Team USA is set.

On Tuesday evening at La Sirena, where the 2015/2016 International Woolmark Prize USA Regional Awards event was held, Gabriela Hearst won for womenswear and Rochambeau, designed by Laurence Chandler and Joshua Cooper, for menswear. Both take home AU$50,000 (approximately $37,476) and will represent the USA in the international finals in London for menswear and Paris for womenswear in January.  Each winner also receives mentoring support and will be granted a Woolmark license.

The two winners had stiff competition: Matiere, Pyer Moss, Second/Layer and Abasi Rosborough were vying for the prize in men’s, and Nellie Partow, Sally LaPointe, Hellessy, and Monse for women’s. All designs for the competition were on display for guests such as TK Wonder, Malin Akerman, Siki Im, Tanya Taylor, Hal Rubenstein, and Aurora James.

The winners were selected by a panel of judges that included Michelle Lee, Jason Wu, Andre Leon Talley, Roberta Myers, Malcolm Carfrae, Julie Gilhart, Glenda Bailey, Steven Kolb, and Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne. A criteria for the designers was the innovative use of merino wool. “We really enjoyed being on the other side instead of being judged all our lives,” Chow said before announcing the men’s award.

Public School were the worldwide winner of the 2014/2015 International Woolmark Prize for men’s; M.Patmos won for women’s, making it a total win for Team USA that year. If Gabriela Hearst and Rochambeau have their way, they will accomplish the same. As Rochambeau’s Chandler put it to the New York crowd, “We cannot wait to get on an international stage and win this for everyone.”

Go Team USA!

Photographers: Neil Rasmus & Carl Timpone/BFA.com