Martin Lim triumphs at the Mercedes-Benz Start Up finalists show

Back in June, Mercedes-Benz and IMG launched a national program to discover Canada’s newest design talent, travelling province to province and uncovering five finalists: Cassie Dee, Martin Lim, Travis Taddeo, Triarchy and Untitld. With mentorship from “industry insiders,” the five design houses were asked to present their collections last night in front of a panel of judges that included reps from IMG and Mercedes-Benz, as well as host Robin Kay, Fashion magazine’s Bernadette Morra, Bustle’s Shawn Hewson, and Robert Ott of Ryerson’s School of Fashion. At the end of the show, Canadian supermodel Jessica Stam announced the winner to be design duo Martin Lim, who will receive an editorial feature in Fashion magazine and a runway show in March. If the collection didn’t win over the crowd (it didn’t; many were shocked), Lim’s shy and surprised acceptance was enough to have us and everyone else in the room in a collective “awww.” See all of the collections from the Mercedes-Benz Start Up show after the jump to decide if the best designer won.