LVMH Prize picks twelve finalists

By

Florent Gilles

Published
Mar 14, 2014

The twelve finalists of the first LVMH prize were announced Thursday, March 13 by the world’s leader in luxury. Thirty semi-finalists from around the world met the expert jury in Paris at the group's headquarters on February 26-27. They presented their work to the likes of Nicolas Ghesquière, Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld, Humberto Leon & Carol Lim, Raf Simons and Riccardo Tisci.

As hoped for, the field of finalists was very eclectic and represented young design in all its diversity. On the shortlist are three menswear designers: the New York street label Hood By Air, Belgian designer Tim Coppens, who is based in New York, and Tillmann Lauterbach, a German designer working out of Paris. Given the market’s interest in the menswear segment and LVMH’s own recent efforts to develop Berluti, this minority of men’s designers on the list have a good shot at winning over the jury in the final round.

"It was very difficult to choose," said Delphine Arnault. "I was able to appreciate their exceptional work by meeting them individually during their visit to Paris, as could Bernard Arnault, several members of the jury, such as and Riccardo Tisci, and many invited guests."

The prize is playing up the international character of this shortlist, which includes candidates from Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, India, Russia, Canada and the United States. Examples of the global character are designers such as Suno, a label that has enjoyed the support of the Council of Fashion Designers of America for a few seasons through the American showroom in Paris. Or Chris Gelinas from Canada and his "CG" brand, who has shown two collections thus far.

The list also includes hot Russian designer Vika Gazinskaya and Miuniku, an emerging label based between Mumbai and London that was a semi-finalist in the last H&M design award.

Two of the finalists are already very popular in the British scene, Thomas Tait and Simone Rocha, and already available at stores such as Dover Street Market and Colette. And the list does include some French names, Jacquemus and Atto, the label of Julien Dossena, who is currently creative director at Paco Rabanne and the darling of Carine Roitfeld.

These twelve young talents will meet the jury one last time on May 28 for the crowning of a winner of the 2014 edition, which includes an award of 300,000 euros for the development of the designer's brand.