Guardian News and Media/London
The final gold medal for Team GB’s outstanding showing at the Olympics has been awarded fashionably late. Stella McCartney, who created the kit worn by Great Britain’s record-breaking team this summer, has been crowned designer of the year at the British fashion industry’s most prestigious awards ceremony.
McCartney twice took to the British Fashion Awards podium at the Savoy Hotel, also receiving the designer brand of the year award for a label that this year has been worn on every red carpet and copied on every high street.
The accolades were an appropriate end to a triumphant year for McCartney.
Dressed in a black taffeta jumpsuit of her own design on the podium, the designer described 2012 as “the best year to be British and one of the most incredible years of my life.”
Her first London catwalk show in 16 years, in Mayfair in February, was favourably reviewed but her contribution to the Olympics did most to boost her domestic approval ratings.
McCartney emerged the winner from a close three-way contest, with Christopher Kane and Mary Katrantzou also nominated.
Kane, whose name has been linked with the prestigious design post at Balenciaga, recently vacated after the surprise departure of Nicolas Ghesquiere, had strong support from within the British fashion industry, while Katrantzou had vociferous champions on the international voting committee.
It is a second designer of the year award for McCartney, who received it in 2007. This was a night in which the breadth and depth of talent in the British fashion industry was rewarded at the expense of some of its most famous names.
Neither Burberry, Alexander McQueen nor Mulberry were recognised, though there was a nod to the influence of Burberry in the model of the year award for Cara Delevingne, star of the label’s advertising campaigns.