Emerging British fashion designer Priya Ahluwalia, whose work is setting a new standard for ethical fashion design, has won the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design.

The annual prize, now in its fourth year, was presented by the Queen’s daughter-in-law Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, during a virtual event at London Fashion Week on Tuesday.

A statement issued by the British Fashion Council (BFC), the organization responsible for working with the royal household to select a winner, called the young designer a “progressive thinking leader and agent for change.”

Ahluwalia launched her namesake brand in 2018, having first attracted industry attention for her photobook “Sweet Lassi.” The book, released alongside a graduate collection for her masters degree in menswear, chronicled the designer’s eye-opening trips to Nigeria and India, where she witnessed the scale of the second-hand garment industry and the volume of waste clothing…