Starring at Gwand Promotion Stars · Media Stars · Design Stars

Ackermann wanted a reposition as it’s catalog outdated at that time. A new younger and fashionable target group should be reached. An other fashion catalog from France called “La Redoute” started a new trend. They started to work with fashion designers. This was the start of a new era. Fashion ordered via catalog became trendy. Ackermann jumped on this bandwagon with Gwand and thus received an unexpected national and international promotion with the Ackermann Prix Prêt à Porter. The prize worth € 50,000 included an order for the designer to develop an exclusive collection for Ackermann.

American Express has offered a credit card specifically for women and wanted to position itself in the fashion industry to appeal to women who are interested in fashion and lifestyle. American Express awarded a prize of 10,000 CHF at the Gwand fashion school competition. The price went to the best international fashion school at that time.

Annabelle wanted to build a more modern image and appeal to a younger and more fashionable audience. The lifestyle magazine was then read mainly by an older generation but wanted a more fashionable and contemporary image. Annabelle was a long-term and strong media partner of Gwand and supported us with regular reporting. As well they designed and printed the Gwand program booklet as a supplement in the magazine. Later they handed out the Annabelle Award for a fashion school graduate, and financed an internship at an international well-known designer.

Bally wanted to promote her own apparel collections beside their well known shoes. Of course on a high design level. In 1999 their apparel collection was not as high level as it is today. Back then, Bally was more known for their shoes and the collection had to be promoted internationally. Gwand was the ideal platform to present the collection to a large audience, international journalists and fashion professionals. Bally was then also the official Gwand shop and sold the nominated Gwand designers in their flag ship store in Zurich, Bahnhofstrasse.

Bucherer wanted to position itself more in the fashion sector in order to reposition their conservative image in a contemporary and fashionable way. The Bucherer Award was first hand out to international fashion students. Later they also financed the Best Cut Award with 10,000 CHF. This award went to the nominee designers with the best cuts. Bucherer shined with national and international media presence and the Bucherer award donation was positively recognized in the fashion industry.

The Federal Office of Culture presented the annual winners of the Swiss Federal Design Awards on the catwalk. The winners of the Swiss Federal Design Award for fashion were then able to present their collections to the national and international fashion industry. As a result, the designer as well as Swiss Federal Design Award gained huge attention national and international. This furthered the visibility and fame of both very much.

Credit Suisse was geared towards positioning itself in the fashion industry in order to make the bank attractive to women and customers interested in fashion and lifestyle. In 1997, the private banking held customer events at Gwand. Credit Suisse has become the main sponsor in 1998 and handed-out an audience prize to a Swiss designer of 10,000 CHF. From 1999 Credit Suisse became Presenting Sponsor and donated the Credit Suisse jury prize of 15,000 CHF.

Dr. Hauschka wanted to position their natural cosmetics in the fashion and lifestyle sector. At that time natural cosmetics became very popular. Dr. Hauschka offered gift boxes with their products to journalists, international fashion people, invited vip guests and celebrities. At the same time, Dr. Hauschka presented a beauty lounge in the Gwand festival location and offered treatments for the invited vip guests. Thus, Dr. Hauschka introduced their products to fashion industry leaders.

Dyson was a promotion partner at Gwand. Dyson promoted their first washing machine with a product placement integrated into the festival. Due to its very modern design, the washing machine was integrated into the festival and staged excitingly. As a result, Dyson attracted a lot of attention at Gwand and reached the optimal national and international audience and the media to showcase their innovation. A machine with two drums.

At that time, Hotel Schweizerhof was one of three 5 star hotels in Lucerne. In comparison with its competitors—and in general—it was perceived as a bit old fashioned, outmoded, and boring. In order to freshen its image, Hotel Schweizerhof partnered with Gwand. Gwand then organised VIP events, parties, and shows at Hotel Schweizerhof. Soon it became the Gwand Official Hotel and the central meeting point of the Gwand Fashion Festival. Celebrities, designers, journalists, jury members, and all kinds of fashion people met there, mixed with the other visitors, and everyone was indulged by the sparkling ambiance. And the charming hotel staff and the caring Gwand hosts played their roles very well indeed. This made Hotel Schweizerhof very popular and today it is appreciated for its attractive events, its beautiful ambience, and likeable hospitality.

