Latin American Fashion Awards to Honor Talent In 12 Categories

As the fashion industry continues its attempts to diversify and expand the meaning of what communities are welcome and exalted, a new initiative that will highlight the contributions of Latin American designers and creatives has been announced: the Latin American Fashion Awards.

“We feel the time is right, as the fashion world has shifted, people are embracing diversity, welcoming new aesthetics and points of view,” the founders Constanza Etro and Silvia Argüello said in an email. “Latin America has been the birthplace of so many talented designers, artists, and brands throughout the years and we think the time is ripe to amplify and recognize their work.” The awards will be the first event of its kind to focus exclusively on designers, brands, and creatives hailing from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America; they will be biennial and hosted in a different Latin American country each time. 

Taking place this year in November in the Dominican Republic, the Awards will begin with an opening night celebration at Oscar de la Renta’s Punta Cana villa, followed by the prize ceremony at the Altos de Chavón Amphitheater in Casa de Campo.

The awards will honor traditional categories like designer, model, photographer, and brand of the year, as well as other categories that reflect the industry’s current interests and inner workings like responsible project of the year, fashion film of the year, and disruptive latin of the year—the winner of the latter category will be selected by an online vote open to the public. Another category aims to highlight a local talent from the host country—in this case, the Dominican Republic local star.

“Latin America is about the depth of its people, backgrounds, and the social issues that have made us resilient with much to express,” Etro and Argüello explained, adding, “we would like to build the awards into a global platform that helps promote Latin American talent and [becomes] a reference point to discover and bolster their future.” They will be open for submissions beginning on February 8, and all Latin American creatives are invited to submit across the 12 award categories on the awards’s website.