Alexander Wang Makes Bank With Swiss Textiles Win

Last week, Alexander Wang collected a €100,000 ($147,000) prize, after winning the 2009 Swiss Textiles Award. His is the second American design house to nab Central Europe's most coveted fashion prize, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this month. New York-based Wang beat out a field of six candidates, including Vogue favorites Thakoon and Ohne Titel.

Kate Mulleavy, one-half of last year's winner Rodarte, presented the award to Wang. Mulleavy told British Vogue:

"The investment made such a difference for us in the past year — we have taken the business in a direction we just couldn't have otherwise — and I'm sure it will change things for Alex too."

The prize is not paid out in cash. Instead, €10,000 is set aside to buy Swiss fabric, and the remainder is to be used as part of Wang's promise to produce and market upcoming collections. Wang also won the 2008 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award of $200,000. The awards pad the designer's bank account, and will help make his brand a household name.

"I'm so happy and surprised," designer Alexander Wang told Vogue.com in Zurich as he cradled his Swiss Textiles Award. "It's a family business - we don't have any external backers - and this will really help us take the business to the next level."

Hopefully, this mean's that he'll throw next season's runway show after-party in a real venue rather than a gas station.