Marcia Patmos, the American designer of the women’s ready-to-wear collection M.Patmos, was awarded the 2015 International Woolmark Prize for womenswear in Beijing, China on Tuesday.
Patmos received a $76,366 grand prize and the opportunity to have her collection showcased by dozens of international retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue, 10 Corso Como, Harvey Nichols and Mytheresa.com in August.
In January, fellow American designers Public School won Woolmark’s first-ever menswear award.
The global competition called for each contestant to create a capsule collection featuring Merino wool. Patmos’ designs, which merged street silhouettes with natural fibers and included Nike sneakers blanketed with wool, bested collections by designers Vmajor from China, Austin Teboul from Germany, Lebanon-based Bird on a Wire and Strateas.Carlucci from Australia.
An 11-person jury judged the competition, including designer Victoria Beckham, international Vogue editors-in-chief Franca Sozzani and Angelica Cheung and My Theresa buying director Justin O’Shea. Beckham said, “I felt that Patmos embodied best what The Woolmark Company prize stands for. The collection was well executed and the concept interesting.”
