Today might be Friday the 13th but here at BOMA Towers we’re feeling rather lucky: we’ve just had confirmation of two very good things.
First up, we’re delighted to welcome another new judge. Clare Ceprinsky, Image Director at Matthew Williamson, has agreed to join the fashion panel. Clare takes the total number of judges to 25, joining the likes of Wayne Hemingway, Jeremy Deller, Peter Saville, Tim Marlow and Miranda Sawyer.
What exactly is an ‘image director’? Well, Clare originally joined the fashion house to oversee the design of the flagship Matthew Williamson store on Bruton Street, London. She now manages all aspects of the overall brand, the visual look of Williamson stores and the building and concept development for all ‘shops in shops’ and standalone boutiques (including the launch of a flagship New York store last month). She also gets involved in the retail side of the business, looking after the merchandising and window display of the label’s flagship outlet in London, and worked very closely with Williamson to curate the exhibition Matthew Williamson- 10 Years in Design, which the eagle-eyed among you will remember showed at Urbis last year.
And, for those of you that know your kitten heels from your shoe boots, the links between Matthew Williamson and Manchester are incredibly strong: Matthew was born and brought up in the city and is something of an inspiration to an emerging generation of Mancunian fashion talent.
Above: image from the Matthew Williamson show at Urbis in 2008
So that’s one bit of good news. The other is that Aesthetica Magazine has just come on board as a media partner. This glossy arts title covers the full spectrum of the arts and culture (literature, visual art, music, film, theatre and more), and has a bit of a thing for delving into the arts scene outside London – which we, of course, heartily approve of.
But the best bit is that the magazine believes ‘that the arts are interdisciplinary, with many artists blurring the lines between genres and crossing boundaries in their work.’ That works for us – in fact, we’d go so far as to say that Aesthetica and The Best of Manchester Awards fit together rather well.
Our sincere thanks to both Clare and all at Aesthetica: today is a good day at BOMA Towers.
