The British menswear designer, known for her gender-bending aesthetics and allusions to her West Indian heritage will receive €300,000 ($366,000) and mentorship from Cédric Charbit, chief executive of Balenciaga. Other finalists of the competition were GmbH, Wales Bonner, Area, Rokh, Ludovic de Saint Sernin and Casablanca. Saunders is also a finalist for the LVMH Prize.

“Mentorship from such a key player in the industry plus financial support like this will help me really focus on growing my business and realising my lifelong dream — establishing Bianca Saunders as a global fashion brand,” said Saunders in an email to BoF.