Varvara Diakonenkova emerged as the winner of the 2025 Supima Design Competition.
On November 6, an array of stylish attendees gathered in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood for the 2025 Supima Design Lab. The annual event highlights the versatile and luxe quality of 100% American-grown Supima cotton.
This year’s event was a unique retelling of Supima’s tradition. The brand merged its annual Supima Design Lab (SDL) with the Supima Design Competition. British photographer and TV personality Nigel Barker hosted the immersive experience.
The Supima Design Lab
The Supima Design Lab is an annual opportunity for established and upcoming designers to showcase their work with Supima cotton. This year’s event was held at an intimate venue in Manhattan. Guests enjoyed an open bar and hors d’oeuvres as they perused the eloquently dressed mannequins.
Global influence is a tenet of the Supima Design Lab. The international talent behind the selected designs spanned countries such as Brazil, Jamaica, Russia and Italy, to name just a few. Finalists of both the Supima Design Competition and the Festival d’Hyères showcased their collections, crafted using Supima’s signature Pima cotton, grown in the US and recognized for its softness, durability, and luster.
Leading international designers such as Luar, Rahul Mishra and Bianca Saunders also displayed their work. The creatives created special pieces for the event. These designs focused on merging each designer’s artistic signature with the varied applications of Supima cotton.
The Supima Design Competition
The Supima Design Lab concluded with the 18th installment of the Supima Design Competition. Each contestant’s collection was on display around the event space for all attendees to observe. Despite the shared material origin—all designs were created from Pima cotton textiles, including twill, denim and velveteen—each piece stood out in design.
Designers leveraged cultural influences and construction techniques to imbue their work with personality. The range of countries and institutions represented at the SDL translated into a stunning display of craftsmanship.
During the event, Supima announced and celebrated this year’s Design Contest winner. This year’s winner, Varvara (Bobby) Diakonenkova, co-founder of the Most Hated art collective, shared a collection deeply inspired by both her heritage and belief in pushing the boundaries of convention. Varvara’s acceptance speech and shout-out to her team epitomized the nature of the event, which is, at its core, a celebration of camaraderie, diversity and design.
