Ecco Domani announces emerging fashion designer awards

Now entering its eleventh season, the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation has awarded over $1.3 million in support of emerging designers. Established by Ecco Domani Wines of Italy to make a meaningful contribution to the fashion community, the Foundation has helped to launch the careers of many of today's best and brightest fashion stars, including: Zac Posen, Derek Lam, Proenza Schouler, Peter Som, Rodarte, Vena Cava, Alexander Wang, Prabal Gurung and Altuzarra.

"Ecco Domani wines are about style and innovation and the 2012 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award recipients truly embody these values," said Molly Davis, Marketing Director for Ecco Domani Wines. "We are proud to raise a glass to this year's winners and are honored that acknowledgement from the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation links these emerging fashion designers to our roster of well-known alumni."

More about the 2012 designers:

CORRELL CORRELL: German-born twin sisters Daphne and Vera Correll joined forces to form their label Correll Correll in 2006. Daphne studied at the Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and at Cooper Union in New York, while Vera studied at the Rietveld Academie and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002. Before starting their line they both assisted numerous artists and designers including Christian Holstad, Vera Lutter, Marcel Wanders and Thomas Demand.

Their studio and workshop is based in New York City's Lower East Side and their line is carried in select boutiques worldwide. They have been written about in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Vogue (german), Lucky, Maxi (german), Title magazine, Daily Candy, Refinery 29, Dream Sequence Blog and more. They have shown their collection during Berlin fashion week and have worked with showrooms such as Opening Cermony and Showroom Romeo in Paris and Zenyia in Tokyo.

EIGHTEENTH: Eighteenth's inaugural season, SS10, consisted of a collection of 6 t-shirts that gained attention due to the line's use of non-traditional angles, cut-outs and asymmetry. Now in its 5th season, Eighteenth has developed into a full-fledged collection that continues to innovatively use these elements to re-imagine basic garments. Eighteenth is guided by the ideas that basic is boring, asymmetry is more interesting and that simple lines make the boldest statements. Eighteenth is designed by Alexa Galler. A native of Atlantic City, Galler graduated magna cum laude from NYU and furthered her studies with a Fashion Design degree from Parsons.