history, Ukrainian designer Ruslan Baginsky received the prestigious ANDAM Fashion Award. The award ceremony took place in Paris. The prizes were presented by the founder of ANDAM Nathalie Dufour, this year's mentor of the award Riccardo Bellini and the Minister of Culture of France Rima Abdul Malak.
This was reported by the official website of the ANDAM Fashion Innovation Award 2023.
Ruslan Baginsky, whose hats are worn by Beyoncé and photographed by Bella Hadid, received a prize of 100 thousand euros.
According to the prize rules, the funds will be used to promote the Ruslan Baginsky brand. The winner will also receive a mentoring course and personal advice from Hermès Executive Vice President Guillaume de Seynes.
"I am delighted to be the sponsor of this year's ANDAM Accessories Prize winner and sincerely congratulate Ruslan Baginsky's talent, which was recognised by our jury. The growing importance of this prize shows the very strong vitality of young creatives in the fashion accessories sector, which I particularly appreciate," said Guillaume de Seynes.
On his Instagram page, the Ukrainian designer thanked the organisers of the award, his family and team, as well as everyone who accompanied him during his design journey.
The other two finalists in the accessories category are the London-based jewellery brand Alighier and the Parisian jewellery brand Panconesi.
The finalists were announced at the end of last month. Back then, the appearance of a Ukrainian designer on the list of eminent nominees caused a heated discussion. Ruslan Baginskiy admitted that he did not expect to be shortlisted.
"Ruslan Baginskiy is on the list of finalists for the ANDAM award. I wish I could have told myself this news in 2016, during my first trip to Paris, when we lived in dubious apartments, in dubious neighbourhoods and gnawed at every little opportunity to tell about ourselves and prove to everyone, and especially to ourselves, that a small brand from Ukraine can produce a product on a par with legendary French fashion houses," the designer wrote at the time.
The ANDAM Fashion Award 2023 was founded in 1989 with the support of the French Ministry of Culture. The award is famous for its ability to discover new names in the fashion industry. In particular, designers such as Martin Margiela, Jeremy Scott, Gareth Pugh, Christophe Lemaire and many others started their careers here.