One American and seven Europeans will compete in this year’s final of the eleventh LVMH Prize. The competition for young fashion designers, launched in 2014 by the world’s number 1 luxury goods company, has unveiled its shortlist of eight finalists, the vast majority of whom are from Europe, dividing their time between the Paris and London runways. In other words, these lucky winners are arriving on familiar ground. They were chosen from the twenty semi-finalists who were selected from over 2,500 applicants.

“The semi-finals of the 11th LVMH Awards highlighted the diversity and richness of our candidates’ creative approaches. The semi-finalists have demonstrated great craftsmanship and a strong commitment to sustainability. The finalists’ proposals ranged from entirely hand-made collections to evening wear, including creations based on circularity,” comments Delphine Arnault in a press release, who started this prize for emerging designers, which she has overseen since its launch.
 

Three seasoned profiles

Of the eight European semi-finalists, seven made it through to the final phase of the competition, including two former LVMH Prize semi-finalists, Duran Lantink and Niccolò Pasqualetti, who had already been selected for the semi-finals in 2019 and 2022 respectively. Duran Lantink, a Dutch artist-designer, won the Andam Special Prize in 2023 and has been on the official Paris Fashion Week calendar for the past two seasons, as has Belgian Marie Adam-Leenaerdt, also a finalist alongside Italy’s Niccolò Pasqualetti and Ellen Hodakova Larsson’s Swedish label Hodakova, both of whom feature in the Paris presentation programme.

Other European finalists include France’s Pauline Dujancourt, England’s Paolo Carzana and Ireland’s Michael Steward with the brand Standing Ground. Three names whose collections have already been seen on the London catwalks. The eighth finalist is an American, from California to be precise. Julian Louie with his label Aubero. Trained as an architect, he launched his own brand in 2009, before adding to his experience with other labels and founding a new menswear house – Aubero – in 2022.
 
As announced last February, the Savoir-Faire Prize will be awarded for the first time this year, recognising excellence in craftsmanship, technical innovation and the sustainable approach of the shortlisted brands. This newly-created prize is worth €200,000. The LVMH Prize will also be awarded, as it is every year at the end of the final, with a prize fund of 400,000 euros, up from 300,000 euros in 2023, and the Karl Lagerfeld Special Prize, whose prize fund has also been increased from 150,000 to 200,000 euros. In both cases, the winners will be mentored for a year by teams from the luxury group.

As usual, LVMH will also be rewarding three young graduates fresh out of fashion school. All the winners will be announced at the end of the final on September 10 at the Louis Vuitton Foundation. In 2023, the LVMH Prize was won by Japan’s Satoshi Kuwata, with his label Setchu, while Bettter and Magliano shared the Karl Lagerfeld Prize.
 
This year, as announced in February, the jury includes Phoebe Philo and Pharrell Williams for the first time. The eleven other members are Jonathan Anderson, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Nicolas Ghesquière, Marc Jacobs, Kim Jones, Nigo, Stella McCartney, Silvia Venturini Fendi, as well as Delphine Arnault, Jean-Paul Claverie and Sidney Toledano.