Tokyo Fashion Week has a reputation for being one of the top places established names in fashion migrate too. It also is known as a great place to find out what young students are on the horizon for the fashion world.

Phan Thi Cam Tu  (right) wins the top prize of the Tokyo New Designer Grand Prix competition

The Tokyo New Designer Grand Prix competition for amateurs, now in its 32nd year, is one of the biggest events at Tokyo Fashion Week, with most all of the top names at the event having been prior winners at the amateur competition.  

This year saw a vast 6,692 applicants—all presently enrolled in fashion institutions across Japan—whittled down to a mere 24 for the final cut. Getting that far usually guarantees a place in the fashion industry upon graduation.

But of these 24, a further five were presented workmanship prizes for sheer craft, and one has been awarded the Prize for Excellence for extraordinary overall finesse, and the winner of the most coveted Grand Prix Award for conceptual depth.

This year, that one top winner is Vietnamese student Phan Thi Cam Tu who won the top prize for a costume originating from the concept ‘Kintsugi’ - the name of a traditional art of Japan. It was a winner very much in line with the current fashion times.

Tu is presently a student of Fashion Creator Advance at the Ueda College of Fashion in Osaka, Japan.

She graduated from the University of Architecture, Ho Chi Minh City in 2010. Later, she became a lecturer of the Fashion Design Department at the University of Architecture before leaving to study in Japan in 2014.

With the prestigious award at the amateur competition of Tokyo New Designer Fashion Grand Prix 2016, Tu receives US$10,000 (one million Japanese YEN) along with an all-expense paid round trip to Paris – the fashion capital of the world. 

VOV