COPRA Award winners announced

The Cosmetics & Perfumery Retailers' Association (COPRA) held its annual lunch yesterday and also presented coveted COPRA Awards. There are six awards relevant to products launched during the previous year: Best New Skincare Product/Range; Best New Makeup Product/Range; Best New Male Fragrance, national distribution; Best New Male Fragrance, limited distribution; The Look Award for Best New Female Fragrance, national distribution (voted for by the readers of Look magazine) and Best New Female Fragrance, limited distribution. As well as the Gordon Whitehead Award for personal contribution to the beauty industry, the final award is the Supplier Service Award for the company that the Copra members feel has given the best and most consistent service throughout the previous year.

Here is a full list of winners and nominees:

UK Fashion and Textile Export Awards winners announced

Superdry, Johnstons Cashmere, Pittards, Barker Shoes and LXY Brands picked up prizes at this year’s UK Fashion & Textile Export Awards, which were held in London today (13 May). The UK Fashion & Textile Export Awards have been presented since 1986 and recognise outstanding sales performance beyond the UK domestic market. This year, as usual, the Awards were presented to the winners by HRH The Princess Royal, President of the UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT), the event’s organiser. This year’s Awards also included the first Lifetime Achievement trophy, which was presented to the king of men’s nightwear Derek Rose, and another first was for textiles, which was won by leather specialist Pittards. The Gold Award, for long-standing export excellence and sponsored by HSBC Commercial Bank, went to Northamptonshire-based Barker Shoes. In addition, a Chairman’s Award was presented to John Wilson, former director general of UKFT, who is retiring at the end of June, and is now a deputy chairman of the organisation.

Full details of winners and sponsors:

Major new event launch shakes up mainstream bridal market

Foxglove Events, the creators of The Designer Wedding Show for the luxury bridal sector, have announced the launch of modernbride, a major new event for the mainstream market. The event is scheduled for this November (See DIARYdates) at London’s ExCeL and has already been extremely well received by the market. With the average cost of a wedding in the UK now put at around £20,000, brides want to invest in the best for their budget. Exhibitions are the perfect media for helping them shortlist the many must-haves for their perfect day but Sue Maddix of Foxglove feels that the mainstream market is very poorly served by the current choice of events.

Naomi Campbell fashion photography and model competition

After a two-month search through more than 8000 aspiring models and photographers, Talenthouse, Naomi Campbell and Glamour magazine's editor Jo Elvin have chosen the winners of their search for the hottest new face and photographer in the UK. The two talented winners were today announced as Miro Arva, the winning photographer, and Sabrina Rocha, as the top model. Both Miro and Sabrina will now participate in a shoot with supermodel Naomi Campbell, to be featured in the August issue of Glamour magazine.

Debut bags and accessories collection from Mark Giusti launches

Mark Farhat is launching his first collection of luxury men’s bags and leather accessories - Bring Back Time. The Mark/Giusti brand is aimed at the modern man looking for design, quality and functionality. Materials are chosen to reflect the designer’s attention to quality and practicality, from the hand printed Italian Nappa leather to leading technological materials. Furthermore, the hand-carved details and clean lined compartments have been positioned to add to the aesthetic while serving a purpose. The colour palette is traditional with a strong usage of deep green dominating the collection. The new range comprises laptop bags, briefcases, gym bags, messenger bags, weekend bags and wallets, with retail prices from £120.00 for Wallets, to £765.00 for bags. The Bring Back Time collection will soon be available in selective boutique stores in London and Italy. A launch party will take place in London in June (see DIARYdates) For further details please visit www.markgiusti.com