Who is Nigel Xavier? Meet the Next in Fashion Season 2 winner as he takes home the grand cash prize of $200,000

The much awaited reality fashion competition series Next in Fashion Season 2 aired all its episodes on Friday, March 3, 2023, at 3:01 am on Netflix.

The show featured 12 fashion designers battling it out against each other and impressed judges and viewers with their talent and creativity. The second season was even more interesting as compared to the first as the talent was more diverse this time around.

In the season finale episode of Next in Fashion, Nigel Xavier, an Atlanta-based designer, won over the judges and experts by displaying one-of-a-kind creations using patchwork, denim, braids, and more. He was ultimately crowned the winner of and took home the grand cash prize of $200,000.

The return of Netflix's fashion series saw a group of aspiring designers compete for a cash prize. The show was hosted by Oueer Eye's Tan France and joining him this season was popular model Gigi Hadid. The series also featured several guest judges, who provided their inputs as the contestants pushed themselves to their limits to bring out the best work.

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers from Next in Fashion season finale .

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Next in Fashion season 2 winner Nigel Xavier is called the "wizard of denim"

As per Netflix's Tudum, the Next in Fashion Season 2 winner Nigel Xavier is termed the "wizard of denim." He moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 2010, and spent a lot of time in Summerhill, as per his profile on Farfetch. He expressed that the city has opened many doors for him and has been able to call it his home.

As per Tudum, Nigel's patchwork designs and the blend of denim, braids and repurposing elements has garnered him opportunities to style the biggest music legends. The former high school football player chose fashion as his career over sports cites “fabrics, materials, culture, and nostalgia” as his primary influence. His fashion sense and style draws heavily from the 90s and early 2000s.

Tudum's description of the Next in Fashion Season 2 winner further reads:

“Adapting and observing all of the different cultures has made [Nigel] versatile and open minded.”

For the challenge on the show's Season 2 finale, he competed against fellow designer contestants Bao Tranchi and Deontre Hancock. They had to make their own fun collection, represent their brand, and create designs in total to showcase on the runway in three days.

Ahead of creating his looks, Nigel let viewers in on his inspiration. For his designs, he was inspired by Woodstock, a place where people searched for acceptance and belonging. The message resonated with him. When he joined a design school in Atlanta, Nigel listened to Jimi Hendrix when he felt like he belonged.

The Next in Fashion winner also revealed that making streetwear in a technically dominated industry was difficult and received several criticisms, but his patchwork detailing is part of his history and he wanted to reciprocate that in his designs.

For his designs, Nigel had to make the textile from scratch, which worried the hosts. But he brought his designs to life on the runway. The judges complimented his fashion sense, color palette, upcycling skills, and more. While initially Nigel didn't make women centric designs, he brought out many women's looks in the finale, including the showstopper look.

Although the competition was stiff, the judges loved the cohesiveness of Nigel's designs and his fabrication. They loved that he could mix many pattens and textures, and make a story out of them. He was crowned the winner of Next in Fashion Season 2 and won the grand cash prize of $200,000.

Nigel has created designs for celebrities including Playboi Carti and A$AP Rocky among several others. He has over 16K followers on Instagram where he posts designs representative of his brand.

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Season 2 of Next in Fashion was an extremely interesting watch. All episodes are currently streaming on Netflix.