Meet the designers competing for Swarovski’s inaugural prize

If certain collections over the next few days at London Fashion Week look a little more dazzling than the rest, blame Swarovski. This season, the Austrian crystal house has selected fourteen designers at New York, London and Paris for its Swarovski Collective programme.

Marques'Almeida, Mary Katrantzou, Ashley Williams, Peter Pilotto and Huishan Zhang will show their collections at LFW, while Iris Van Herpen, Masha Ma and International Woolmark prizewinner Christian Wijnants complete the Paris line-up. Swarovski have already sprinkled its stardust over New York, with Prabal Gurung, Rodarte, Creatures of the Wind, Wes Gordon, Misha Nonoo and Tim Coppens.

Katrantzou, who has been part of the Collective for ten seasons, said: "Working with Swarovski has been a journey of exploration; they are a driving force of innovation in the industry and I love that nothing is off limits! From shimmering, printed crystal mesh through to hand embroidered, vacuum formed silicon skirts, the crystals have helped me to communicate my vision in another dimension of luxury."

The scheme was born when Nadja Swarovski first collaborated with the young Alexander McQueen on his legendary SS99 collection, which climaxed with two industrial robot arms spraypainting Shalom Harlow's white dress. Since then, the brand has supported over 150 emerging and established designers, allowing them to push forward and fully explore the creative potential of crystal.

This year, the design platform celebrates its 15th anniversary. Designers in the collective have received year-long financial support and the chance to win the inaugural €25,000 Swarovski Collective Prize for Innovation. Oh, and as many crystals and sparkles as their hearts desire, of course. The winner of the Prize will be announced next month in partnership with Dazed.