Back then Calida and Joop created an underwear collection together. Calida needed a fresh breeze in their rather outdated underwear label. The collaboration partners took the opportunity to present the collection at the Gwand in front of a large audience to invite private banking guests, media representatives and national and international vips. In a glamorous show, the line garnered much media and audience attention and helped Calida present their new fashionable image.

The canton of Lucerne supported the Gwand with public funds as we focused on cooperating with various schools for the festival. On the one hand we employed trainees from business - and art schools in Lucerne and organized exhibitions and projects with the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences / Textile Design Lucerne.

At that time, Moët & Chandon already positioned itself very strongly in the international fashion industry. They were present at all international fashion weeks and could not been overlooked anymore. Moët & Chandon champagne was offered at the Gwand festival and the trendy piccolo bottles with straw were a must at every fashion event. It was therefore a good move to award a prize at the Gwand festival because this commitment was not only supported by Moët & Chandon Switzerland but also internationally. Moët & Chandon supported young people and donated every year the award for International Fashion Schools competition at Gwand. Many famous national and international schools took part in the competition and the schools and Moët & Chandon benefited from a broad media response.

Motorola brought out the then very trendy flip phones and the mini mobile phones in fancy fashion colors and wanted to position these products in fashion and lifestyle. Gwand was an optimal platform to promote the new mobile phones. Motorola awarded the Motorola Accessories Award to international designers. The award included an order for the designer, to design mobile phone cases and mobile accessories for Motorola. Motorola benefited from strong media coverage and great attention to the new mobile phones and the award.

Pro Helvetia supported the Gwand Festival together with the Federal Office of Culture with public funds. They patroned the Gwand symposia and were also represented as panelists. In addition a touring exhibition of Pro Helvetia was integrated into the festival.

Gwand was supported by the city of Lucerne with public funds. In return, Gwand promoted the city of Lucerne internationally and showed that even in a small town big fashion and stars can be made. Lucerne was in the spotlight of the international fashion scene and gathered the most important people in the national and international fashion industry. The festival attracted many national and international visitors and the city of Lucerne was mentioned nationally and internationally in connection with the fashionable image and enjoyed a great media response.

Swiss Textiles, the Swiss textile association, wanted to position itself in the international fashion industry in a new and modern way in order to supply Swiss fabrics to the designers of tomorrow. They were looking for opportunities to introduce the Swiss textile producers to the contemporary and hyped international designers. For Gwand a dream came true when Swiss Textiles pledged to donate a funds award of 200,000 Swiss francs, at that time the world’s highest prize for the promotion of fashion designers. As a result, Swiss Textiles achieved worldwide recognition as well as a permanent broad and comprehensive media coverage. The winners of the several Swiss Textiles Awards are today well-known international figures in the fashion industry.

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Benoît Missolin’s first collection was in 1997, and he gained industry recognition in 2001 when he presented his first mixed catwalk show inspired by the Tyrolese Disco. The following collections went from Croisiére à Hawaï to Piste aux étoiles, and after winning the Swiss Textile Award at the Gwand Festival, he found his passion for headpieces.
Benoît Missolin creates some of the most exquisite, unique and vivacious pieces of millinery on the luxury market, his brand is stocked in prestigious stores around the world, such as Le Bon Marché in Paris, Liberty in London, Tsum in Moscow, Isetan in Tokyo and Corso Como in Shangai.

