Mercedes-Benz and fashion - a perfect match - PART VIII

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Stuttgart, Germany, Jul 17, 2008

Mercedes-Benz becomes title sponsor of Stockholm Fashion Week: Mercedes-Benz establishes Young Fashion Industry Award

Beginning in 2009, Mercedes-Benz will be the title sponsor of Stockholm Fashion Week by Berns, the most important fashion event in Sweden. The initiative was already launched this summer with the first presentation of the Mercedes-Benz Young Fashion Industry Award at Stockholm Fashion Week in July. In cooperation with event organiser Berns Salonger and national design schools, Mercedes-Benz established the new prize in order to encourage up-and-coming Swedish fashion designers.

Since 2006, Stockholm Fashion Week by Berns has taken place twice a year � in January (fall/winter collection) and July (spring/summer collection) � and has established itself as one of the key fashion events in Scandinavia. During each of the three-day events, the best-known Swedish and other Nordic designers, including Acne Jeans, Filippa K, Cheap Monday, Whyred, Hope and Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, present their latest collections alongside extraordinary young talents such as Sandra Backlund and Helena H�rstedt. The shows are complemented with seminars, exhibitions and a fashion trade fair.

The new Mercedes-Benz Young Fashion Industry Award will be presented once a year. Swedish fashion design students and young talents with their own labels can enter in four categories: women�s pr�t-�-porter, menswear, eveningwear and women�s avant-garde. A finalist will be selected in each category by a jury of influential fashion journalists, stylists and buyers. Each finalist will then present his or her creations at an exclusive nomination event during Stockholm Fashion Week in July. There, the jury will choose the winner of the coveted award, who may then present his or her latest collection on the runway to a large national and international audience at the next Fashion Week in January.

As of 2009, title sponsor Mercedes-Benz will have its own fashion show as part of an exclusive evening within Mercedes-Benz Stockholm Fashion Week by Berns, thereby enhancing the Fashion Week�s international image.

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