SYDNEY — Fashion designers Alexander Enticknap and Sean McCallum, and creative director Blake Sutherland, are the winners of the 15th edition of the Australian Fashion Foundation’s scholarship awards. 

Announced at an event at Sydney’s Old Clare Hotel on Monday evening Sydney time, the trio — who are recent graduates of the University of Technology Sydney, RMIT and the Whitehouse Institute of Design, respectively — will each receive an internship placement at an American fashion company in 2024, as well as $25,000 in cash to assist with living costs for the duration of the placement. 

The judging panel was comprised of designers Camilla Freeman-Topper and Christopher Esber, The Next Generation director Courtney Miller, editorial director and publisher News Prestige and Condé Nast titles Australia Edwina McCann, Harper’s Bazaar Australia editor in chief Jill Davison, Carfrae Consulting founder Malcolm Carfrae and fashion influencer and philanthropist Nicole Warne. 

The foundation was launched in 2008 by Carfrae and Vfiles founder and chief executive officer Julie Anne Quay in a bid to help Australian fashion graduates gain valuable international experience. 

The AUSFF program has since facilitated internship placements at companies including Wardrobe.NYC, Altuzarra, Athena Calderone’s EyeSwoon, Dion Lee, Oscar de la Renta, Narciso Rodriguez, Proenza Schouler, Louis Vuitton, Thom Browne, Alexander McQueen, Diane Von Furstenberg and Calvin Klein.

“Not only have we been able to thrive for 14 years now, with many thanks to our longstanding partners the American Australian Association and Nick and Gabi Molnar’s The Next Generation, our alumni have also gone on to have incredible fashion careers,” Carfrae said.

Those alumni include Talisa Trantino, who is now head of jewelry and special projects at Loewe, while Tim Watson is creative coordinator at Schiaparelli and Vlad Kanevsky is a collections designer at Thom Browne.

“What the judges and I are really looking for is world-class talent and the potential for a bright and successful career ahead,” Carfrae added.

“Many of [the scholarship recipients] still keep in touch and continue to send messages of gratitude, which makes me so proud of our work fostering a global network of some of Australia’s brightest young fashion stars.”