Fashion One Spotlights British Fashion Awards: Manolo Blahnik to receive special award

The British Fashion Awards are set to take place November 27 in London, the awards recognizing the most influential people in fashion today and celebrating the reputation and development of British fashion. Internationally renowned shoe designer Manolo Blahnik will recieve an Outstanding Achievement Award for his achievements in the industry.

Manolo to steal the show

Manolo Blahnik will receive the Outstanding Achievement Award at this year's British Fashion Awards at the Savoy Hotel in London. The award recognizes the impact of Blahnik's career on the global fashion industry and on the London style scene ever since his arrival in the capital in 1968.

After nearly 40 years as one of the world's most influential footwear designers, the Spanish-born designer will be fêted for his contribition to the service to the British fashion industry. This is not the first major award for the 69-year-old, who has won three previous British fashion awards, and was granted the honorary title of Commander of the British Empire back in 2007.

Immortalized by Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, "a pair of Manolo's" has become a byword for high luxury, and the designer, who now lives in the ancient city of Bath, will be the star of the show.

Buzz building

Elswhere, there's plenty of buzz in the categories waiting to be annonced. Nominees for 'Model of the Year' include Burberry star Cara Delevingne; David Gandy, who is world-famous as the face of Dolce & Gabbana; and Jourdan Dunn, who in 2008 became Prada's first black runway model in over a decade.

Another fascinating category is 'Designer of the Year' which sees strong competition between Christopher Kane (for his work on his own line as well as at Versace's Versus); last year's 'Emerging Talent' winner Mary Katrantzou who has exploded onto the international scene; and Stella McCartney. McCartney is an established queen of the British style scene, designing the official Olympic and Paralympic uniforms this summer as well as showing a a series of well-recieved ready-to-wear collections.

The 'Isabella Blow award for Fashion Creator' is awarded in honor of the late fashion icon, who was credited with the discovery of Alexander McQueen. The award will go to "a British stylist, make-up artist, photographer, art director or producer whose creativity has been a major inspiration and influence in the past year" and nominees include iD and W magazine's Edward Enninful, LOVE editor Katie Grand, and 'style dictator' professor Louise Wilson, the head of the famous Central St Martins MA course in Fashion Design.

Buzz is already building on twitter with 'it girl' and presenter Alexa Chung tweeting "Excited to see fellow @bfc mateys @laurabailey_ukk and @DelevingnePoppy. :-)"

Organizers, the British Fashion council have tweeted a picture of a special installation from Outstanding Achievement award winner, Manolo Blahnik.

The full list of nominees is available at www.britishfashionawards.com