British Fashion Awards 2012: The Winners

Stella McCartney and Alexa Chung take home awards

Stella McCartney, Alexa Chung and Cara Delevingne were some of the big winners at The British Fashion Awards, held in a glittering ceremony at The Savoy hotel in London last night (27 November).

With Nick Grimshaw and Gemma Arterton as the evening’s hosts, Stylist spotted an array of A-List and industry stars from our seats, from Victoria Pendleton (on the next row from us) and Livia Firth, to BFC Ambassador Samantha Cameron, Pixie Geldof, Ronnie Wood, Zaha Hadid, Salma Hayek and Valentino (who all presented awards).

Stella McCartney received the highest accolade of the evening – Designer of the Year, and also took home the Designer Brand on behalf of her eponymous label – a mark of what has been a landmark year for the designer, from her contributions to Team GB, to her critically acclaimed designer collections (that are also frequently spotted on the red carpet).

Upon collecting the award, Stella told a remarkable story in her speech, from when she worked at an ‘anonymous’ designer brand in Paris, and left to start her own label. A ‘Mr Anonymous’ in a senior position at her employer told her she was making a “terrible mistake” and that she would fail, because “There has never in the history of fashion been a British fashion house with a woman's name on the label that has ever been truly global”. Thankfully, Stella “couldn’t be more determined to prove him wrong” - and this award is a testament to how much she has.

Other highlights from the night include Alexa Chung’s third year winning the British Style Award (as voted for by the British public), Manolo Blahnik collecting his Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Award (and dedicating it to fashion icon Anna Piaggi), Princess Beatrice of York thanking Harold Tillman for his work at the BFC, Professor Louise Wilson, the famously blunt Director of the Fashion MA course at Central Saint Martins welling up on receiving her award for Fashion Creator, and Rita Ora taking to the stage at the end of the night for an acoustic version of her two hits How We Do and Shine Ya Light.

Click her for all the red carpet pictures, and see the full list of winners below.