Brunello Cucinelli wins GQ Designer of the Year award

British men’s fashion magazine GQ named Brunello Cucinelli as its ‘Designer of the Year’ last night at its GQ Men of the Year event held at the Tate Modern Art Museum in London.

The Italian menswear brand was praised by the fashion magazine for its ability to boost revenues following the pandemic, up 60 percent in the first half of 2021, as well as the fact the designer didn’t make any of his 2,000 global employees redundant during the coronavirus crisis.

Cucinelli was presented his award by actor Jonathan Bailey, who said that the designer’s name was “synonymous with Italian excellence”.

In his acceptance speech, Brunello Cucinelli said: “I would like to dedicate my award to the minds and hearts of women and men of every epoch, and from every corner of the world, and to my teachers whose enlightened words taught me a universal vision of the world, and that humanistic capitalism which is so kindly and widely attributed to me.

“Through it and our work, we have discovered and nurtured the moral and economic dignity of humans, gentle economic growth, harmony between profit and generosity, and respect for Creation, a small part of which I feel I have been called upon to be a faithful and caring guardian. Thank you all.”

GQ honours Brunello Cucinelli, Harris Reed and Vivienne Westwood

GQ also honoured British-American fashion designer Harris Reed, best known for dressing Harry Styles and pushing menswear in a new gender-fluid direction with its Peroni Nastro Azzurro ‘Breakthrough Designer Of The Year’ accolade.

While British designer Dame Vivienne Westwood won the ‘Game Changer’ award for her climate change activism.

Other winners on the night included Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine heroes Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert and Dr Catherine Green, actor Regé-Jean Page, Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins, director and writer Quentin Tarantino and singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran.