The Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Prize, popularly known as LVMH Prize Competition for Young designers is an award competition that is open to young fashion designers from every continent of the world. Since its inception in 2013, the LVMH competition has had the sole purpose of showcasing young talents to the world, as well as awarding the winner a cash prize and a year-long mentorship program covering various fields of expertise.
Many fashion brands have benefitted from the LVMH Prize and the Karl Lagerfield Prize, which was launched by LVMH in honour of the Late Karl Lagerfield, to celebrate the unique creative genius of fashion designers all over the world. Thebe Magugu, who is a contemporary South African designer was the first African to win the LVMH Prize For Young Designers, and this gave him and his brand tremendous international recognition.
Applications for the 7th edition of the LVMH Prize Competitions began late last year, and was closed on the 2nd of February. After a rigorous selection process, 8 finalists were picked; Sindiso Khumalo, a sustainable fashion brand from South Africa, Hed Mayner, Ahluwalia, Casablanca, Chopova Lowena, Nicholas Daley, Peter Do, Supriya Lele, and Tomo Koizumi.
The organisers of the competition recently announced that the grand finale which was meant to hold at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, France on the 5th of June, has been cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic that is crippling many sectors in most parts of the world.
Not only was the grand finale cancelled, it was announced that the prize money of 300,000 Euros which was meant to be the cash prize for the winner of the competition alone, is now going to be shared among the 8 finalists equally. This means that each fashion designer, for his or her fashion brand, gets the sum of 37,500 Euros.
In their bid to support young fashion designers during this pandemic, the LVMH group announced that a Fund has been set up in addition to the 2020 Karl Lagerfield Prize, to support the previous winners of both awards for the past 6 years, that is, the LVMH Prize and the Karl Lagerfield Prize, upon application.
As the Executive Vice-president of the LVMH Group stated, “In this challenging context, the Fund in aid of young designers highlights the main mission of the LVMH Prize by supporting our former winners.”
Big-ups to the LVMH Group, Sindiso Khumalo and all the other designers for their tenacity and strength over the past few months!
