The Walpole British Luxury Awards celebrated the very best high-end
products and services from British businesses last night (November 18) in
London, honouring Burberry, Dame Zandra Rhodes, Manolo Blahnik, Church’s
and Dunhill.
Iconic fashion designer Dame Zandra Rhodes, who opened a retrospective
exhibition this year, was awarded with the Luxury Legend accolade for her
50-year career, while Dunhill were named British Luxury Brand, for their
global impact in terms of sales and exposure in the last year, and footwear
designer Manolo Blahnik received the award for Creative Contribution with
The Wallace Collection for their critically acclaimed exhibition.
British heritage brand Burberry beat off tough competition from
Selfridges, Net-a-Porter, jewellers De Beers and the Esteè Lauder Companies
to win the Luxury with a Heart award, honouring the fashion house’s
sustainable and environmental initiatives, while Smythson was honoured with
the British Luxury Overseas award in a strong category that included
Mulberry and Orlebar Brown.
Fashion success at the 2019 Walpole British Luxury Awards
There was also success for shoemaker Church’s, which was awarded with
the Luxury Maker of the Year accolade, the brand produces its men’s and
women’s collections in Northampton and saw off competition from British
couture house Ralph and Russo and fine jeweller Hamilton and Inches.
There was also a new category this year, the ‘Future Legacy’ award,
which was awarded to Bentley, an iconic British luxury brand that Walpole
said has chosen to use the “power of its heritage to build a visionary and
relevant story for the future, with innovation and purpose at the heart of
what that legacy aims to achieve”.
In addition, the Luxury Leader accolade was presented to Fortnum and
Mason chief executive, Ewan Venters, and Flowerbx won the Brands of
Tomorrow Award for Emerging Talent.
Walpole chief executive Helen Brocklebank said in a statement: “This
year’s awards have been an incredible celebration of unstoppable
creativity, inventiveness, fearless entrepreneurship and above all
relentless quest for perfection.
“All of our winners and nominees are fired by the ambition to be the
best and to make British luxury a byword for brilliance the whole world
over and if tonight is anything to go by, they are succeeding.”
The Walpole British Luxury Awards celebrates British business across
multiple sectors including fashion, fragrance, fine jewellery, hotels,
automobiles and accessories. The winners were selected by a panel of
industry experts, headed up by Walpole’s Chairman, Michael Ward, managing
director of Harrods and Walpole’s chief executive, Helen Brocklebank.
Images: courtesy of Walpole
