Carla Fernandez, 34, was chosen as the winner of the British Council’s International Young Fashion Entrepreneur Award 2008 after giving a presentation to a UK panel of leading industry figures including Colin McDowell MBE, Suzanne Tide-Frater, Julie Pinches, Alberto Bartoli and Alison Moloney. The winner had to demonstrate a keen understanding of and vision for the fashion industry in their country.

Carla is the founder of Taller Flora, a fashion label and mobile laboratory that travels throughout Mexico visiting indigenous communities, including those that specialise in handmade textiles. Taller Flora has developed a unique style, and is a leader through its business model of a fair-trade network and environmental policies that encourage responsible practice in the fashion industry.

The judges stated that “She has a clear and distinct design philosophy, which is highly personal and representative of her cultural identity, while speaking to the international fashion industry. "

The IYFEY prize is a financial award to be spent on a project tailored to the winner’s specific interests while developing the relationship between the winner’s country and the UK. Carla’s project was to recruit a printed textile designer and menswear designer from the UK to work with her and the Taller Flora team in Mexico for five months.

For more information about IYFEY and Carla’s work please click here.