Steven Stokey-Daley, alumnus of the Fashion Design BA course, has won the BFC (British Fashion Council) Foundation Award at the Fashion Awards 2022 in The Royal Albert Hall.
The BFC Foundation Award recognises an emerging designer who had a major creative impact on global fashion throughout the year, and also receives support from the BFC Foundation. The Fashion Awards is one of the most prestigious fashion events worldwide, celebrating the intersection of culture and fashion, while providing a platform for brands, creatives, designers, artists and tastemakers to celebrate the industry.
The Awards also acts as a fundraiser for the BFC Foundation, providing scholarships for students towards fees and funding. Sarah Mower, established fashion critic and Columnist of the American Vogue, has been supporting students, including Steven who she first met at Westminster in February 2020, prior to his graduate show.
In 2020, Steven, and many other students across the UK, has received fabric from Alexander McQueen as part of the BFC Colleges Council initiative. He used the material to create some of the outfits of his graduate collection at London Fashion Week in the same year. Since then, Steven has established his own business, S.S. Daley, with his designs being worn by celebrities, such as Harry Styles, Sir Ian McKellen and Josh O'Connor.
Talking about the award, Andrew Groves, Professor of Fashion Design and Director of the Westminster Menswear Archive, said: “It was fantastic to see Steven receive the BFC Foundation Award at the Fashion Awards. It is incredible that he only graduated from Westminster in June 2020 and has already accomplished so much, including this latest honour. It has been a little over two years since he graduated from Westminster, and he has built a loyal following, a sustainable business, and is already supporting current Westminster students by offering internships with him.”
Steven comes from a working-class background in Liverpool, leading him to examine British heritage and systematic elitism. He was greatly influenced by the fashion of public schools and regatta races, as well as 18th century portrayals, theatre and referential films. Steven is also interested in gender fluid clothing, and aims to explore the boundaries of hyper-masculinity through ‘homosocial’ theory.
"I came across images of a regatta, and I had never seen anything like it before… There is something inherently feminine about that hyper-masculine culture,” Steven states in his bio.
Read about Steven’s London Fashion Week debut in the University of Westminster news section.
