Victoria Beckham, Donatella Versace and Diane von Furstenberg join a panel of A-list fashion names for tonight's prestigious International Woolmark Prize.

The fashion designers - three of the fashion world's biggest names - will join Tim Blanks, and Franca and Carla Sozanni for the global fashion competition, which celebrates the best new design talents and looks set to be one of the highlights of London Fashion Week.

The panel will award the best Merino wool designer in the world with the International Woolmark Prize, a competition that launched the careers of Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent in the 1950s.

Regional awards have been taking place globally for the past year and have narrowed the shortlist down to six entrants representing Europe, USA, China, Australia, Japan and India. The finalists are: Sophie Theallet from the US, Christian Wijnants from Belgium (for Europe), Ban Xiao Xiu from China, Dion Lee from Australia, DRESSEDUNDRESSED from Japan and Pankaj and Nidhi from India.

The prize includes a $100,000 AUD sponsorship and the winner's Merino wool collection merchandised in the world's most important retailers including Harvey Nichols in the UK, Bergdorf Goodman in the USA, 10 Corso Como in Italy, Joyce in China, David Jones in Australia and Eickohoff Konigsallee in Germany.

The glamorous event takes place at London's exclusive ME Hotel.