LONDON — The British Fashion Council on Wednesday unveiled the nominees for this year’s Fashion Awards.

Contenders for the top honor Designer of the Year include Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen for The Row; Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent; Haider Ackermann for Tom Ford; Matthieu Blazy for Chanel; Michael Rider for Celine, and Sarah Burton for Givenchy.

The Fashion Awards, slated for Nov. 30 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, is billed as one of the world’s biggest fashion fundraisers. It remains the BFC Foundation’s flagship event, using the red-carpet spectacle and international guest list to funnel support toward the next generation of British designers and fashion education.

This year’s nominations point to a continuation of that balancing act between major luxury players and homegrown names, with several familiar faces returning to the ballot.

The British Womenswear Designer of the Year race gathers Clare Waight Keller for Uniqlo, Erdem Moralıoğlu for Erdem, Louise Trotter for Bottega Veneta, Burton for Givenchy and Simone Rocha.

On the menswear side, the shortlisted names included Foday Dumbuya for Labrum, Kiko Kostadinov, Nick Wakeman for Studio Nicholson, Simon Holloway for Dunhill and Rocha, who expanded into men’s fashion four years ago.

Highlighting emerging talents, the Vanguard Award nominees this year are Ellie Misner, Steve O Smith, Tolu Coker and Conner Ives, who showed in New York for spring 2027.

A jury of 18 media and retail professionals selected the 2026 nominee shortlist, and their choices will now go to a wider voting committee of industry figures, who will cast confidential ballots to determine the winners revealed on the night.

As reported, the Fashion Awards is the primary fundraiser for the BFC Foundation, which was created in 2019 for charitable purposes. Its aim is to give grants to students and attract, develop and retain talent through education and business mentoring.

The BFC Foundation offers support to designers through four talent prizes, such as the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund; the BFC/GQ Designer Fashion Fund; the BFC Newgen, and the BFC Fashion Trust. It also offers BA and MA scholarships to students, as well as links with industry through design competitions and Graduate Preview Day.

In addition to the nominees’ reveal on Wednesday, Sandra Choi was named earlier this week the recipient of a Special Recognition Award for her “exceptional contribution” to the global fashion industry and her leadership of Jimmy Choo as one of the longest-serving creative directors in the industry.