Keira Knightly in Mary Katrantzou

One To Watch: Designer Mary Katrantzou, born in Athens, educated in the United States and currently a London resident is just under 30 years old, yet has already earned significant respect in the fashion scene – maybe her mother being an interior designer and her father having textile design background paved the way for her earlier than most.

Making a mark in the tough heeled market, Mary was still in college when she sold some of her print designs to the legendary Bill Blass and eventually her designs in school lead her to be nominated for the Harrods & L’Oreal Professional Award.

Following this success, she was supported by the British Fashion Council and showed her first collection in 2008. Shortly thereafter in 2010 she did a collection for TopShop and won the Swiss Textiles Award, succeeding Alexander Wang who won the previous year.

Mary Katrantzou

Mary’s work is featured in Dazed & Confused, Grazia, Elle and Vogue and more recently has become a favorite of many well known fashionable girls in the London area, but expect to see more of her in the US shortly, if you have not already.

For more information, click here to check out her press book. 

From:  Yahoo News: Fashion Wire Daily
Date:   Tuesday June 8, 2010

New York – It may have been the American fashion industry’s big night, but international fashion greats also got their due at the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards last night at Lincoln Center in New York on Monday, June 7.

The late Alexander McQueen was honored with a special tribute, presented by Sarah Jessica Parker, and his Fall 2010 collection was shown for the first time outside the small Paris presentation in March, where it was originally shown shortly after his death on February 11, 2010.

British designer Christopher Bailey of Burberry also received this year’s “International Award,” presented to him by Donna Karan.

A typically star-studded affair – like the Academy Awards and fashion week wrapped into one event – actors including Jessica Biel, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rachel Weisz and CFDA designers themselves, Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, mingled with fashion’s finest, such as CFDA president and designer Diane von Furstenberg, Kenneth Cole, Zac Posen, Betsey Johnson, Rachel Roy, Brian Atwood and Peter Som.

Top honors of the Swarovski-sponsored night went to Marc Jacobs for “Womenswear Designer of the Year,” David Neville and Marcus Wainwright of Rag & Bone for “Menswear Designer of the Year” and the “Accessory Design of the Year” award went to Alexis Bittar.

Swarovski also underwrote the awards for the top emerging designers, who this year included Jason Wu for womenswear, Richard Chai for menswear and Alexander Wang in accessory design. The winners in this category will receive financial support from Swarovski, as well as access to the company’s crystals for use in their own designs.

The Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Michael Kors, presented by Anna Wintour who recalled a humorous anecdote about how Kors once stayed in the ocean in Jamaica for four hours because Ralph Lauren was also on the beach – and Kors didn’t want Lauren to see that he was, in fact, wearing Ralph Lauren swim trunks.

Paper magazine’s founding editor and publisher Kim Hastreiter, a longtime champion of new and undiscovered fashion talents, was given the Eugenia Sheppard Award for excellence in journalism, which actress Brooke Shields introduced, while Caroline Kennedy presented Vogue fashion director Tonne Goodman with the Eleanor Lambert Award. Isabella Rossellini introduced Iman, who received the “Fashion Icon” award.

For the second year in a row, the “Popular Vote” award went to Ralph Lauren. Through a joint Web site sponsored by L’Oreal Paris and WWD.com, anyone could vote for their favorite fashion designer.