IN 1954, a shy young Frenchman with glasses and an earnest young German with a pompadour won prizes as part of the International Wool Secretariat awards in Paris.

Yves Saint Laurent collected his award for dress design, while Karl Lagerfeld won the coat category in the Australian competition, judged by a panel including Hubert de Givenchy and Pierre Balmain.

More than 60 years since those awards helped launch the careers of two of fashion's most enduring names, the International Woolmark Prize returned to Paris on January 23 to laud two new rising stars of the fashion firmament.

Uruguay-born designer Gabriela Hearst won the $100,000 prize for womenswear and British designers Ben Cottrell and Matthew Dainty snared the $100,000 prize for menswear in the global award that recognises fashion design excellence using Australian merino wool.

Hearst grew up on her family's ranch in Uruguay, then moved to New York where she launched her eponymous label in 2015, as well as taking over the operations of her father's ranch.

"I'm a merino sheep producer as well as a fashion designer so this award has a huge personal significance for me," she says.

Her "slow-luxe" brand favours tradition over trends and combines utilitarian and luxurious elements to create purposeful pieces designed to endure.

A long-line bone trench coat, a suit designed to be worn while cycling and a merino evening gown that could be worn to the Oscars were among the elegant yet always functional pieces the designer presented at the event at the Palais de Tokyo.

Wool has always been a part of Hearst's life, and knitwear is the cornerstone of her brand, making the prize a fitting one.

"Wool has been supporting my family for six generations so I'm really honoured and excited," says Hearst, who is also a former model and the wife of Austin Hearst, scion of the American publishing family.

Lanvin creative director Bouchra Jarrar, British Fashion Council chair Natalie Massenet and Dazed Media chief executive Jefferson Hack were among the judges of the event, held during the haute couture collections in Paris.

"We picked Gabriela because we thought she struck a chord on every level: a passion for wool, its history, and the varied uses of wool," said Massenet.

"She did a very good job of showing high-low, from evening gowns through to trench coats and pant suits. We feel she will have an enormous future."

Tailored sportswear with utilitarian detailing was the focus of Cottrell and Dainty's label COTTWEILER, which impressed the judges with its fresh take on menswear. There were padded hoods, detachable cargo pockets, running caps and elasticised hems and cuffs.

"COTTWEILER is working with wool in a highly original way that mixes sports, tailoring, streetwear and fashion, and I think that represents a new dimension in menswear," says Hack.

The International Woolmark Prize, he world's most prestigious award for rising fashion stars, spotlights emerging fashion talent from hotspots in more than 60 countries.

"We have a cult following in London and Japan but it's incredible for us to get this sort of exposure. It opens up a whole new audience for us," says Dainty about winning the award.

In addition to each receiving $100,000, Hearst, Cottrell and Dainty will also have their winning designs stocked in the world's greatest fashion stores, including Harvey Nichols in Britain, Isetan in Japan, LECLAIREUR in Paris and David Jones in Australia.

"Even if designers are successful in their own market, [the award] really puts them on the international stage in one quick step because they get the opportunity to merchandise their brand globally through all of these great retailers," says the Woolmark Company managing director Stuart McCullough.

The high fashion focus of the prize is a world away from its origins in rural Australia.

In 1936, Australian woolgrowers voted for a six pence levy to be imposed on each bale they produced, to promote their product around the world.

This decision led to the formation of a body first known as the International Wool Secretariat, which established a fashion design award in 1953 to showcase the fashionability of wool. It was won by Lagerfeld and Saint Laurent the following year, but later fell into hiatus until it was revived in 2008 as the Woolmark Prize.

With the finals now held during key fashion weeks around the world, the prize warrants its current "International" moniker. This year's returned to Paris is part of a new business strategy rather than driven by any sense of nostalgia.

"We are really trying to make an impression in Paris with the brands and retailers," says McCullough.

"In the past 12 months we've put a lot of effort into bolstering our office there, so holding the prize in Paris is a natural progression to profiling our brand in that market."

In September McCullough met with luxury conglomerates including LVMH and the Kering group in Paris as part of Woolmark's strategy to encourage more French brands to use Australian merino wool.

"You've got some serious luxury brands based in Paris and we are really keen to ensure that they know us and know what we can do," says McCullough.

"When I met with LVMH and Kering, it was made very clear to us that wool was very important to their brands. So, with that synergy, we think we can work more closely with them."