LVMH Prize launches 8th edition

Last year the LVMH Prize had to abandon its final due to Covid-19, choosing instead to reward all eight of its finalists. In 2021, the competition for young designers, which was created by the French luxury giant of the same name in 2013, is getting back to business and has already opened applications for its eighth edition.

The competition will not, however, be returning to its traditional format. According to a press release, "as a result of the health crisis, which has imposed certain restrictions, this year the semi-final will, as an exception, be organised as a digital forum, from Tuesday 6 April to Sunday 11 April 2021. The forum will allow each of our international experts to discover and select the lines presented by the competition's designers." This format is similar to that devised by the organisers of the ITS competition, in Trieste, which was held entirely online in 2020.

Applications can be made exclusively through the dedicated lvmhprize.com website. The competition is open to international designers who are under 40 years old and have produced at least two womenswear, menswear or gender-neutral collections.

The winner will take away a prize of 300,000 euros, while the receiver of the special Karl Lagerfeld Prize will claim 150,000 euros. In both cases, the awardees will receive one year of mentoring from LVMH's teams. As usual, the luxury conglomerate will also give awards to three young fashion school graduates leaving their respective institutions in 2020 or 2021.

Since its launch, the LVMH Prize has spotlighted a number of designers who have gone on to show on some of the most prestigious runways around the world, such as Paris and London. Past success stories include the prize's 2019 winner, Thebe Magugu, Marine Serre (2017), Jacquemus (special prize 2015), Rokh (special prize 2018), Grace Wales Bonner (2016), and Marques'Almeida (2015).

In 2020, the LVMH Prize decided to award its eight finalists – Ahluwalia, Casablanca, Chopova Lowena, Nicholas Daley, Peter Do, Sindiso Khumalo, Tomo Koizumi, and Supriya Lele – mentoring and a prize of 40.000 euros. The competition also created a fund dedicated to supporting the winners of its six previous editions, in order to bolster the development of their brands in the face of the economic difficulties caused by the pandemic.