British designer wins “Who Is on Next?”

British designer Lee Wood, founder of womenswear label L72, has been crowned the winner of this year’s edition of “Who Is on Next?,” the emerging talent competition organised by AltaRoma in collaboration with Vogue Italia.

Wood, who has been working alongside Donatella Versace for more than 16 years, launched L72 in January 2015 to give life to his own “personal aesthetic” and through forms that nod towards the 1950’s he has reinterpreted the concept of uniforms, evoking an idea of “no- gender”.

There were eleven finalists across two categories: Blaze, Giuseppe Di Morabito, L72, Luca Sciascia and Miaoran for ready-to-wear; and Alexander White, Avanblanc, Bams Moda, Catherine de Medici 1533, Giannico, and Lolita Lorenzo in the accessories category, all of which presented their collections to the judging panel during Pitti Uomo last month.

According to AltaRoma, the panel chose Wood for the clothing award for “the maturity he showed in presenting the collection and his reinterpretation of the iconic Fifties’ silhouette in a modern and sporty way.”

Wood was also presented with the special Fashion Valley prize, which means he will be able to develop a capsule collection with the Prato textile district that will be presented at an exclusive catwalk show at January’s edition of AltaRoma.

Giannico’s Nicolò Beretta was awarded the best footwear collection, for his “exuberance and sense of colour”, while the best bag collection went to Carol Oyekunle of Lolita Lorenzo.

All the winners will be given the chance to create and sell a special piece on Italian e-tailer yoox.com.