Six Talented Emerging Designers Win EDFF Fashion Awards

Six Talented Emerging Designers Win EDFF Fashion Awards
Ecco Domani wines is proud to announce the 2006 winners of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation (EDFF) awards: Brian Reyes, Hanuk, Rodarte, Vena Cava, and VPL in the women's design category, and Rag & Bone, in the men's design category.

Each designer received a grant of $25,000 to showcase a collection during February 2006 fashion week.

Every year, Ecco Domani wines selects six emerging designers and gives them a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show their designs.

"The 2006 competition was by far the most difficult, with more applications than in years past and a dramatic increase in the overall caliber of entries," said Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation judge Marylou Luther, editor at The International Fashion Syndicate.

"To select only six winners from such a talented group was a major challenge, but the designers chosen were a cut above the rest."

Brian Reyes focuses on creating wearable, versatile pieces that would appeal to mother and daughter alike.

Reyes believes there is room in a young woman's closet for elegant American wear.

Hanuk is inspired by his personal cultural diversity, cultivated at an early age when his family moved from Korea to the United States.

His designs are both artisan-like and functional in feeling.

Rodarte is the design team of sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, who create garment