• April 19, 2023

Bal Harbour Shops celebrates Sophia Wilson, winner of the second annual Next Gen Fashion Photography Award at Zero Bond, New York

On Wednesday, April 19th, Bal Harbour Shops hosted a private luncheon at Zero Bond in New York to celebrate Sophia Wilson, the recipient of the second annual Next Gen Fashion Photography Award. Created by Bal Harbour Shops in 2021, the Next Gen Fashion Photography Award was created to recognize the extraordinary talent of young fashion photographers and to expand on our long-established support of emerging creative talent. Sophia Wilson gained recognition at a young age by photographing her East Village neighborhood as she sees it. Noticing the omission of diverse races and body types across fashion imagery, Wilson dedicated her practice to showing people “who look like me”. This coupled with her skill of producing exacting colors by hand in her darkroom, earned her the respect of major publications, fashion brands and celebrities. Today, at age 22, she has already been published in Vogue, Vice, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, as well as campaigns for Nike, Vans, and Instagram. Wilson’s celebrity portraits include Jade and Willow Smith, soccer star Megan Rapinoe, and rapper Flo Milli.

Wilson was selected by a jury of four experts that included Alessia Glaviano, Head of Global Photo Vogue; Isolde Brielmaier, Deputy Director of the New Museum; Michael Famighetti, Editor of Aperture magazine; and renowned fashion and portrait photographer Stewart Shining. Following on from last year’s winner Tyrell Hampton, Wilson received a cash prize of $10,000, a feature in Bal Harbour Shops magazine and digitally on our other far-reaching platforms.