H&M Design Award: Ximon Lee first winner from the US

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Published
Jan 28, 2015

Ximon Lee is the excited winner of the H&M Design Award. The jury for the competition chose to go a different direction for this fourth edition by choosing a menswear designer as its winner for the first time. Originally from Hong Kong but living in New York, Ximon Lee receives a 50,000 euro award.

His winning collection was presented on Tuesday at Stockholm Fashion Week and in addition to this award, the 24 year-old designer will also have the opportunity to develop some of the designs from his collection to be sold at H&M in the fall.

A young graduate of Parsons in New York, Ximon Lee is not closed off from the idea of possibly turning his capsule into a mixed edition in the future. "My collection was designed as menswear but I’m excited to see it also worn by women," he said.

Ann-Sofie Johansson, head of design at H&M, congratulated the winner's "contemporary and poetic" spirit. The collection consists of very exaggerated and outsized shapes, with the multiple layering of surprising materials, notably plastic and cardboard.

But Ximon Lee wasn't the only winner. The website dedicated to the competition asked Internet users to chose the recipient of the "People's Prize" award and they chose Magdalena Brozda, a Polish student at the Geneva University of Art and Design.