Style displays and influences tradition. The 2026 Vilcek Prizes in Style & Design spotlight immigrants elevating style by means of design follow, materials innovation, make-up, and hairstyling. As a part of its mission to uplift immigrants working within the arts and sciences, the Vilcek Basis has awarded $250,000 to 4 immigrant style professionals: Peter Do, Jacques Agbobly, Marcelo Gutierrez, and Uyen Tran.
These prizes underscore the importance of immigrants and style to tradition in the USA by recognizing the foreign-born people who carry their voices, cultural reminiscences, and immigrant experiences to their work. Their distinctive creations not solely seize the present cultural panorama but in addition encourage society to query synthetic constructs of magnificence.
Peter Do: Vilcek Prize for Style & Design
Peter Do acquired the $100,000 Vilcek Prize in Style & Design for creating versatile clothes for on a regular basis life with out sacrificing sturdiness or consolation. When he was 14, Do moved from his native Vietnam to the suburbs of Philadelphia, which uncovered him to the customarily turbulent lifetime of immigrants within the U.S. His mom helped regular him throughout this time, educating Do the significance of resiliency. She and different girls stay main sources of inspiration for his creations.
The $50,000 Vilcek Prizes for Inventive Promise in Style & Design have been awarded to Jacques Agbobly, Marcelo Gutierrez, and Uyen Tran.
Jacques Agbobly: Vilcek Prize for Inventive Promise in Style & Design
Jacques Agbobly facilities Afropolitan identification, Black multiplicity, and diasporic reminiscence of their designs. They had been impressed to pursue a profession in style after witnessing their mom braiding hair to help their new life after immigrating to Chicago from Togo. Agbobly is now a full-time designer and professor at Parsons Faculty of Design, and continues to construct an American style home that facilities Black identification whereas carrying ahead the craftsmanship and reminiscence of their dwelling nation.
Marcelo Gutierrez: Vilcek Prize for Inventive Promise in Style & Design
Marcelo Gutierrez is redefining magnificence requirements within the trade by means of his subversive and culturally grounded make-up artistry. An immigrant from Colombia, Gutierrez has turn out to be one of the vital sought-after make-up artists and artistic administrators within the US. His work redefines who’s seen, celebrated, and regarded lovely in style.
Uyen Tran: Vilcek Prize for Inventive Promise in Style & Design
Uyen Tran is acknowledged for her management within the growth of sustainable merchandise that help the well being of individuals and the planet with out sacrificing high quality. Rising up within the coastal metropolis of Da Nang, Vietnam, Tran witnessed the horrific environmental results of local weather change brought on by fast-fashion practices. She based TômTex Inc., named after the Vietnamese phrase for crops, which transforms mushrooms and natural supplies into materials that mimic the wonder and efficiency of leather-based with out plastics or toxins.
To study extra, go to vilcek.org.
