Qhen an international fashion house and an art academy decide to seriously invest in female creativity, not a simple prize is born, but an “explosion” of culture and reflections. The second edition of the Study Award “Supporting Women’s Creativity”, born from the collaboration between Carolina Herrera and NABA, New Academy of Fine Arts, it shows that talent is not just celebrated: it is selected, “trained” and projected towards the future.
Supporting Women’s Creativity
The second edition of the “Supporting Women’s Creativity” Study Award is specifically aimed at students in the second and third year of the NABA three-year coursesof the Milan and Rome offices. Alongside these are people who, although not recognizing themselves in the gender assigned at birth, identify as women and have activated the Alias Career. The perimeter is clear: at the center are the artistic and design paths of those who are experiencing a decisive phase of their education.
The applications received were 413, more than double compared to the previous year. From this pool, an initial selection of 100 projects was made, until reaching a final shortlist of 12 students: six second years and six third years. The evaluation was based on three criteria: creative quality, academic progress and economic situation, in a balance that recognizes both merit and the concrete need for support.
The assigned theme“The Evolving Essence of the Carolina Herrera Woman”, asked the participants to deal with the aesthetic and value universe of the Maison, reinterpreting it in the light of a contemporary femininity, in movement and anything but simplifiable. The internal jury, led by Carolina Adriana Herrera, Beauty Creative Director, accompanied the students on the journey up to the ceremony on 10 December, hosted in the Temporary Art Gallery of the NABA campus in Milan. The event was enriched by the speeches of Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, an important name in the art world, and Giuditta Tanzi, in dialogue with the journalist Virginia Nesi: a context that transformed the award ceremony into a true platform for discussion between cultural institutions, training and the creative system.
Winners: two projects, many feminine nuances
An extract from the work of Isin Ergen, winner of the third year of the three-year course in Graphic Design and Art Direction
Two awards, two reflections on the world of women, two budding talents. A great desire to create and grow in the art world. These young women questioned themselves about women today, what they think, what they are like, what they want. The result? Surprising, intimate and profound works.
For the second year of the course, the prize was awarded to Giulia Sacco, a three-year student in Graphic Design and Art Direction, with the video “Morphéa”. The project was born from a series of interviews and conversations and builds a collective visual story, where the feminine is not pigeonholed, but allowed to emerge through different voices, looks and experiences. The structure of the work combines formal solidity and the ability to convey the complexity of contemporary experience.
For the third year, the winner is Isin Ergene, also from the three-year course in Graphic Design and Art Direction, with a project that intertwines video and embroidery. The manual skill of thread meets the language of digital and transforms a gesture traditionally associated with the domestic sphere into a precise declaration of identity. The body, movement and visual texture dialogue to affirm an autonomous, conscious, non-domesticated female presence.
The jury also awarded two honorable mentions: to Maria Alice Ippoliti for the second year and to Alejandra Castellano for the third. The four projects highlight how graphic design and art direction can become refined tools for addressing issues such as gender, representation, freedom and belonging, without giving up care for the image and conceptual coherence.
An ecosystem, not just a recognition
The 12 finalists of the “Supporting Women’s Creativity” award
One of the distinctive elements of the “Supporting Women’s Creativity” Award is its ability to extend beyond the moment of its proclamation. For a week after the ceremony, the NABA campus in Milan hosts the projects of the 12 finalists in the exhibition spaces of the Temporary Art Gallery. The works of the second and third year students, selected from hundreds of proposals, enter a shared space and are measured by the gaze of different audiences. Creativity, in this way, does not remain confined to a file, but acquires a physical, critical and dialogic dimension.
For the winners, the prize then takes the form of operational tools. It’s expected an HR coaching session with the Puig teama concrete opportunity to understand the dynamics, languages and expectations of a large international group in the beauty and luxury sector, in a phase in which professional choices are starting to take shape. Added to this is experience within the publishing world: the possibility of attending a photo shoot by the editorial staff of I Woman in the studio of the historic headquarters in via Rizzoli in Milan. Direct access to that behind the scenes where the visual imagery intended for the public takes shape.
The Study Award is part of the global program “Carolina Herrera For Women in the Arts”with which the Maison supports female talent around the world through training, mentorship and support for creative and social projects. At the same time, it confirms the role of NABA, New Academy of Fine Arts, as an environment in which artistic and design training is not limited to transmitting technical skills, but builds structured connections with the professional system.
In a context in which the word “creativity” often risks becoming a generic label, “Supporting Women’s Creativity” chooses a rigorous approach: precisely identifying who has something to say, demanding high quality and offering tangible opportunities in exchange. A choice that gives the notion of talent a full, measurable and, above all, responsible meaning.