French designer Naya Ahdab wins inaugural David Delfín Prize for emerging talent

The very first International David Delfín Original Talent Fashion Prize has been awarded. The award ceremony took place at the end of the SPAM celebrations, the emerging designer showcase organised by the provincial council of Málaga, Spain, The inaugural edition of the prize has been bestowed upon French designer Naya Ahdab, with Galician designer Sara Maneiro winning the David Delfín scholarship.

The International David Delfín Original Talent Fashion Prize was created to promote creativity and emerging talent in fashion, without borders or limitations. As an international prize, its promoters sought to reflect the same inclinations that the brilliant and well-recognised Spanish creative David Delfín championed throughout his professional career.

He is considered the "most international Málaga designer", a sentiment echoed in the profile of the applicants for this first edition. A total of 92 applications were received, 23 percent of which came from outside Spain, from countries such as the United States, France, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, and even Japan.

Naya Ahdab wins first edition of the International David Delfín Original Talent Fashion Prize 2024.

The jury for the first edition of the award included Rosemary Rodríguez, former creative director at Paco Rabanne, Thierry Mugler and Christian Dior and founder of the AMA agency; Patrick Cabasset, fashion editor at publications such as L’Officiel and French Vogue; Cristina Baruzzi, partner at Sterling International and talent recruiter for design teams under the direction of Miuccia Prada, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli.

In addition to: Leticia García, fashion editor-in-chief at fashion and lifestyle magazine Smoda and fashion editor at El País; Spanish designer Juana Martín, and Pepa Bueno, executive director of the Spanish Fashion Designers Association (Acme).

“Today, Málaga has become another hub for emerging fashion talent, as evidenced by the shows of the finalists of this 1st International David Delfín Original Talent Fashion Prize 2024,” Manuel López Mestanza, vice president of Culture for the Málaga Provincial Council, said just before the award ceremony on Wednesday, November 20.

Esperanza González, Deputy for Sustainable Economic Development of the Málaga Provincial Council, thanked David Delfín's family for their support of the initiative and for allowing the award to be presented in his name.

“David Delfín was an outstanding figure in the contemporary Spanish fashion scene, a creator with a unique and singular world who opened new paths that many designers have followed and continue to follow,” commented Pepa Bueno, executive director of ACME and a member of the jury. “Spanish fashion owes him a great deal, as does the Spanish Fashion Designers Association, of which he was a very active member, serving on the board of directors for many years,” she added. “Collaborating in the launch of this prize has been an honour and a duty for all of us.”

Naya Ahbad, winner of the first edition of the International David Delfín Original Talent Fashion Prize

Naya Ahdab's show. Naya Ahdab's show. Credits: Soledad Villalba Cumpián, vía Diputación Provincial de Málaga.

The nine finalists included Milagros Pereda, a recent graduate of Parsons Paris, who presented her collection ‘Distortion’. This was showcased alongside ‘To All Women, To All Mothers’ by Nia de Fer, from the Sabadell School of Design, affiliated with Ramon Llull University in Catalonia; ‘Dream’ by Hanjiao Wang, from Parsons Paris; and ‘Lux in Tenebris’ by Alejandro Abadía Grimaldos, from design institution ESDI Sabadell.

Completing the list of finalists who presented their collections during this last edition of SPAM as candidates for the David Delfín Prize were Andrea Godoy from the La Rioja School of Design, with her collection ‘Final, Final, Final’, the emerging brand Marín Studio, presenting ‘La Madrugá’, and Mandula Maczkó, based in Italy, who presented designs from her collection ‘To watch and to be watched’.

Galician fashion designer Sara Maneiro, a graduate in Fine Arts with a specialisation in Fashion Design and Creative Direction from the University of Vigo, won the David Delfín scholarship for her debut collection ‘El objeto sentimental y el hogar’ (‘The sentimental object and the home’), which will allow her to compete as a finalist in the next edition of the award.

The overall winner of this edition was French designer Naya Ahbada, born in New York in 2002, with her collection "Neuroblastome". For this collection, the recent Parsons Paris graduate received a trophy designed by visual artist Irene Molina, inspired by David Delfín's drawings and his ‘Tutti Frutti’ collection for Spring/Summer 2013, as well as a cash prize of 10,000 euros to fund the development of her fashion house project, courtesy of the Málaga Provincial Council.

To create her collection, the French designer "focused on the idea that a body and its history can be sculpted into a garment and vice versa, highlighting the differences and transformations of a garment in contact with a deformed silhouette," Ahbad explained in a statement provided by the Málaga Provincial Council. In creating ‘Neuroblastome’," the designer used, "flat colours, flowing fabrics and a neutral colour palette" to create a total of "seven pieces that explore the journey of self-acceptance and self-confidence," as per the organisers of the award.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.ES, translated and edited from French into English.

It was translated by Veerle Versteeg using an AI tool..

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