From L.A. to London to Montreal, Zurich and Brazil, designers competing for the top prize on season three of “Making the Cut” hail from all corners of the globe.
When the third installment of Amazon’s Prime Video streaming reality series kicks off on Aug. 19, 10 up-and-coming creatives will go head-to-head in hopes of walking away with $1 million to help their businesses break through and a chance to be mentored by the Amazon Fashion team’s insider know-how.
The Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn-hosted series will drop two episodes weekly before judges Nicole Richie and Jeremy Scott help crown the last designer standing in the Sept. 9 finale.
Among this year’s group of names to watch is Gabriella Meyer, the Rivet 50 member and Denimcratic founder behind supermodel Bella Hadid’s denim birthday bustier. Meyer, with ties to L.A. and Chicago, has expanded into knitwear after building a name for herself by tapping recycled inputs and getting creative with denim.
L.A.’s self-taught Ciara Chyanne Morgan landed on Visa’s radar this year when the finance giant awarded the HBCU Tuskegee University grad its “She’s Next in Fashion” grant. The designer runs her eponymous contemporary ready-to-wear Ciara Chyanne brand in addition to consulting for third-party labels.
Brooklyn’s Curtis Cassell brings his passion for and pedigree in architecture and interior design into the non-binary label Queera he founded in 2020.
In addition to running Savannah, Ga.’s East + Up vintage boutique, Emily Bargeron maintains a laser focus on festival-friendly fashion for her Made-in-America Mamie Ruth brand, where one-of-kind fringed and sequined denim jackets run $358 a pop.
Related Stories
London-born Georgia Hardinge has seen Beyoncè, Alicia Keyes and Lady Gaga wear designs from the eponymous label she launched in 2010 with a sculptural aesthetic. A recipient of the British Fashion Council contemporary sponsorship with eBay, Hardinge also conjured up custom couture for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and rubbed shoulders with Swarovski.
Jeanette Limas honed her pattern-making skills in her native Dominican Republica before landing a scholarship at the Parsons School of Design and subsequently studying the art of draping at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She’s sent her seven-year-old namesake brand down several New York Fashion Week runways and done a stint with the Urban Zen by Donna Karan design team.
Markantoine Lynch-Boisvert applies his interest in “conceptual skatewear” to his cheekily irreverent Made in Montreal MRKNTN label, in addition to teaching in the fashion school at the Quebecois city’s LaSalle College.
Brazilian native Rafael Chaouiche quickly abandoned fashion studies to get his feet wet in the industry. His namesake Chaouiche label plays with rich colors and textures as well as sculptural designs.
China-born and New York-based Sienna Li’s namesake label’s designs have graced the physical and digital pages of Vogue Italia. She’s hoping to spin out a more accessible brand to reach a wider audience.
Zurich’s Yannik Zamboni takes a unique approach to sustainability with the Maison Blanche label he launched just shy of two years ago. The Swiss designer puts equal weight on what he describes as sustainability’s four tenets of ethical and moral, socio-political, ecological and economic values.