Alemais wins National Designer Award 2022 from field including E.Nolan, Beare Park and Clea
From an all-female line-up of finalists, Alemais designer Lesleigh Jermanus wins this year’s National Designer Award.
Designing “from the heart” and with purpose has come full circle for Lesleigh Jermanus.
The designer’s label Alemais has won the 2022 National Designer Award for her in Melbourne on Wednesday, from a standout field of six female designers.
“We’re just a little brand that started on the living room floor two years ago – and here we are,” Jermanus told The Australian after her win.
The designer has over 20 years’ industry experience, having previously worked for labels including Marcs and Zimmermann. She started the label as a response to suppliers in India reaching out for support during the pandemic.
As the label has grown, she has kept sustainability and ethical production at the heart of the brand, along with handcrafts.
“It’s a constant conversation between the machine and what we make from the industrial sense and what we make with our hands and how we keep those things equally as important as each other.
“One is easier than the other, but the artisan is something I really believe in for the future, because we have to keep the craft alive.”
To that end, Jermanus works directly with suppliers in the north of India who create crochet patches and squares that are worked together into garments.
From her first sales appointments in August 2020, Alemais is now stocked in 170 stores in 26 countries.
The designer has just returned from Paris and London, where the brand had pop-ups in leading department stores Selfridges and Harvey Nichols.
“Just to see that little moment, you have to stop and connect with that feeling. Because it is a big deal and you forget (given) how hard this industry is.”
Jermanus also won the inaugural People’s Choice award, as voted by David Jones customers.
The NDA, now in its 25th year, is considered the preeminent award for emerging Australian designers.
Previous winners include Toni Maticevski, Romance Was Born, Dion Lee and P.E Nation.
The NDA is part of the Melbourne Fashion Festival, and usually announced during the festival in March, and is supported by David Jones.
The award comes with a prize pool valued at $120,000, of which $20,000 is a cash prize, doubled from last year.
Bridget Veals, general manager womenswear for David Jones, said Jermanus “has always had a very feminine, beautiful handwriting”.
“I’ve seen how hard she worked for other brands so it’s wonderful to see her start her own brand and how genuine she is about fabric and factories.”
Joslin, by designer Elinor McInnes, took home the Honourable Mention for Sustainability, which this year comes with a $10,000 cash prize for the first time.
The other finalists in the competition were Blanca, Clea, Beare Park and E.Nolan.
Veals described the line-up as “the strongest I’ve seen” in the five years she has been involved in the judging process.
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