Daily Front Row

2009 January 15

Men at Work

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(NEW YORK) The CFDA and GQ have collaborated once again on the Best New Menswear Designers in America project, which recognizes six finalists selected by GQ creative director Jim Moore and Damien Nunes. This year, the featured brands include Benjamin Bixby, Robert Geller, Rogues Gallery, Save Khaki, Shipley & Halmos and Yigal Azrouel. Each designer will present a selection of looks from his 2009 fall collection at an event on February 11, 2009; the winner will subsequently be selected by a panel of industry experts including GQ's editor Jim Nelson, CFDA executive director Steven Kolb and designer Thom Browne.

“We had such a tremendous response from last year’s competition, and were so happy with the success of that first collaboration, that we’re excited and determined to build on it,” said Nelson.  “It helps that the field of promising new talent is very strong out there, as vibrant as we’ve ever seen it.”

Levi's and Bloomingdale's have signed on as sponsors. The winning designer will receive a $50,000 prize and the chance to design a capsule collection for Levi's, which will debut exclusively at Bloomingdale's during a month-long program this fall, and the looks will also be availble for purchase on levi.com. Additionally, the winner will participate in a mentoring program developed by GQ, Levi's and Bloomingdale's--and naturally, an item from the Levi's capsule collection will be featured in the September 2009 issue of GQ.

All finalists were profiled by Jason Chen and photographed by Peggy Sirota for the February issue of the magazine, which hits newsstands today.
ASHLEY BAKER