I was fortunate enough to be invited to this year’s Fashion Group International’s Rising Stars Award Ceremony by a dear friend and founder of Applied Brilliance, and a few  nominees were new additions to my radar. 

The first, Brooklyn-based DS & Durga,  were winners of the Beauty and Fragrance Entrepreneur Award. They base their products off of Native American ritual medicine, Americana culture, “outdated lore”, geography, history and gastronomy. We particularly like their use of nineteenth-century botanical prints throughout their branding.

The second was Torrubia & Torrubia, a pair of Spanish sisters and third generation goldsmiths who’ve taken their family’s workshop tradition into a very architectural, minimal modern era. Be forewarned, I sat across from these incredibly nice sisters, and began to compliment one of them on her gorgeous necklace only to find out that the black pearls were not dipped (Thank you Gigi) and the necklace I had begun to develop a soft spot for was $60,000. 

Also at my table was menswear designer Simon Spurr, who adorably told us all that he had been nominated for about nine awards and never won, and then went on to win the Menswear Award. Simon Spurr is comparable to an exclusively-menswear Zac Posen in my mind, and has made his way suiting young Hollywood and a few times, the Gossip Girl boys.

Lastly was Misha Nonoo, who tied for the Women’s Ready-To-Wear Award with Wes Gordon. I had met Misha in her studio a few days before and was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of her Pre Fall 2012 of a very minimal, sophisticated throwback collection. It came as no surprise to know that she is an acquaintance of Kate and Pippa Middleton, because that is exactly who she seems to have in mind when she designs.

She, and her Rising Star peers, are of a percolating lifestyle movement of the New Sophisticate, a reaction to the reaching out of storied couture houses like Oscar de la Renta and Burberry to Gen Y (through Tumblrs and blogs, but also in design concept), of the renaissance of classically high society mags like Town & Country, of pastime tastes of Ys turning again to theater and ballet. The most visible of this is in food. But we expect examples of this to multiply in the coming year.

A few Rising Stars to defintiely keep a tab on for the future.