Judges Announced

The Midlands Fashion Awards is pleased to announce its judges for the 2019 awards event which takes place on Friday 11th October at the CSBO Centre, part of the City of Birmingham Symphony Hall.

The event will include catwalk shows, networking opportunities and exhibitions from the accessory designers and will culminate in the awards ceremony. 42 finalists are through to the event, so far which includes fashion and accessory designers, and make-up artists. There is also a fashion photography category which has been extended and will close on Saturday 31st August at midnight.

Let’s meet the judges…

Jenny Eason, Founder & Director, Midlands Fashion Awards

Jenny is the founder and director of Midlands Fashion Awards and set up the awards in 2007 as she wanted to help independent, emerging and creative talent from across the whole of the Midlands and that single vision continues 12 years later. Jenny has been instrumental in building relationships with all the universities and students and giving them a platform to showcase their designs and talents at this event which is a catwalk show, networking event and awards ceremony all in one.

Carry Somers, Founder and Global Operations Director

Carry Somers is the founder of Fashion Revolution, the world's largest fashion movement. Inspired to act after the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, for the past six years Fashion Revolution has been working towards systemic reform of the fashion industry with a focus on transparency. Over 3 million people including farmers, producers, union leaders, consumers and policy makers now engage with Fashion Revolution every year. Fashion Revolution encourages supply chain transparency through its hashtag #whomademyclothes, aiming to bring visibility to millions of invisible workers in the fashion supply chain.

For the previous two decades Carry focused on running her fashion brand Pachacuti. Her collections were shown at London, Paris and Milan Fashion Week and sold in some of the world’s foremost luxury stores. She created bespoke collections and private label designs for global brands such as Paul Smith, Club Monaco, Chopard, Gieves and Hawkes, Trenery and Isetan. Pachacuti was the first company in the world to be Fair Trade Certified and pioneered radical supply chain transparency.

Carry has contributed to several books and publications and is in demand as a keynote speaker around the world. She has won numerous awards for her work and met the Queen in recognition of her significant contribution to British business. She was named one of the most influential people in London in the Equality Champions category of the Progress 1000 awards, alongside David Beckham, the Duchess of Cornwall, Stephen Fry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and in 2019 Lyst named her one of 8 sustainable icons pushing for change in the fashion industry alongside Emma Watson, Meghan Markle, Pharrell Williams and Stella McCartney.

Lisa Shepherd, Creative Director

Lisa is a multiple award winner in the hairdressing industry, three times winner of Midland Hairdresser of the Year and one of only three women in the UK to ever win the esteemed title of British Hairdresser of the Year. Also, three times winner of Colour Technician of the Year along with British Hairdressing Business Award’s and Most Wanted Award’s Innovation of the Year with her colour revolution concept, Color Bar. One of the UK’s most esteemed hairdressers and colourists Lisa Shepherd also reigned as queen of TV with her 7-season role as colourist on Channel 4’s Ten Years Younger. Lisa remains a hard-working, hands-on hairdresser, teacher, fundraiser, motivator and public speaker.

Frances Baron, Fashion Designer at FG4 by George Davies

Born and educated in the Midlands, Frances is a Fashion Designer at FG4 by George Davies.

After graduating in 2014 Frances went straight into a design intern position within the Older Girls Department at FG4 under the watchful eye of George Davies of Next, Asda and Per Una fame.

Frances now works as a designer, and heads up the Baby and Toddler Departments for both Girls and Boys. Working for the past 5 years with a fashion icon has given her a fantastic opportunity to gain so much experience of our fashion world and allowed her to travel regularly to places such as Hong Kong, China, India as well as major European Cities such as Florence, Paris and Antwerp.

Frances, who studied Fashion Design with Marketing B.A.(Hons) at Northumbria University, has worked for the likes of Topshop, House of Fraser and Paul Smith and has also worked across visual merchandising and buying so has a real understanding of the fashion industry. ‘Seeing my designs become a reality gives me a real buzz’ She says and, ‘I absolutely love what I do.’

For the make-up artist categories there are the following judges:

Diana Stoencheva, Creative Director at The Central School of Make-Up

Diana Is the director at the Central School of Make-Up and has worked professionally as a makeup artist and educator, internationally for eight years. Her portfolio covers TV and fashion and editorial makeup. Diana is currently running three makeup schools in Birmingham and Bulgaria and helping to develop the next generation of makeup artists. Diana’s biggest passion is makeup and colour, but she also enjoys photography and fashion.

Rebecca Frances, Professional Make-up Artist

Rebecca is an award-winning makeup artist based in the West Midlands with over 12 years' experience and specialising in beauty and bridal makeup. Only two years in to her career, Rebecca was awarded the 2009 Professional Beauty's National Young Make-Up Artist of the Year which was swiftly followed by National Make-Up Specialist of the Year 2011. Her most recent achievements include being named as Best UK Make-up Artist by Destination Weddings magazine 2015 and awarded Makeup Artist of the Year 2019 at the Wedding Industry Awards, going on to be highly commended at the national finals. Rebecca’s clients include the cast of The Only Way is Essex, Hollyoaks, and Made in Chelsea.

Michelle L Beddall, Lecturer in Make-up Artistry

Michelle is a lecturer at the University College Birmingham. After 10 years salon experience, Michelle started teaching Beauty Therapy at the UCB in 1999 through Protocol Professional teaching agency. After 10 years she started teaching on Level 3 Theatrical, Special Effects, Hair and Media Make-Up. In 2013 Michelle became year manager on the programme and is now year manager on the Level 2 Hair and Media Make-Up.

For the photography category there is the following judge:

Matt Wilson Photography

Matt has over 20 years’ experience as a professional photographer and works both in the UK and internationally. He has worked with clients such as New Balance, Anita Lingerie, Netball Scotland, Lisa Shepherd Salons, London Fashion Week, Carmen Hair Products, BBC Scotland and Tim Scott Wight Hairdressing to name a few. Matt has also worked with celebrities and TV personalities including Tom Parker, Zoe Salmon, Louisa Lytton, The Mac Twins, The Stanton Warriors DJs and UFC fighter Paul Taylor, as well as many modelling agencies where he creates individual profile-raising portfolios.