The CTF Award 2025 presents seven finalists that will be challenged to create one look each using MMCF fabric provided by a selected CTF Award Innovation partner. The final creations will be showcased at an exhibition in Milan on May 13th and 14th. Discover all finalists and partners below.
Nuba designed by Cameron Williams is a menswear brand defining the journey of youthful foreign bodies searching for their own nuance between heritage and cities.
Nuba’s mission is to inject a youthful, nuanced perspective of cultural heritage into western classical elegance. Styles embodied by mothers and fathers that, due to displacement, had to adapt to their new environment are contextualized through the sons of these mothers searching for this commonality in each other. Nuba characterizes this journey of adaptation in youth and the nuance created by embracing unfinished-ness and rejecting the need to completely exist in one culture or another.
Through primary research, photographing mothers and fathers traveling through multicultural areas of South London, Nuba witnesses the context of cultural clothing forming specific instances of gracefulness and resilience when superimposed with the signs of mundane urban everyday life. Nuba captures these instances through clothing and imagery, depicting sons finding their own distinction between the elegance of their mothers and the influences of their environment.
Nuba resolves this nuance with menswear that adds a sophisticated preparedness and resilience to youth, through tailoring and silhouettes that refine these cultural juxtapositions. With elegance and functionality, Nuba clothing characterises the journey of a youthful foreign body, traversing an exterior environment, foreign to their home language.
Oscar Ouyang is a living canvas where tradition and innovation entwine—a brand shaped by the vibrant pulse of London and the creative rigor of Central Saint Martins. Our knitwear, deeply rooted in East Asian heritage, is reimagined through the urban spirit and diverse energy of London, refined by the academic excellence and experimental ethos of Central Saint Martins. Each piece is a delicate tapestry of artisanal care and modern ingenuity, an ode to sustainability and cultural storytelling. Discover a world where every stitch narrates a journey, bridging the timeless with the contemporary in wearable, soulful art.
Petra Fagerström is a Swedish fashion designer Born in 1998. She is currently based in London, pursuing a Master’s in Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins.
After finishing her bachelor at Parsons Paris, she gained experience working at Acne Studios and Balenciaga as well as working freelance for brands such as Byredo and doing private tailoring.
Her Parsons Paris graduation collection featuring lenticular pleated fabrics and military inspired outerwear gained recognition, as she became a finalist at the International Talent Support contest in Italy 2022.
Recognized for her work in sustainability, 2023 Petra Fagerström received the 38th Festival D’Hyeres Mercedes Benz Sustainability Award for a pleated upcycled parachute dress and the Chanel Atelier des Matières Prize for her innovative use of discarded materials. New use of material is a core value for Petra which can be seen in her signature lenticular pleats. She also has a strong interest for garment construction and cutting developed during an apprenticeship at bespoke Tailor A.W Bauer in 2021.
SHAN HUQ is a luxury ready-to-wear brand based in Paris. The brand asserts a singular vision of clothing—precise, structured, and uncompromising. The goal is to establish an enduring aesthetic and expertise while maintaining a consistent and exclusive approach to ready-to-wear.
Founded in New York in 2015 and reestablished in Paris in 2024, SHAN HUQ operates with a commitment to craftsmanship and a sharp, deliberate point of view. Each collection explores the tension between simplicity and opulence, reinterpreting conservative codes with irony and elegance.
Luxurious textiles form the foundation of a wardrobe designed to transcend time. The SHAN HUQ signature silhouette evolves with new sophistication: playful yet poised.
Deeply engaged with contemporary art, the brand collaborates with artists to infuse fashion with subversive narratives.
Founded in 2015 in New York City by Mattie Barringer and Amanda McGowan, Women’s History Museum oscillates between traditional runway shows and art exhibitions, all the while anchoring itself in the study of clothing. Women’s History Museum has presented nine runway shows and is represented by Company Gallery in NYC. Their practice is dictated by meticulously sourced historical materials and close collaborations with other artists who often double as models in their fashion shows. WHM interrogates the idea of the Museum and insists on alternative methods of recording and portraying history. Women’s History Museum opened its permanent store location in 2023 at 244 Canal Street where they stock their own designs as well as vintage clothing which informs their practice.
Less of a brand, more of a practice, Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen is an artist and fashion designer based in New York City.
Using discarded linens, antique laces, tea towels, tablecloths, and repurposed clothing, she crafts sculptural entities that speak to the soft curvatures of our bodies. Medieval silhouettes and Victorian forms of body modification inform a contemporary proposal of dress, one that looks to the wisdom of a pre-industrial revolution world.
Each piece is draped, patterned and sewn by hand in her Brooklyn studio, infused with intention from sourcing to creation, every garment operating as a spell, a vessel for psychic communication. Her historically informed silhouettes propose a new future; a new way of relating to one another, our objects and ourselves.
After starting her eponymous label in 2022, Zoe continues to release seasonal collections showcased with multi-faceted performances during new york fashion week.
Olympia Schiele was born in Germany, where she lived until moving to London after graduating from the University of Munich. She began her practice by blending her background in product design and photography into a cohesive, intimate perspective. Each collection draws from Olympia’s multidisciplinary experience, weaving together deconstructionist design and visual storytelling.
Born out of London’s ever-evolving cultural landscape, Louther embraces the beauty of imperfection. Its pieces explore the tension between construction and reconstruction, often balancing opposites—raw and refined, structured and fluid—while finding harmony in contrast.
Rooted in Olympia’s hands-on approach and her commitment to rethinking garment construction and draping, Louther blurs the lines between design, fashion, and art. Her design aesthetic is defined by its distinctive use of colour, sculptural silhouettes, and unconventional textures. Each creation is part of an ongoing dialogue—an invitation to discover the unexpected in the everyday