In 2001, Ackermann created his own label and presented his first women’s wear collection in March 2001 during Paris fashion week. In 2004 he won the Swiss Textiles Award at Gwand. In 2005, he signed with the Belgian group bvba 32 and set up his studio in Paris. Ackermann was one of the designers approached to succeed Galliano at Dior, after declining the proposed succession of Martin Margiela. Karl Lagerfeld saw him to be his ideal successor at Chanel, and some commentators called him a “new Yves Saint-Laurent”. Influenced by cultural differences, Ackermann’s fashion contrasts and blends dress codes. The simple cuts of his creations are often asymmetric and sewn of different materials, resolutely modern, dynamic and urban areas, using the resources of the high and low culture, developing type clothing streetwear featuring feminine silhouettes sophisticated and refined. His creations have been worn by Tilda Swinton, Timothée Chalamet, Penélope Cruz, Victoria Beckham, Janet Jackson and Kanye West. In June 2013, entrepreneur Anne Chapelle of 32 BVBA fashion house announced that the Ann Demeulemeester and Haider Ackermann labels would be split into two independent companies. In 2016 he became creative director of Berluti.

After completing his Fashion Degree at London’s Central St Martin’s and a three-year stint as designer working with Martin Margiela on his Artisanal and Knitwear Collections, Lutz launched his eponymous label in Paris with partner David Ballu. A twice winner of the ANDAM Award, the biggest Fashion Prize in France, and the Ackermann Pret-a-Porter Prize at GWAND in Lucerne, Switzerland, Lutz’ approach has been described as “Decontextualisation”: taking things out of context, reinventing ways to wear a classic wardrobe, working on structure, volume and identity. A trenchcoat is draped to turn into a dress, vice versa a dress is cut in heavy cotton to be worn as a coat. Knits and sweatshirts turn into outerwear, and a towel becomes an eveningdress. His way of mixing and matching different genres and types of garments - Sportswear and Evening, Casual and Formal, Feminine and Masculine turned out to be prophetic - it has since become an integral part of the fashion landscape. Lutz has been a consultant at MaxMara Fashion Group since 2000, and is a visiting Tutor on the Central St Martin’s MA in London and the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale in Paris. Lutz is a member of Gwand’s advisory board.

Raf Simons graduated in Industrial Design and Furniture Design in 1991 and went on to start working as a furniture designer for various galleries, having previously interned at the design studio of Walter Van Beirendonck. He launched his fashion label in 1995. He won the Swiss Textiles Award at Gwand in November 2003. In June 2005, the new Raf by Raf Simons line launched. At the same time Simons was named creative director of Jil Sander - menswear and womenswear - in July 2005. Simons is inspired by the world around him, fuelled by his love for both rebellious youth cultures and traditional menswear. His look is all about modern proportions, pure construction and new shapes. On December 13 2011, Simons was said to be finalising contracts which would see him replace John Galliano as creative director of Dior following Galliano’s dismissal earlier in the year. On February 23 2012, it was announced that Simons would leave Jil Sander following the presentation of the label’s autumn/winter 2012-13 women’s collection. On April 9 2012, it was confirmed that Simons had taken over as the new creative director of Dior and would show his first collection during the Couture collections in July. Since 2016 Simons serves as the Chief Creative Officer of Calvin Klein. In this role, Raf Simons leads the creative strategy of the Calvin Klein brand globally across the designer, contemporary, bridge, jeans, underwear and home categories in addition to overseeing all aspects of Global Marketing and Communications, Visual Creative Services and Store Design.

In 1989, Yvan Mispelaere started training with Claude Montana who was head of Haute Couture at the House of Lanvin at the time. After spending five years as Montana’s assistant, he goes to Rome to work for Italian ‘la dolce vita’ couturier Valentino in 1994. After enjoying Valentino’s glamour and style for 4 years, Mispelaere is wooed away by Prada to Milan in 1998. He made the Milanese label more femine and luxurious. After 6 years of travel Mispelaere returns to Paris at a time where the legend of the Parisian woman is being revived. As artistic director of Féraud he finds fulfilment in designing a typically French style, which speaks of femininity and frivolity. Féraud is now part of the Dutch group Secon. In 2002 The German Group ESCADA took 90% of the Féraud shares and Yvan Mispelaere left the company. In 2003 Yvan won the Ackermann Prix Prêt-à-Porter at Gwand. After Féraud, Yvan Mispelaere worked for Chloé as an assistant under Phoebe Philo. He quitted Chloé to take up the position of design director at Gucci, where he worked under creative director Frida Giannini. In 2013 he became design director at Roberto Cavalli.