Bianca Saunders has a covert kind of impact. So covert, in fact, that the designer’s elegant menswear can fly under her own radar. “One of my interns came in, and he was wearing a pair of trousers from Farfetch. I was staring and I told him ‘I really like those’” she says. “And he said: ‘Yeah, they’re yours.’”
And it’s that low-key, hi-structure, fluid sort of menswear that’s crowned Bianca Saunders as the winner of the BFC/GQ Designer Fashion Fund of 2024. With a £100,000 cash prize, a year’s mentorship and pro bono legal services from Sheridans, Saunders joins a long line of past winners that have gone on to elevate their labels further: Wales Bonner, Nicholas Daley and Ahluwalia. “These prizes are very much needed. People think that because a brand’s visible, it can grow by itself, but having the right mentor and money can strategically place your brand in the place, and help it grow properly,” she says. “It’s such good morale for the team to win this. Everyone in fashion works so hard for clothes, even the thought process to make a single shirt. So yeah, this recognition is beyond.”
Bob Foster
The judging panel consisted of Adam Baidawi, GQ‘s deputy global editorial director, British Fashion Council CEO Caroline Rush, Sheridans partner Tahir Basheer, GQ‘s senior style editor Murray Clark, GQ‘s fashion editor Angelo Mitakos and former prize winner Nicholas Daley. Each shortlister presented a business plan and fielded questions before the eventual champ was decided – and Saunders aims to use the cash to develop the label further.
It feels like the right time for Saunders too. There’s been a Paris show; an appearance at the Met Gala 2023; a name that’s constantly raised in London’s menswear scene. And her constant interrogation of tailoring and menswear at large has found a huge cult following. “I’ve been through so many different climates with the pandemic and Brexit and the current financial crisis we’re all navigating,” she says. “But resilience is a big part of what’s kept me going, and being open to change. I think I’m a person that’s always constantly learning and inquisitive, and I think that’s the best way to get to this next stage.”